Daniel Rapley
Drift
15 March to 3 May 2025
Opening: Saturday 15 March 3 - 8pm
‘Drift’ is a beautiful word. A rift appears in it, then an if, as though the word itself were slowly coming to pieces under one’s eyes.
It is a word I have always loved, but Daniel Rapley’s work prompts me to experience it afresh, as if for the first time, like the first time. His pictures are haunted by the strangeness of this figure, the like, like the first time. He wants to show ‘the condition [in which] the slides are found’, the ‘accumulated veneer of dust, hair, scratches and age-related deterioration’. He wants to insist on and affirm the vulnerability, the randomness and lack of stability in drift.
- From Uncanny Drift by Nicholas Royle
SCHOOL is pleased to present Drift, an exhibition by Daniel Rapley. Rapley has always been influenced by conceptualism, by pre-determinism enshrouded with notions of repetitive labour. He has previously transcribed the King James Bible (Sic 2010 - 2012) in it’s entirety which took over 2 years; the resulting artwork shown as a stack of handwritten pages with only the first page visible, reducing the artists labour intensive task to that of a belief system. Drift consists of overlaid slides that are scanned and if deemed successful by Rapley; made into larger artworks. With an alchemical approach no more than 2 slides are used at once; the artists control reduced to that of a spectator as the process dictates the outcome. Drift has been encapsulated by Beam Editions into a book, an archival document of the artists many creative experiments with essays by Nicholas Royle, Jonathan Casciani, Ashley Gallant and Duncan Wooldridge. The new publication will be available at the gallery.
Started in 2017, Drift has been a monumental undertaking for Rapley. He explains: “Made entirely with a collection of over 20,000 35mm photographic slides sourced from house clearances, each picture is produced by photographing slides stacked together on a light box. Time, place and memory are compressed into a single visual plane. The process references historical analogue manipulation processes dating back to the combination printing techniques of Pictorialism. But rather than the pursuance of realism, Drift instead reveals the seams of the process through its deliberate attempts to destabilise pictorial space. The two original photographs become entangled, yet immediately estranged as they vie for dominance. From within this conflict, new hallucinogenic and disorientating visual topographies emerge, suspended precariously between representation and abstraction. The work reflects on the illusory and corruptible equivalences between memory and photography, and their elastic correspondences with reality.”
Rapley’s work has featured in group shows at The Barbican, London, Club Solo, The Netherlands and Olympic Park, Beijing and has been reviewed in Frieze, Artists Newsletter and New York Arts. His first museum solo exhibition was held at Lakeside Arts in 2024, to coincide with the publication of his first book, Drift Beam Editions 2024. He holds a Fine Art Masters Degree (Distinction) from Chelsea College of Art and a First Class Fine Art Degree from De Montfort University. He is the Course Leader of the Art & Design Foundation Diploma at Lincoln College and an Associate Photography Lecturer at Lincoln University. He regularly delivers bookmaking workshops in educational and public institutions and collaborates with Designer Bookbinders and Printmaking Charity. He is a founding member of Coreset, an artist studio and community outreach organisation in Newark and an associate member of Backlit and Primary, contemporary visual arts organisations in Nottingham. His work is held in public and private collections.