Artist: Darren Almond

Alfonso Artiaco presents Darren Almond’s sixth solo exhibition at the gallery entitled Songbirds and Willows.

Songbirds and Willows invites us to reflect on the passage of time, the fragility of memory and our connection with nature, offering a meditation on the cyclical and ever-changing rhythms of life.

With a new series of paintings, the British artist questions contemporary western society's linear conception of time, inviting viewers to re-examine their memories within a circular framework.

The first two rooms of the gallery present a new series of works born from Almond's visits to Lucian Freud’s west London studio. After he was invited to spend time in the space, Almond’s eye was caught by what remained of the revered artist's practice, namely, the left over paint-stained cotton rags that he used while painting. The discovery led Almond to a profound exploration of light and form, transforming Freud’s rags into monumental landscapes. These images when printed and then over painted on large canvases, render the emotional weight of presence and absence while touching upon the liminal space between life and death. With their muted tones of earth and dirt, with sudden flurries of colour, Almond refers to these works as his, ‘Songbirds’ as they reflect a similar palette to that of indigenous British avian species.

The exhibition then continues with the Willow Works, where the circularity of time is ever present. Seasons present themselves through watery veils of pigment that fill the canvases, each etched by the suspended branches of a willow tree. Buried within, the zero emerges, a conceptual emblem of infinity, focus and the interconnectedness of all things. As the vanishing point of perspective or signifier of the infinite, the zero acts as the bookends of life.

Read as a contemplation of mortality, the zero is the moment when existence meets non-existence, a continuation in Almond’s long-standing interest in the philosophical questions of being and nothingness.

In the final gallery of the Willows series, Almond applies precious metals of gold, copper and palladium to the canvas to draw upon the dynamic qualities of reflected light. These gossamer foils simultaneously evoke sun or moonlight reflecting across the surface of water and the changing of the seasons. Each panel depicts the willow in different stages of growth and rebirth, from the budding leaves of spring set against sunny gold to the bare branches of winter that creep over cold palladium.

The properties of these metals allow light to be attracted, reflected and altered in a way that mirrors the passage of realtime, evoking the fluidity and grace of nature, while their geometric patterns recall traditional Japanese byōbu (folding screens).

This synthesis of Japanese artistic traditions and materials show how Almond has not merely appropriated these influences, but rather uses them as a physical and conceptual framework to further explore his interest in the nature of time, light and perception in new ways. Just think of Jun'ichirō Tanizaki's In Praise of Shadows (1933), which shows how traditional Japanese aesthetics value shadows and subtle reflections over direct lighting. This concept relates directly to the way Almond uses metal surfaces to create subtle, shifting effects rather than static images.

At the same time Darren Almond will also be presenting RAGS, an exhibition project in collaboration with the Artiaco gallery at Cappella Sansevero in Naples from January 22 to March 17, 2025, with admission allowed only through reservation on the museum website.

The works on display in the chapel's nave are part of the same cycle exhibited in the gallery's first rooms that grew out of the artist's visits to Lucian Freud's studio.

A double exhibition that draws a route through the heart of the historical center of Naples to explore and learn about Almond's latest works on the edge between various artistic languages.

Darren Almond was born in Appley Bridge, England, in 1971.

The artist works with a variety of media including photography, sculpture and video. He was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2005 and has had numerous solo exhibitions worldwide: The Renaissance Society, Chicago (1999); De Appel, Amsterdam and Kunsthalle Zürich, Zurich (2001); Tate Britain, London (2001); Fondazione Nicola Trussardi/Palazzo della Ragione, Milan, (2003); K21, Düsseldorf (2005); Museum Folkwang, Essen (2006); SITE Santa Fe (2007); Parasol Unit, London (2008); Villa Merkel, Esslingen and FRAC Haute- Normandie, Sotteville-les-Rouen (2011); Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, Chaumont-sur-Loire (2012); Kunsthaus Graz, Graz (2015); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2017); Timeline, SCAI The Bathhouse, Tokyo (2023); Life Line, White Cube, Mason’s Yard, London (2024). Main collective exhibitions include Berlin Biennale (2001), Venice Biennale (2003), Busan Biennale (2004), the Turner Prize-related exhibition, Tate Britain, London (2005), Moscow Biennale (2007) and Tate Triennal, Tate Britain, London (2009). Others include The Nothing That Is, Royal Academy of Arts, London; Photographing Monet Gardens: Five Contemporary Views, Musée des Impressionismes, Giverny (2015); Fire under Snow, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk and Sublime, les tremblements du monde, Centre Pompidou, Metz (2016); In My Shoes: Art and the Self since the 1990s, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield and The MOON: From Inner Worlds to Outer Space, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek (2018); Apollo's Muse: The Moon in the Age of Photography, The Metropolitan Museum, New York (2019); Slow Painting, The Edge and University Gallery, Bath; The Expanded Landscape, Getty Center, Los Angeles (2021); Whitechapel Gallery, London (2022); Foundation Carmignac, Porquerolles, France (2023).