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20/6/2013

Piers Secunda

Updown Gallery, Ramsgate

Updown Gallery is delighted to present a major solo exhibition by pioneering artist, featuring important works made across a period of ten years.

“Making a record of the time in which you are alive is, I believe, the most important thing an artist can do.” Piers Secunda

Over 17 years, Secunda’s artistic practice has evolved around the use of paint as a sculptural medium, and has resulted in highly complex structures created from paint alone. It is the combination of innovative techniques with powerful symbolism that sets his method apart. Secunda’s work is often steeped in forgotten histories and laced with geo-political references, such as printing with crude oil, ultimately producing work full of rich narratives – while simultaneously pushing paint to its absolute limits.

“I have always been bothered by the physical restraints of the canvas. For me it limits what a painting can be, so I've disposed of it and I handle the paint on its own – by default the paint behaves like a sculptural material.” Piers Secunda

The exhibition will cover Secunda’s renowned “Bullet Hole” series – in which his practice incorporates bullet holes shot and cast in some of the world’s most notorious danger zones, including Afghanistan and the no-go neighbourhoods of Kingston, Jamaica – to his most recent assemblages.

Since 2009, when Secunda and his interpreter persuaded soldiers from the Chinese Army (PLA) to shoot some works for him on a firing range near Shanghai, the artist has travelled around the world to gather bullet holes, both cast and shot. The China works started an ongoing series that continues to run, and which in 2010 took him to Kabul, Afghanistan, to mould Taliban bullet holes from suicide bomb attack sites. The resulting works have been described by art book publishers Phaidon as “The most compelling works to have come out of the Taliban conflict.”

The comprehensive showcase provides an insight into an extraordinary and stunning studio practice, which records some of the most important social and political conversations of our time. The works in the retrospective range from simple moulded forms to intricately detailed, hand-held objects with multiple moving parts such as the Chinese Puzzle Balls – the common theme across the exhibition being that all the works are made out of paint.

An alumni of the Chelsea College of Art, Secunda’s work has been show in private and public spaces in a dozen countries, along-side artists such as Frank Stella and Anthony Caro. His work is held in collections internationally.

Piers Secunda has developed a process over the past fifteen years for using paint as a sculptural material, free from the traditional restraints of two-­‐dimensional application. This started in the nineties with acrylic and subsequently moved on to include a variety of industrial floor paints, the studio practice revolving increasingly around the casting of paint to record the marks and textures generated by geo-­‐politics.
Born in 1976, Secunda studied Painting at Chelsea College of Art. His work has been exhibited in galleries and public spaces in a dozen countries, alongside artists including Anthony Caro and Andy Warhol. His work also hangs in private collections around the world with artists such as Frank Stella and Damien Hirst. He lives and works in London.

Image: A Decade of Rejected Works, Re-configured as a One Metre Cube, 2010-2012 Industrial floor paint, household paint, spray paint and photocopier ink 100 x 100 x 100 cm

Press contact:
Kate Smith - Art Consultant 07974 740220 info@updowngallery.co.uk

Opening on the 21st of June 6-9pm

Updown Gallery
Satis House 11 Elms Avenue Ramsgate Kent CT11 9BW
Opening Times
Tuesday – Friday 10am – 6pm
Saturday 11am – 6pm
Monday by appointment
Closed Sunday

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