Suspended Animation comes to Touchstones

Vincent James' Battlepipes will be on show at Touchstones.

The exhibition at Touchstones Rochdale runs from 6 December 2008 -1 March 2009 and admission is free.

Vincent James brings absurd and surreal interactions to Touchstones next month for an exhibition which runs from 6 December to 1 March 2009.

James makes sculptures, drawings and animations based on objects appropriated from cartoons and in these works props from different cartoon worlds collide.

Objects originally only glimpsed in a few frames of a cartoon become frozen in time, locked in three-dimensional space or trapped in endless loops of animation.

James’ work is populated by forms that previously existed as background items or props in the narrative and are now free to star in new plots and scenarios.

In the exhibition catalogue 'We Didn't Mean to be Bad Kids TV Made Us Do It (2004)' curator David Hancock writes: "The Wyle E Vincent James plunders the stores of the Acme Company as he enlivens a series of cunning contraptions. Dislocating these objects from their original context, he constructs an almost surrealist world that explodes into new scenarios, leaving us to ponder a pluming vapour trail."

In this exhibition Vincent James is showing new and recent work including Battlepipes, a large-scale sculpture in which a flying set of bagpipes spit out smoke and flames and a 10-metre long site-specific wall drawing, High Sausage Roller.

Since completing an MA at Goldsmiths in 1999 Vincent James has shown both nationally and internationally including exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles and Sao Paulo. Recent shows and interventions in the UK include a solo show at Hive Gallery, Barnsley; installations at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester as part of the Comme Ca ArtMap trail around the city and showing the animation Jet Set Trash as part of the FRED art invasion across Cumbria.

A Touchstones you can join in with the cartoon capers.

Look out for the magnetic interactive in the exhibition where you can create your own surreal interactions with some of Vincent James’ objects.

Join Vincent James for Cartoon Capers, creating your own cartoon cut-outs and combining them into a surreal mural on:

Saturday 24 January 2009 from 2pm-3.30pm for families (booking required)

Saturday 14 February 2009 11am-3pm as part of Touchstones' Family Fun Day (drop-in event)

Friday 20 February 2009 from 2pm-4pm for young people (booking required)

Touchstones Rochdale is managed by the Link4Life Cultural Trust and is located on The Esplanade, Rochdale, OL16 1AQ. They are open Monday to Saturday 10am – 5pm, Sundays and Bank Holidays 12noon – 4:30pm.

For further information call 01706 924492 or visit www.link4life.org/touchstones