Sucking Stones
Amie Dicke
4 November – 4 December 2016

Looiersgracht 60 is delighted to present a major solo-show ‘Sucking Stones’ by Amsterdam-based artist Amie Dicke, which will run from 4 November to 4 December. Dicke will exhibit a specifically commissioned on-site project, as well as a selection of new works.

Dicke broke through internationally with her cut-out fashion photos derived from magazines. She transformed these models by eliminating their clothing, parts of their bodies and faces, and turning them into skeletal silhouettes. Collected objects and images incrementally find their way into her studio from a wide variety of sources, such as her family archive, magazines or books. Dicke then interrogates these mediums through subtraction by sand-papering, cutting and cropping, or covers them with a wide variety of materials, ranging from gum and ink, to the correction fluid Tipp-Ex. She is an artist who works as an (ap)pointer, indicator, and cursor, she exposes the message beneath the surface of the visual stimuli that we are confronted with every day.

For this exhibition at Looiersgracht 60, the ground floor gallery will show mixed media assemblages, scratched works and found objects as well as a subtle intervention in the patio. The centre-piece is a captivating installation created by Dicke within the walls of Looiersgracht 60. It is a delicate landscape, consisting of open books and magazines covered in nude toned foundation powders. Buried under the powder the sentences have been made largely illegible, however it is the obliteration of some of the words that allow others to appear. As the installation is uncovered and the powder itself remains unfixed throughout, it accumulates traces of movement, conveying a sense of precariousness and temporality. After the exhibition, when the books will be returned to Dicke’s studio, all that remains are the traces of powder left within.

Alongside the monumental installation a number of other pieces are on display including two new scratched works, where she took sandpaper to photographs. Unlike many of her previous scratch works these are not close-up portraits, but rather images that have been taken from afar in an urban setting. The faces in both works have been rubbed away, leaving a white void, a recurring element in her work. Dicke works from the mind-set that exposed facial expressions lure you into categorising, and relating to the person. Obscuring the face creates voids that allow for reflection and interpretation.

Dicke has long been interested in the history of the spaces she works in, based on the sense that memories and events linger on in such places. This exhibition reflects the feel of the studio and work process of the artist, which is embedded in the old factory space here at Looiersgracht 60. Using the existing holes in the industrial walls to hang her work, Dicke refers to the scars in the original construction. Also the installation piece has been created within the space and traces of this working process can be found in the basement where historically part of the machinery of the factory was stored.

The pieces in the exhibition are all inextricably linked, conveying Dicke’s viewpoint that the works already exist in our surroundings. She gives the appropriate attention, and allows the conditions to exist for the work to emerge. Dicke corrects images not because we are not supposed to see something but rather to make us conscious of what we would otherwise not see.

Public programme:
Talk I: Amie Dicke in conversation with Amelia Groom, 19 November, 4pm
Talk II: Amie Dicke in conversation with Hans Janssen, 4 December, 4pm