Deeson Gallery: Duncan Brannan

Over 140 years ago, in his work On the origin of species, Charles Darwin claimed that those creatures most adept at mathematics would hold a distinct evolutionary advantage. Ten years ago the mathematician Thomas Hales proved that the hexagonal geometry used by honey bees to build their hives was the most efficient structure to produce maximum cells with least wax. Writing in 2009, philosopher Professor Denis Dutton proposes that we have an innate aesthetic preference evolved in response to structures and scenes that are beneficial for survival. 

This exhibition investigates whether an evolved subconscious recognition of the underlying mathematical symmetry underpinning complex artwork explains why we still feel an emotional response to art in the postmodern era when beauty is unfashionable 

It is inspired by the visualisation of the logic of causal networks as diverse as neural cognition, social hierarchies, and the World Wide Web and illustrates philosophical tenets such as Marx’s superstructure, which posits that society’s cultural make up is grounded in its economic principles. 

Structure, order and chaos are counterpointed in the dialectics of the grid. The work references the historical context of 1920's Dutch art movement de Stijl, with its utopian idealism. Use of the grid and reductive aesthetic are evoked in an attempt to build the reduced grid back up again with a language that is aware of postmodern cynicism whilst keying into romantic modernist ideals. 

Duncan graduated from the University of Kent in 2007 with a first-class honours degree in fine art. He continues to live in the county, working in arts management, exhibiting and selling in Kent and East London. 

Selected exhibitions: 

2009 – Turner Contemporary Open, Margate. 

2009 – Superstructure, Medcalf, Exmouth Market, Clerkenwell. 

2008 – Canterbury Art Fair, University of the Creative Arts, Canterbury. 

2008 – Climate for Change, Finchley Road, Camden. 

2008 – Banksy’s Cans Festival, Leake Street, London. 

Ongoing representation on Vyner Street, Bethnal Green through Degree Art.