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Mai 36 Galerie now represents Irma Blank
February 15, 2023
Mai 36 Galerie is pleased to announce the representation of the Italian, German-born artist Irma Blank, in collaboration with P420.
A passionate reader and lover of language, Irma Blank was born in 1934 in Northern Germany. In 1955 she met her Italian husband with whom she moved to Sicily. The gap between the two countries and the two languages was immense – it led her to question the adequacy or rather the inadequacy of any language. She then realized ‘that there’s no such thing as the right word’ – even in one’s mother tongue – to really convey meaning/feeling.
Blank’s entire body of work, that crystallized into series, is based on language and therefore literature – whether emptying books from their meaning or creating a new form of nonverbal, asemantic writing, for instance by creating drawings that mimick the layout of existing books/newspapers or using a utopian alphabet. Closely linked to her personal story, but simultaneously emanating from the migrant and displaced condition, her work is the result of a matured conceptuality, but asserts itself in the corporality of production; it engages with a utopic community of hypothetical readers, but it is also in its nature, a soliloquy.
photo: Gian Sinigaglia
Hauser & Wirth announces representation of Harmony Korine
February 10, 2023
Over the last thirty years, Harmony Korine has cultivated a multidisciplinary art practice that resists categorization and is admired internationally for the improvisation, humor, repetition, nostalgia and poetry that unite the disparate aspects of his output. Working in recent years primarily with painting and photography, his practice is built upon tireless experimentation and a trial-and-error path that produces what he calls “Mistakist Art”. Inspired by material culture, Korine often incorporates everyday items - squeegees, house paint, steak knives, old VHS tapes - into his compositions, which are frequently embellished with distorted language and intentionally misspelled words. Korine’s oeuvre is both deliberate and erratic, figurative and abstract, and, like his films, blurs boundaries between “high” and “low” in ways that simultaneously attract and repel viewers with its hypnotic, otherworldly atmosphere.
Marc Payot, President, Hauser & Wirth, says, “we are delighted to welcome Harmony Korine to the gallery. In his multidisciplinary practice over the past three decades, Harmony has performed a sort of real-time psychoanalysis of contemporary America––and done so on his own terms, fearlessly, without pandering or seeking consensus. Our fixations on youth, material consumption and disposability, violence and romantic anti-heroes, all find their way into his work, from films and writing to drawings and paintings. In this sense, Harmony takes his place among such artists in our program as Paul McCarthy, Mike Kelley, and Rita Ackermann. We look forward to collaborating with Harmony in the months and years ahead”.
Among his generation’s most influential filmmakers, Korine rose to prominence after writing the script for the film “Kids” (1995), directed by Larry Clark. Everything he has made since has been guided by memory, emotion, and physical sensation as opposed to strategy and rational thought. Of his art, he has said, “I’m chasing something that is more of a feeling, something more inexplicable, a connection to colors and dirt and character, something looping and trancelike, more like a drug experience or a hallucination”.
Richard Saltoun Gallery announces representation of Florence Peake
February 8, 2023
Richard Saltoun Gallery announces representation of the British multidisciplinary artist Florence Peake (b. 1973).
Peake’s first solo exhibition, with new installations, sculptures, canvases, and works on paper, will be at the gallery’s London space from March 28, 2023. Her first institutional solo exhibition in London will be at Southwark Park Galleries from April 15, and will tour to Towner, Eastbourne and Fruitmarket, Edinburgh.
Peake produces paintings, sculptures, films, and immersive performances rooted in materiality and physicality. She brings together dancers, performers, and communities to create choreographies that encourage a seemingly chaotic relationship between the bodies and the material. The artist’s sculptures and paintings are a result of this interaction and capture the profusion of experiences and feelings recorded within our bodies.
photo: Christa Holka
Barbara Walker elected a Royal Academician
Cristea Roberts Gallery are delighted to announce that Barbara Walker has been elected to the Royal Academy of Arts.
Barbara Walker was born in Birmingham, England, in 1964. She studied at the University of Central England, Birmingham, and completed post-graduate studies at Wolverhampton University. She lives and works in Birmingham. Her work is informed by the social, political and cultural realities that affect her life and the lives of those around her. Growing up in Birmingham, her experiences have directly shaped a practice concerned with issues of class and power, gender, race, representation and belonging. Her figurative drawings and paintings tell contemporary stories hinged on historical circumstances, making them universally understood and reflecting a human perspective on the state of affairs in her native Britain and elsewhere.
Walker was the 2020 Bridget Riley Fellow at the British School at Rome. In 2019 she was awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours for services to British Art and in 2017 she exhibited at the 57th Venice Biennale as part of the Diaspora Pavilion. In 2017 she received the Drawing Room Bursary Award and inaugural Evelyn Williams Drawing Award in association with the Jerwood Charitable Foundation. She has previously been an artist in residence at Facebook’s headquarters in London.
photo: Chris Keenan
PULPO GALLERY to open second exhibition space
February 7, 2023
PULPO GALLERY are to open a second exhibition space in 2024.
Located in the BERGSON HOME OF ARTS, a former heating power plant, the exhibition program will extend across five floors and offer “a holistic art and cultural experience”.
SPARK Art Fair Vienna’s 2023 edition postponed
February 1, 2023
It has been announced that the 2023 edition of the Viennese fair - which debuted in 2021 - is to be re-scheduled for March 2024.
“The owners, artistic direction, management and organizational team of SPARK Art Fair Vienna have jointly come to the decision to cancel the contemporary art fair planned for March 23-26, 2023 at Vienna's MARX HALLE. Our focus is on the next edition in March 2024.
“Obvious conflicts of interest within the Viennese art scene, in which SPARK has been increasingly implicated, are the reason for this deeply consequential decision. Subsequently launched media reports have also led to great uncertainty among the fair's exhibitors and potential galleries. This has massively hampered the previously successful work delivered by the organizational team and the artistic direction and made a successful realization of the fair, according to our high quality standards, an impossibility in the short time remaining.
“We regret that due to this development we must console both national and international exhibitors, artists as well as collectors and visitors, as they lose for this year an important and so far also economically successful marketplace. However, from now on we will work with full power and commitment on a successful realization of SPARK Art Fair 2024.”
Soulmates in Ceramics: Edmund de Waal and Theaster Gates, Gagosian at artgenève 2023
January 27, 2023
Gagosian often stages presentations at art fairs that are as much exhibition as fair booth. For the 11th iteration of artgenève in Switzerland the gallery has curated a joint presentation by two leading contemporary artists - Edmund de Waal (b. 1964) and Theaster Gates (b. 1973).
De Waal and Gates are both showing ceramics, and presenting the two artists in dialogue offers a great opportunity for the visitor to, in effect, have three experiences - one from each artist individually, and a third from their interaction with each other. It is especially interesting with two artists as close in material, and yet divergent in approach and technique, as Gates and de Waal. Both of the artists are well-versed in the venerable and established traditions of the medium, and yet they have worked to take them in quite different directions.
De Waal’s delicate handmade porcelain objects - often vessels and often presented in larger groupings of small mise-en-scène sets - are in a lot of ways deliberately “presented”, continuing a theme of his work as an examination of collecting and collections. His presentations focus on the experience of, and the appreciation for, the individual objects - though collaboration has been at the heart of his practice for decades. He has said that “clay is poetry” and, perhaps drawn from his education “at the feet” as he says of potters in Japan, he produces work which exudes a transcendent emotion. The result offers an appreciation that goes beyond the physicality of each piece.
Gates - himself no stranger to collaboration - takes a somewhat different route. Producing glazed stoneware which draws its being from African methodologies as well as Japanese folk-craft. Indeed, he has used the term “Black Mingei”. Gates first worked with clay at Iowa State University in the US before going on to train in Tokoname, Japan, a city famous for its pottery manufacture. Fusing various influences, Gates brings together Japanese philosophy and Black identity to produce ceramics that carry a similar delicacy - and import - to de Waal’s while physicalising these facets into bolder individual pieces, the apparent simplicity of which belies their roots in a ritual - he talks of “sermons about ceramics” - significance, which recognises and examines the labor, craft, art, and material experimentation that is inherent in ceramic as a medium.
“Ceramics hold a special significance in Geneva, especially given the proximity to the Musee Ariana. So this elegant, dual presentation of these two influential artists has been met with great enthusiasm” - Johan Nauckhoff, Director, Gagosian Geneva
Artgenève runs from January 26-29. There is also a video of the two artists discussing their work and their approaches (link here) which is a beautiful way to spend half an hour immersed in their world - as Gates has said “I feel like I have a soulmate in ceramics”.
picture credits: Edmund de Waal “we live here, forever taking leave, I”, 2022 © Edmund de Waal, photo: Stephen White & Co, courtesy Gagosian; Theaster Gates “Untitled (Ceremonial Vessel)”, 2022 © Theaster Gates, photo: Annik Wetter, courtesy Gagosian
Hayal Pozanti joins Timothy Taylor
January 25, 2023
Pozanti’s first solo exhibition with the gallery will open in New York in April 2023 - and will be the first exhibition at the gallery’s new 6,000-square-foot space in the city, located at 74 Leonard Street in Tribeca.
Lush organic forms swirl across Hayal Pozanti’s paintings, which express a vision of botanical growth outside of human exceptionalism. The orbs, curves and lakes in her work seem to contain every hue found in nature: a trumpet-shaped form burns with the fiery light of the Sahara desert; a wavering line vibrates the deep turquoise of a California swimming pool, each shape sealed within a thin hermetic border. Colours echo, reflect and mirror each other at different points across the canvas, leading the viewer’s eye with a strange geometry that reflects an imaginary universe grown from the subconscious and inspired by science fiction. Pozanti’s practice has developed in step with her changing way of life. As an artist working in New York in the early 2010s, Pozanti created a system of shapes and ciphers to translate fragments of statistics and images she discovered deep in the internet, relating our frightening reliance on technology and numbers in bright geometric paintings. Yet with a move to Los Angeles, then Vermont, Pozanti began to paint en plein air, growing sensitive to the animals, spiders, plants and trees living in close range of her easel.
Fuelled by an ethical urgency to discover a different way of life, Pozanti’s paintings broke new ground with a lyrical form of abstraction in clear, jewel-like colours. The original ciphers, which Pozanti describes as “building blocks”, evolved into a rich and more organic abstract universe in which unknown plants and animals flourish and reign. Pozanti looked to ancient Samarian, Sanskrit and Hebrew alphabets to create this broader visual language: links that remind us that it is possible to dream of utopian societies outside of the Western model.
Pozanti follows through on her ecological ambitions in the studio, giving up acrylics for natural oil paints and non-toxic materials. The biomorphic shapes in Pozanti’s work echo the work of Wassily Kandinsky and Jean Arp, both of whom believed it was necessary to create a completely abstract world to distil spiritual longing for the modern viewer.
“In Los Angeles, the smoke, fire and the pandemic felt apocalyptic. I had been interested in investigating artificial intelligence and technology, but I came away feeling that touch, sense, image cannot be mapped and commodified. That’s not how we experience the world ... It comes to seem almost revolutionary in our world to use intuition as a way of making choices” - Pozanti
Hayal Pozanti (b. 1983, Istanbul, Turkey) has a BA from Sabanci University and an MFA from Yale University. She has been awarded large-scale public projects and commissions by the New York Public Library, NY; Public Art Fund, New York, NY and Cleveland Clinic and Case Western, Cleveland. Her work has been presented in institutional solo shows at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York. Her work is in the permanent collections of: Eli & Edythe Broad Art Museum; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA); San Jose Museum of Art; and the Hammer Museum. Pozanti had her last solo exhibition ‘Lingering’ in 2022 at Jessica Silverman, San Francisco. Pozanti lives and works in Manchester, VT.
Pozanti will continue to be represented by Jessica Silverman Gallery.
photo: Didem Civginoglu
Flowers Gallery announces representation of Liza Giles
Known for her large-scale abstract paintings, Giles combines a hard-edge approach to line and composition with intuitive mark-making.
Her painting style developed from making smaller collages using found scraps and painted cut-outs. The monumental canvases seen in this exhibition begin with elemental forms that emerged from these collages, transforming the interplay of positive and negative forms through scale and painterly means of expression. At times appearing architectural, the paintings suggest the immensity and solidity of the urban skyline, while harmonious earth tones and feathered edges integrate a sense of light and space.
Giles' first solo presentation with Flowers Gallery, The Shape of Things, opens on Thursday 9 February.
John Akomfrah to represent Great Britain at the 2024 Venice Biennale
January 24, 2023
Lisson Gallery artist John Akomfrah, RA has been announced as the artist representing Great Britain at the 60th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia in 2024.
“Akomfrah is one of the most outstanding artist filmmakers working today... In his moving image works, Akomfrah poetically layers fictitious and factual narratives that compellingly invite us to embrace the complex realities of migrant diasporas. Akomfrah is a truly global thinker. Imaginatively addressing some of our most pressing existential concerns, his work will captivate viewers at the Venice Biennale” - Emma Ridgway, Shane Akeroyd Associate Curator the British Pavilion in 2022 and member of the Selection Panel
Akomfrah is a respected artist and filmmaker, whose works are characterised by their investigations into memory, post-colonialism, temporality and aesthetics and often explore the experiences of migrant diasporas globally.
“It is a huge privilege and an honour to be asked to represent the UK at the 60th Venice Biennale - it is without a doubt one of the most exciting opportunities that an artist can be presented with. I see this invitation as recognition of, and a platform for all those I have collaborated with over the decades, and who continue to make my work possible. I’m grateful to be given a moment to explore the complex history and significance of this institution and the nation it represents, as well as its architectural home in Venice – with all the stories it has told and will continue to” - Akomfrah
NıCOLETTı now represents Nana Wolke
January 20, 2023
Nana Wolke’s series of works usually derives from the study of specific spaces – from hotel rooms and inhabited apartments to architectural complexes and public places –, where the artist records the unfolding of staged situations. The borrowed spaces, or unauthorized sets, appearing in her work are often spaces of transition, historically pushed to the edges of cities or fully operational when most are asleep, which Wolke addresses in relation to the specific temporalities of oil painting, film and sound. Remixing elements of observed reality with fiction, the artist focuses her attention on the fleeting, transitory moments occurring between actions, implementing successive procedures of assembling, editing and cropping to conjure the fragmentary nature of perception and desire.
Nana Wolke was born in Ljubljana, Slovenia in 1994 and lives and works in London. She holds an MFA from Goldsmiths, University of London and received BFA with honors from the Academy of Visual Arts in Ljubljana.
Her solo exhibitions include Wanda’s, NıCOLETTı, London (2022); High Seat, Castor Gallery, London, UK (2021); 4:28 - 5:28 am, VIN VIN, Vienna, AU (2021); Some Girls Wander by Mistake, Fondazione Coppola, Vicenza, IT (2021); and The Naughty Corner, Stekleni Atrij Gallery, Ljubljana, Sl (2019). Group exhibitions include Green Family Art Foundation (2022), Dallas, TX; Marlborough, London, UK (2022); Bangkok Biennial, London, UK (2021); Guts Gallery, London, UK (2021); Des Bains, London, UK (2021); Kiribati National Museum and Cultural Centre, Tarawa, KI (2019); G2 Kunsthalle, Leipzig, DE (2018); and 31. Biennial of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana, SI (2016), among others.
Wolke’s first solo exhibition at the gallery closes on Saturday 28 January, with an event during which she will reveal her film Wanda’s, 2022.
David Gill Gallery announces representation of Chris Schanck
January 17, 2023
David Gill Gallery is delighted to announce the representation of Chris Schanck.
Schanck's work plays in the liminal space between art and design. The fantastical pieces he now produces – from a shelving suite (Banglatown) that seems all but blown away by the wind to a resin-topped table (Gold 900) held up by a beleaguered crouching man – can be judged on their narrative, or their function. Or indeed, on an intriguing material complexity, since Schanck takes multiple elements of little or no value – cheap plywood, scavenged sticks – and both disguises and transforms them with luscious coatings of resin or aluminium foil. Every piece contains more than one story.
The Detroit-based artist, first studied fine art at the School of Visual Arts in New York, and then pursued Design at Cranbrook. His first retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Art and Design in New York opened in 2021 and he has been commissioned by luxury houses including Dior, Bottega Veneta and Tom Ford.
The artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery is scheduled for 2023, in Schanck’s words the show will be: "An exploration into work that operates on two levels, the everyday and the unknown."
Ken Tan joins Lehmann Maupin as Singapore-based Director
January 6, 2023
Tan’s appointment will enhance the gallery’s presence in Southeast Asia.
Tan brings over fifteen years of experience in New York, Singapore, Japan, and Australia, and joins the gallery from the National Arts Council of Singapore’s Arts House Limited where he was Senior Director. At Arts House Limited Tan oversaw the Singapore International Festival of Arts having previously been at the Asia Society Museum where he launched the inaugural New York Asia Society Triennial.
“Singapore is growing into an important hub for finance, medical technology, manufacturing, and now contemporary art. The beginning of 2022 saw us strengthening our position in Korea, and now as we enter 2023 we are looking to sow deeper ties in Singapore and Southeast Asia more broadly. We are confident that Ken’s expertise will support these objectives, bring new opportunities to our artists, and enable us to be an active player in this changing landscape’ - Rachel Lehmann
Lehmann Maupin was one of the first Western galleries to establish a presence in Asia, opening in Hong Kong in 2013, and since then has expanded with galleries and seasonal spaces in Seoul, Taipei and Beijing. Their Asia team is based between Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul, and, with this appointment, Singapore.
Modernity to Open Showroom in Belgravia’s Pimlico Road Design District
December 13, 2022
Modernity will open a new permanent London showroom located in Newson’s Yard – a newly developed design destination on the Pimlico Road in Belgravia.
“We have been looking at Pimlico Road for many years. It is a natural choice for us, being in the middle of all the other dealers of contemporary design, vintage design and classic antiques, along with important interior designers. As with all locations, the spirit of the area is incredibly important,” says founder Andrew Duncanson.
Modernity, specialising in high-grade twentieth-century Nordic furniture, ceramic, glass, lighting and jewellery, is now delighted to be establishing a permanent foothold in London as they acquire a ten-year contract for the two-hundred square meter space. The doors to the new showroom will open in December 2022.
Modernity is eagerly anticipating the opening as a chance to unveil its collection of Nordic design in a new context. They will continue to exhibit a wide collection of furniture, textiles, lighting and art by the most renowned designers of the twentieth century. The opportunity to showcase these iconic pieces in the heart of such a prominent design mecca is unlike anything Modernity has done before.
Modernity’s UK director Sebastien Holt is enthusiastic about Modernity’s latest venture, where much thought has been put into how the gallery will present itself in the new development. “It was important for us to think about how the space interacts with our collection, and how our clients live with collectable design. We have kept the Victorian-era brickwork and structural steel beams exposed whilst introducing oak flooring that captures the aesthetic of the modern London home. We are very excited to welcome our clients into this new space,” says Sebastien Holt.
The Pimlico Road Design District is a cultural landmark that borders the famously cosmopolitan areas of Chelsea and Belgravia. The community has a long-standing reputation for being London’s leading destination for design, high-grade furniture and art. Conveniently located just off Sloane Square, the area is brimming with dealers and businesses that cater to the discerning collector, the interior designer, and the passing shopper.
Veronica Ryan wins the 2022 Turner Prize
December 8, 2022
Veronica Ryan has been awarded the 2022 Turner Prize for her critically acclaimed solo exhibition ‘Along a Spectrum’ at Spike Island in Bristol in 2021, and for her public sculpture commission which was unveiled in Hackney as the nation’s first permanent monument to honour the Windrush generation.
The jury was comprised of Irene Aristizábal, Head of Curatorial and Public Practice, BALTIC, Christine Eyene, Lecturer in Contemporary Art, Liverpool John Moores University, Robert Leckie, Director, Spike Island, and Anthony Spira, Director, MK Gallery.
The Turner Prize exhibition will continue at Tate Liverpool until 19 March 2023, while Ryan's inaugural solo exhibition at Alison Jacques will remain on until 21 December 2022.
Veronica Ryan at Spike Island, Bristol; photo: Lisa Whiting
David Zwirner announces representation of Gerhard Richter
December 7, 2022
David Zwirner is pleased to announce the representation of the German artist Gerhard Richter. The gallery will present its first solo exhibition of works by the artist in New York in March 2023.
Gerhard Richter is celebrated worldwide as one of the most important artists of his generation, with a career spanning from the 1960s to the present. His diverse and influential practice has been characterized by a decades-long commitment to painting and its formal and conceptual possibilities. In his work, the dual modes of representation and abstraction fundamentally question the way in which we relate to images. Richter has probed the relationship between painting and photography, engaging a variety of styles and innovative techniques in a complex repositioning of genres such as abstraction, still life, landscape painting, history painting, and chance-based practices. Richter’s vast oeuvre, which also includes objects, installation, drawing, and photographic documentation, is grounded in deeply nuanced investigations of history, memory, and representation.
As stated by David Zwirner, “To be able to work with Gerhard Richter is an immense honor and a great privilege. Richter has, without a doubt, created one of the most conceptually complex and aesthetically heterogeneous oeuvres in the history of art. By avoiding adherence to any single ideology or dogma, Richter has been able to both celebrate and subvert the very act of painting. In the process, he has single-handedly opened up the medium to entirely new possibilities and investigations. Now I’m looking forward to our first exhibition together in the spring of 2023 in New York. I want to acknowledge the important work Marian Goodman and everyone at the Marian Goodman Gallery has done for and with Gerhard Richter over the past thirty-seven years, and I’m humbled to be given this opportunity.”
Gerhard Richter stated: “I’m happy to be represented by David Zwirner. I have known David since his childhood as I had already in the 1960s worked closely with his father, Rudolf Zwirner. I feel this represents a beautiful continuity across generations.”
photo: Gerhard Richter. © Werner Bartsch
Aline Kominsky-Crumb, 1948-2022
December 1, 2022
David Zwirner is deeply saddened to share that artist Aline Kominsky-Crumb has passed away aged 74, in the south of France.
Since 1971, Kominsky-Crumb, wife and mother of artists R. Crumb and Sophie Crumb, respectively, had been a pioneering figure in the world of comics, well-known for her confessional mode of storytelling and expressionist-inspired drawing style. She was one of the first contributors to the all-female anthology Wimmen’s Comix in 1971; cofounded the seminal comics series Twisted Sisters in 1976; and, in the 1980s, served as editor for the influential alternative comics anthology Weirdo. Her work has been published in Artforum, The New York Times, The New Yorker, and many other magazines, and has been exhibited in numerous museums.
“[Kominsky-Crumb’s] female faces … have sometimes uncontainable fierceness.”
—Roberta Smith, The New York Times
She was born Aline Goldsmith in Long Island, New York, in 1948. By the time they met in 1971, Aline and R. Crumb had each already established themselves at the forefront of the underground comics scene. Since then, the two artists have maintained distinctive practices while also frequently collaborating on projects such as Aline and Bob’s Dirty Laundry Comics (1974) and, more recently, Bad Diet & Bad Hair Destroy Human Civilization (2020).
Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Self-portrait, 2021. © 2022 Aline Kominsky-Crumb
Almine Rech now represents Michael Kagan
November 29, 2022
Almine Rech is pleased to announce the representation of American artist Michael Kagan in Europe, UK, Asia. The gallery will additionally represent Kagan in collaboration with Venus Over Manhattan in the US.
Born in Virginia, Kagan received his MFA from the New York Academy of Art and has since been based in New York City.
Kagan’s bold, large-scale oil paintings delve into the physical and emotional journey of adventurers, namely astronauts and Formula 1 drivers. His paintings merge atmospheric and physical elements with technical details, where aerospatial and engineering components are created and executed skillfully using thick and deliberate brushstrokes. The result is a clear yet captivating depiction of the subject matter.
Michael Kagan's recent exploration of sculptures maintains these atmospheric elements that have become synonymous with his paintings but with the added layer of a third dimension. This encapsulates a more comprehensive environment. These works range from helmets and astronauts made in bronze, as well as alabaster footprints.
His works can be found in collections worldwide from the US to Japan, such as The Hall Collection and the The Maezawa Collection. The gallery will feature his work at the upcoming Art Basel Miami Beach and at Almine Rech Shanghai in 2024.
Portrait of Michael Kagan, 2022 / Courtesy of the Artist and Almine Rech - Photo: Elisabet Davidsdottir
Petzel Represents the Estate of Malcolm Morley
November 21, 2022
Lida Morley and Friedrich Petzel announce that Petzel Gallery will now represent the Estate of Malcolm Morley.
Malcolm Morley was a pioneer in the arts who gained acclaim for his idiosyncratic style, which set itself apart in its uncanny synthesis of photorealism and expressionism. Born in London in 1931, the artist trained in landscape painting at the Camberwell School of Arts and developed an interest in abstract art during his time at the Royal College of Art. He moved to New York in 1958, where he remained until his death. Operating under a time in which Pop Art prevailed, Morley offered a counterpoint through what he dubbed as his “Super Realist” aesthetic, in which he sourced imagery from found photographs that range from travel brochures to old-master paintings. As he transferred his images onto canvases using a grid system, he amplified the scenes with unnatural saturation, dramatic composition and his painterly know-how. The subject matter, most emblematically limited to old planes and ships, always bore a link to his own biographical experiences. Just as photorealism gained traction in the New York art scene, Morley veered away to question, attack and fracture his images in more expressive stylistic modes, allowing his personal crises, along with those in the world at large, to spill out. In his adventurous ethos, Morley continuously incorporated a variety of artistic styles into his practice to embark into uncharted territories that did not always align with dominant tastes.
“I look forward to working with Friedrich Petzel as we continue to honor and preserve the legacy of Malcolm Morley,” says Lida Morley. “I’m excited to collaborate and develop many interesting future projects with the entire Petzel team.”
“It will be a great pleasure to work on behalf of the estate of one of the most radical and esteemed painters,” says Friedrich Petzel. “Malcolm Morley’s restless curiosity has been an inspiration not only for many artists we represent but generations of painters since the 1960s working in the US and Europe. Our first show will originate at Capitain Petzel during the Berlin Gallery Weekend in late April 2023.”
Photo: Jason Schmidt
Lisa Brice Joins Thaddaeus Ropac
November 18, 2022
The gallery will represent Brice in Europe, and her first solo exhibition will open on 16 October 2023 in the Paris Marais space.
“Lisa Brice is such a fascinating artist. Her approach to painting and drawing women occupying a space of their own choosing is both arresting and intriguing. Her work is profoundly of our time while recontextualising art historical depictions of women with an authority that is inspiring” - Thaddaeus Ropac
South-African-born and London-based, Lisa Brice paints individual and group portraits of women in her signature cobalt blue. Her figures are liberated from the roles of model and muse to take their place as artists engaged in empowered assertions of self-representation.
“I like to think that my paintings are the antithesis of misrepresentation - the reclamation of the canvas by all the models, painters, wives, mistresses and performers. The spaces I depict are dream-like in the sense that they are fictional, but very much based on reality and lived, sensorial experience” - Brice
