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Alex Knell
Intervention 
31 August - 25 September, 2011  

Alex Knell works with universal constructs of hope and unity in relation to counterculture and psychedelic experiences. In this exhibition Knell chose to focus on love, literature’s most challenging theme, through a collection of anonymous love letters, donated during the season of Art on Poetry. The artist has expurgated and transformed the letters into public displays of affection in the form of works on paper, an artist’s book and intervention into the Poetry Library’s collection. 

The series of large scale posters read as exaltations of love and communicate personal sentiments to a wider audience. Vivid and sharp patterns camouflage the literal reading of the text, and draw on our emotive response to colour, mimicking loves hypnotic attraction.

The artist’s book Love Letters marries each poster quote with its sister text; edited from the original contributions to expand on the intimate language of anonymous confessions. Loosely bound in ribbon, the pages can be rearranged or consumed together, repaginating love as an ever hopeful yet ultimately elusive truism.

Knell’s hidden intervention invited the librarians and Art on Poetry associates to choose ninety nine poetry books to conceal an ambiguous extract of love. The clandestine message, undirected and unsigned, is left for future readers to discover as a secret and misplaced memory.

Alex Knell graduated with a postgraduate diploma in Fine Art from the Royal Academy of Art Schools in 2009 and is currently a Print Fellow. He has exhibited both in the UK and abroad including Guided By Heroes, a solo and group exhibition curated by Raf Simons at the Z33 Museum in Belgium and Reflections, a Public Arts group show at Artuatuca Project, Belgium.

The exhibition continues in the Members Bar on Level 6 of the Royal Festival Hall.

Prompted by the Festival of Britain celebrations, Art on Poetry is a dedicated season of artists' books at the Saison Poetry Library. Twelve internationally acclaimed artists are given a rare opportunity to draw upon Southbank Centre's archives and re-consider British identity sixty years on.

The Saison Poetry Library is situated on the fifth level of the Royal Festival Hall and open from Tuesday to Sunday, 11am - 8pm.  

Open: Tuesday to Sunday, 11am - 8pm.

Saison Poetry Library
Level 5
Royal Festival Hall
London SE1 8XX

Phone: 020 7921 0943 / 020 7921 0664

Underground stations: Waterloo & Embankment
Railway stations: Waterloo, Waterloo East & Charing Cross

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