Albert Irvin
Gedi Sibony
Layla Curtis
George Stubbs
JMW Turner
Michelle Dovey
Hannah Brown
Doug Fishbone
Jock Mooney
"Urban Journey" by Albert Irvin reflects Irvin's belief that starting a new painting is like going for a walk without knowing where you are going. "Downstairs Review" brings together a selection of wall based and sculptural work.
Urban Journey" by Albert Irvin
"Bold in colour, fast and light in spirit" is how Financial Times critic
Michael Glover has described Albert Irvin's painting. Gimpel Fils is
delighted to announce an exhibition of new paintings by Irvin, who
continues to find energy and inspiration from the act of painting.
Irvin's conversion to abstraction occurred in the mid-1950s, and since
then he has been exploring the possibility that paint can conjure up
profound feelings: he believes that like music, art can and does, mean
and narrate "everything".
Urban Journey reflects Irvin's belief that starting a new painting is
like going for a walk without knowing where you are going. Anything
could happen. Having lived and worked in London his whole life, Irvin's
paintings embody not only the spirit and vibrancy of the city, but also
its history. Brushstrokes create their own architecture, and in this
latest body of work Irvin introduces us to new motifs including a
curved bell shape. It is a testament to Irvin's continued commitment to
exploring the possibilities of paint that overlooked details of the city
can provide fresh and exciting components for his visual language.
Gimpel Fils is particularly pleased to be hosting this exhibition, which
marks the 25th anniversary of Irvin's first show at the gallery. Since
William Packer lamented that "Albert Irvin...is under-shown and
under-valued in this country", in 1978, Irvin has become one of the
country's most admired artists. To celebrate his achievements, a
catalogue with a new essay by Paul Moorhouse will accompany the
exhibition.
Born in London in 1922, Albert Irvin attended Northampton School of Art
from 1940-1941, when he began his service in the Royal Air Force. In
1946 he resumed his studies at Goldsmiths, where he subsequently became
a tutor. In 1982 Gimpel Fils held its first solo exhibition of his work,
and we have exhibited his work regularly ever since. The Serpentine
Gallery held a major retrospective of his work in 1990, and Irvin was
elected a Royal Academician in 1998, and an honorary member of the Royal
West of England Academy in 1999. His work was most recently seen in the
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.
........................
Downstairs:
Downstairs Review
In November 2004 Gimpel Fils held the inaugural exhibition of its new
contemporary art project space at 30 Davies Street. Downstairs provides
a dedicated exhibition space for emerging artists and hosts one-off
projects by established artists. This exhibition casts an eye over the
seventeen exhibitions held Downstairs and brings together a selection of
wall based and sculptural work. Reviewing the Downstairs exhibition
programme enables us to take a second look at the work of some of the
artists who have exhibited, and find new links and associations between
them.
Gedi Sibony's exhibition Some Places Exist was held in September 2005.
His work springs from a desire to create more space between and around
things rather than create sculptural works that fill space. Questioning
the nature and form of contemporary sculpture and the environments in
which it is seen, Sibony's work initially appears ephemeral and
tentative but is surprisingly evocative.
Travelling to Rothera, the British research station in Antarctica, Layla
Curtis recorded her journey using a personal GPS tracking device. The
satellite tracking system created a continuous line drawing charting her
passage to and from Antarctica. Curtis's exhibition Downstairs in May
2006 comprised excerpts from her GPS drawing, which combined geometric
and abstract qualities. The red lines stretching across empty space
chart Curtis's movements creating personal memory maps.
Working from eighteenth century paintings by George Stubbs and JMW
Turner amongst others, Michelle Dovey gives the spaces and details often
overlooked in art a prominent position. Bringing the background into the
foreground, Michelle Dovey's paintings are infused with excitement over
how a detail, or an innocent backdrop, might become the fulcrum of an
image. Dovey is successful in redirecting our attention to the
unnoticed.
In looking for the perfect vista, Hannah Brown identifies key components
of a classic landscape image: fields, hills, trees, hedgerows. The
painted surfaces of Hannah Brown's work, combined with sculptural
objects, point to the human construction of our environments. Her work
highlights the historic division between town and country that has
enabled a situation in which the truth of the landscape is jettisoned
for a romantic version of it.
Doug Fishbone recycles the language of the mass media in order to
critique some of the more unseemly aspects of life in the modern age.
Appropriating photographic and digital imagery from the internet, he
constructs witty and occasionally shocking film narratives from
apparently unrelated material, questioning the way the mind processes
controversial visual images and concepts. His work exhibited Downstairs
in October 2006, demonstrated a particular interest in the operation of
jokes as commodified pieces of language and thought.
Belfast seems a familiar city: images of it have been in
over-circulation during the 'troubles'. John Duncan has been making
photographic work in Belfast over the last decade as the city has been
affected by the Peace Process, the ceasefires, the influx of capital
investment and as it has slipped off the front pages. His images depict
Belfast as it is dragged into the contemporary world, while remaining
conscious of it as a place that resists standardisation and
normalisation.
Jock Mooney's hand crafted small-scale sculptural objects exhibited in
February 2007 have been discussed in terms of the carnavalesque: folly,
excess and the mocking of established norms and codes of behaviour.
Challenging the distinctions between high, low and popular forms of
visual material, Mooney works as a satirist, commenting on the folly of
contemporary society. He utilises humour as a subversive tool that can
be understood as defying a world of gloss and sheen.
The Downstairs programme demonstrates Gimpel Fils' commitment to
contemporary art and we are proud to announce that 2008 will see the
project space continue to support emerging artists. Forthcoming
exhibitions include paintings by recent graduate Arabella Hope, sound
installation by Clare Gasson, etched photographs by Lee Edwards and
photographic investigations into parapsychology by Susan Macwilliam.
private view: Thursday 22 November, 6-8pm
Gimpel Fils
30 Davies Street - London