Five Things To See Or Do

The question of when a work of art in finished is one that concerns most artists. George Eksts’ work seemingly exists within this grey area. Appearing to disregard traditional notions of completion, his work is resolved simply when resources dictate it can no longer move forward. The five works included in Five Things To See Or Do exist only as digital images or animation but, for George, the process itself is as valid as the delivery of any solid object. 

Eksts’ process begins with exploration, looking for unused spaces, forgotten corners, empty pedestals seeking to make creative use of available space and form. When the location is found Eksts attempts to visualise a sculpture and how it will sit in situ, a complex process which involves the artist envisaging a myriad of potential shapes, forms and textures for the sculptural image. 

Eksts is interested in an object’s potential, what it could be rather than what it actually is. The object can be changed endlessly, while the context remains fixed. The options unfold freely but are helpfully tethered to physical location, total freedom within a set of constraints.

To the artist, the question of fact / fiction is less interesting, the object could exist in that place, or it could not, the dividing line is really just a large amount of funding and some safety regulations.

Biography

George Eksts is a London based artist using animation, photography, drawing and sculpture to explore ideas of progress, potential and completion. 

He uses a combination of digital and analog processes, often moving back and forth between the two. Open-source found digital models might be projected onto a wall to create a large-scale drawing in ribbon, which could then be subjected to physical forces, captured photographically and finally rendered as an animation. His exhibitions often combine tangible objects in a physical space with temporary online projects. In 2018 Eksts set up Slow Install, an online collaborative project space that has no physical or commercial aspect, showing both real and propositional artworks by contemporary and historical artists.

George studied at Falmouth College of Art and Royal College of Art, and has participated in residencies at Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris and Bemis Center, Omaha. He was Digital Print Fellow at Royal Academy Schools from 2011-13. He has exhibited in group exhibitions at New Contemporaries (ICA London and Liverpool Biennial), London Open at Whitechapel, and solo exhibitions at Hayward Gallery Concrete, Toulouse Espace Ecureuil, University of Herts, Mansions of the Future, Sidney Cooper Gallery and Tintype London.