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For his solo exhibition at Cell Project Space Peter will present a new version of The Nose, an installation project made for ‘La Salle de Bains’, Lyon earlier this year. Using the 19^th century writer Nikolai Gogol’s story of the same name and Dmitri Shostakovich’s opera adaptation as emblems for the project the work explores the jarring absurdity of the former and the performance history and sceneography of the latter. The original story recounts an incident in which a Russian official wakes one morning to find that his nose is missing from his face; he later encounters the nose riding around St Petersburg in a carriage, dressed as a government official. While The Nose was regarded as a humorous but trivial anecdote for almost a century, later 20^th century critics considered it to be a social satire on Russian culture, a Marxist critique of socioeconomic class, or a psychosexual fantasy, and a meta-narrative about the process of storytelling. In this ambitious floor to ceiling installation Peter integrates his anthromorphist treatment of human form into the schematic environment of the gallery itself. By combining a new cement wall relief with rubber objects the environment alludes to the cartoon-like aftermath of a rehearsal where music stands are left drooping towards the floor and ‘The Nose has left the building.

‘The Nose: Epilogue’ is Mick Peter’s first solo show in London since Fortescue Avenue/Jonathan Viner in 2007.  Recent projects include The Changing Room Stirling, Dr Syntax versus the Paperweights (2010), Galerie Crèvecoeur, Paris, The Lumber Room (2009), Zoo Galerie, Nantes & Generator Projects, Dundee, Harmonielehre (2009), CAPC, Bordeaux, Insiders - pratiques, usages, savoir-faire (2009) and Museé d’Art Contemporain Lyon, N’importe Quoi (2009).

"Monday, Monday" written by John Phillips and recorded by ‘The Mamas & the Papas ‘ aspires to the myth of the 'Californian dream' that looms large in the modern psyche.  It marks a period of social and political upheaval with sentiments derived from The Beats' anti-conformism of the late 50's followed by that of a hippy generation of the 1960's. With or without a political backdrop or agenda for this exhibition counter-culturalism is celebrated by marking the same aspirations, anxiety and energy.

This exhibition expands on utopian and dystopic references, which have taken shape during the freestyle emergence of ideas. Sleek, transcendental forms derived from ‘New Generation’ abstraction, are juxtaposed and contrasted with the hand rendered qualities of self-publication and sculptural assemblage. Artists in this exhibition take inspiration from the physical, social, and technological environment, experimenting with perceptual and phenomenological concerns.