New paintings, drawings and sculpture. This new body of work further problematises and strains the relationship between the object, matter and visuality, in addition to endangering the conventions of medium and support.
New paintings, drawings and sculpture
The Andrew Mummery Gallery is pleased to present a new body of work by
Alexis Harding.
Hardings paintings emphasise their own inescapable materiality through
playful chemistry and a vertiginous sense of their own collapse. The work
is made by exploiting the incompatibility between two different painting
media to create dynamic and emotive compositions. His method involves
pouring gloss paint through a perforated trough across a wet oil surface, to
create a grid, which is then left to dry. The paint over a period of months
is pushed, pulled, squeezed and peeled away, to reveal dramatic scarred and
puckered surfaces that when hung on the wall continue to change, and take on
their own form, as they slip from the support.
His work is often seen as a negotiation between control and contingency.
This is apparent in his use of the grid as a device and implicit within the
painting process itself. Whereas in modernism the grid proved to be a
static endpoint, in Hardings work it serves as an enabling dynamic element.
His new paintings show his continued investigation into ways in which to
manipulate paint while retaining his characteristic flamboyant and exuberant
approach. He will additionally be exhibiting for the first time sculpture
and paper drawings that contribute to, and extend, his practice and
thinking. This new body of work further problematises and strains the
relationship between the object, matter and visuality, in addition to
endangering the conventions of medium and support.
Alexis Harding was born in London 1973, and studied at Goldsmiths College,
London between 1992 and 1995. His work has been exhibited internationally,
with recent solo shows in Dublin, Basel and Lisbon. He has also
participated in group shows in France, Italy, Germany, Austria and the
United States.
Private view: Wednesday 8 October, 7-9pm
Forthcoming events:
Alexis Harding - Artist's Book. The Andrew Mummery Gallery is pleased to
announce the publication of an artist's book by Alexis Harding. The cover of
each of the limited edition of 100 copies will have on it a unique painting
by the artist. Inside, the 16pp text will contain reproductions of
Harding's paintings and graphic work and a text by JJ Charlesworth. Harding
will also make hand-drawn interventions into the body of the text of each
copy. The books will be available for the first time at the Frieze Art Fair
at an introductory price of 150 (plus VAT) per copy. To place an order,
please call the gallery on +44 (0)20 7729 9399
Alexis Harding in conversation with artist and critic JJ Charlesworth.
Andrew Mummery Gallery at 4:30pm on Saturday 18 October. Admission is free.
The Frieze Art Fair, Regents Park, London 17-20 October
F-EST East London galleries Open Weekend 18/19 October
Extended opening hours during Frieze/F-EST weekend: 17-20 October 11am-7pm
Andrew Mummery Gallery
Studio 1.04 Tea Building
56 Shoreditch High Street
London E1 6JJ
t/f: +44 (0)20 7729 9399