Mary Anne Francis

Unsorted at e1 gallery

7 September – 11 October 2002

In the e1 gallery, there are postcards all over the place… they sprawl in mass across a large trestle table… a
sea of imagery.

There are postcards on the wall under makeshift headings. In trays on the floor, there are more.

Postcards: still probably the most common form of long-distance imaging known to man as places and objects,
in particular, are reproduced in large numbers and dispatched around the globe.

Art, as a sort of object, is possibly dispatched more than most. Could the postcard Mona Lisas of the world ever
be inventoried?

The postcards in the e1 gallery are of the art kind it seems…

Or are they works of art themselves? That is the problem with the art postcard: you cannot always tell. Is it an
original? The space at e1 suggests an artist's studio, or the office of an archivist. In it, someone is attempting
to arrange – sort out – a collection of sorts. Of all sorts, for there are many types of work here… but: how to
sort a type or type a sort?

The postcard work of art is promiscuous: it circulates or gets around, the more so when, as here, there are quite
a few of it. Because the postcard freely reproduces, the works at e1 are easily placed in several categories at once.
And along with them, the artist. The artist is at home in different taxonomic groups. And variously within a single system.

So: what kind of artist is this?

One that has to be described as ‘out of sorts’? When to sort them in the sense it has of putting something in a pigeon hole
(or two, being generous), is precisely not to sort them out… or only of existence.

This exhibition will coincide with a poster exhibition at Piccadilly Circus of the artist’s photograph Covers,
as part of London Underground’s Platform for Art programme.

Please contact Ivan Tennant at e1 gallery for more information.

E1 gallery
Studio A Florida Studios
63 Squirries Street
Bethnal Green
London E2 6AJ

wwe.e1art.com
Tel: 020 7739 3007
Email: info@e1art.com

Open Wednesday and Saturdays, 11am – 6pm. Other times by appointment.