GARY WRAGG Constant Within The Change Circuits & Edges 19 November – 5 December 2014
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 22 Mason’s Yard T: +44 (0)20 7930 1262
Duke Street St. James’s F: +44 (0)20 7839 8043
London SW1Y 6BU E: contact@alanwheatleyart.com
United Kingdom W: alanwheatleyart.com
Circuits & Edges The poetic dialogue of centre to edge has flourished throughout the history of art, from the Egyptians to “The Book of Kells”, to Persian and Indian Miniature paintings, up to a certain particularity in Matisse’s use of the border in his paintings and the great late “Cut-outs”, to the superb edge paintings of Jules Olitski and Sam Francis in the 1960s and 1970s. The modest selection of paintings in my forthcoming third one-person show at Alan Wheatley Art will describe the transition in my recent work from “Circuits” to “Edges”. These themes have been a periodic preoccupation throughout earlier decades, and continue for me now well into the sixth decade of my life as a painter. The recent paintings continue on from the last works illustrated in the second volume of Constant Within The Change, published in March 2014 and celebrated with the retrospective exhibition at Clifford Chance, Canary Wharf, London. In my work abstract painting means the avoidance of a brand image, and instead the pursuit or investigation of disparate pictorial means of “Now” states of being. What you see is what is there, it is not something else. This is what I revere, sensations and activities playing around, flowing around, images without formula, that are capable of contradiction. The sensing and sensual processes of my painting forage fresh presences and juxtapositions not restricted by categorization. The titles of the works in the show arise mostly from snippets of Emile Zola’s novel “L’Assommoir”. The recent paintings focus particularly on the function of central and peripheral perception, incorporating the spontaneous application of paint to echo edge gestures, sometimes as a reflection amidst the central traversing of brush marks. I have a need for my painting to achieve a certain kind of totality, a freshness and illumination of paint, light, colour, gesture, surface and space. While I paint, there is a focus on an accurate meeting of stillness and movement that ultimately vies with my intuitive impulses and the connected-disconnected feelings that may occur. Various intrigues sometimes emerge: how a pure colour can be echoed in a canvas; how a mixed colour can ignite an otherwise static combination to create a particular kind of liveliness. An inquiring activity suffuses a contradictory repose, just as painting itself comprises the two impossible complimentary opposites of flat surface and illusionary space, to be united as one, neither taking precedence over the other.
Gary Wragg October 2014
1 Rue Gambetta 2007-2010 Oil on canvas 211 x 168 cm / 83 x 66 inches Literature: Constant Within The Change: Gary Wragg: Five Decades of Paintings: A Comprehensive Catalogue, Sansom & Co. Ltd.., London, 2014, ill.p.163.
2 Le Cannet 2007-2013 Oil on canvas 211 x 168 cm / 83 x 66 inches Literature: Constant Within The Change: Gary Wragg: Five Decades of Paintings: A Comprehensive Catalogue, Sansom & Co. Ltd.., London, 2014, ill.p.208.
3 From Black 2 2009-2014 Oil and oil-stick on canvas 120 x 100 cm / 47 x 39 ½ inches
4 Blue / Yellow Streak 2010-2013 Oil and oil-stick on canvas 170 x 152 cm / 67 x 60 inches Literature: Constant Within The Change: Gary Wragg: Five Decades of Paintings: A Comprehensive Catalogue, Sansom & Co. Ltd.., London, 2014, ill.p.199.
5 Pink, Blue & Green Wedges 2012-2014 Acrylic on canvas 220 x 169 cm / 86 ½ x 66 ½ inches
6 Elgin Re-visited 2013-2014 Charcoal and acrylic on linen 190.5 x 90 cm / 75 x 35 ½ inches
7 Four Corners, Two Circuits 2012 Oil and oil-stick on canvas 79 x 99 cm / 31 x 39 inches Literature: Constant Within The Change: Gary Wragg: Five Decades of Paintings: A Comprehensive Catalogue, Sansom & Co. Ltd.., London, 2014, ill.p.196.
8 Four Corners, Blue / Orange Circuits 2012 Oil and oil-stick on canvas 79 x 99 cm / 31 x 39 inches Literature: Constant Within The Change: Gary Wragg: Five Decades of Paintings: A Comprehensive Catalogue, Sansom & Co. Ltd.., London, 2014, ill.p.197.
9 Speckled Pink – They All Clinked Glasses Again 2014 Oil on canvas 90 x 71 cm / 36 x 28 inches
10 Strolling in the Sunshine – Yellow Green Edges 2014 Oil on canvas 90 x 71 cm / 36 x 28 inches
11 Three Reds – Friendship is Friendship and Nothing to Beat It 2014 Oil on canvas 90 x 71 cm / 36 x 28 inches
12 Rolling Blues 2014 Oil on canvas 80 x 60 cm / 31 ½ x 23 ½ inches
13 Green Black – No Beginning No End 2014 Oil on canvas 80 x 60 cm / 31 ½ x 23 ½ inches
14 Butterfly Wedges 2014 Oil on canvas 80 x 60 cm / 31 ½ x 23 ½ inches
15 Red Edges - Pincushioned 2014 Oil on canvas 80 x 60 cm / 31 ½ x 23 ½ inches
16 Sonic Triangle 2013-2014 Oil on canvas 80 x 60 cm / 31 ½ x 23 ½ inches
17 Pilanch 2014 Oil on canvas 80 x 60 cm / 31 ½ x 23 ½ inches
18 Grelanch 2013-2014 Oil on canvas 76 x 61 cm / 30 x 24 inches
19 Centre Twist 2014 Oil on canvas-board 76 x 51 cm / 30 x 20 inches
20 Yellow Orange Edges – Out on the Streets 2014 Oil on canvas 60 x 49.5 cm / 23 ½ x 19 ½ inches
21 Blue Diagonal Twist 2014 Oil on canvas 60 x 49.5 cm / 23 ½ x 19 ½ inches
22 Green Yellow Red Edges – Spring Came 2014 Oil on canvas 60 x 49.5 cm / 23 ½ x 19 ½ inches
23 Magenta, Green & Black Edges – Nothing Left to Fear 2014 Oil on canvas 60 x 49.5 cm / 23 ½ x 19 ½ inches
24 Yellow Green Pink & Blue Edges – Haven of Idleness & Enjoyment 2014 Oil on canvas 60 x 49.5 cm / 23 ½ x 19 ½ inches
25 Ultramarine Magenta Gamboge & Black Edges – Everyone Should Have Some Privacy 2014 Oil on canvas 60 x 49.5 cm / 23 ½ x 19 ½ inches
26 Bottle Green Centre – Tipped Him the Wink 2014 Oil on canvas 60 x 49.5 cm / 23 ½ x 19 ½ inches
27 Black & Yellow Corner 2014 Oil on canvas 60 x 30 cm / 23 ½ x 11 ¾ inches
28 Orange Purple Yellow – When It Didn’t Put Anyone Out 2014 Oil on canvas 60 x 30 cm / 23 ½ x 11 ¾ inches
29 Green Red Lilac Up Down 2014 Oil on canvas 60 x 30 cm / 23 ½ x 11 ¾ inches
30 Pink Green Grey White Edge – Calm Went On 2012-2014 Oil on canvas 51 x 40.5 cm / 20 x 16 inches
31 Blue Centre Yellow Edge - Badingue 2012-2014 Oil on canvas 51 x 40.5 cm / 20 x 16 inches
32 Green Orange Red – A Stately Tread 2014 Oil on canvas 51 x 40.5 cm / 20 x 16 inches
33 Lilac Yellow – Good Health 2012-2014 Oil on canvas 51 x 40.5 cm / 20 x 16 inches
34 Blue Yellow – Again Between 2012-2014 Oil on canvas 51 x 40.5 cm / 20 x 16 inches
35 Green Yellow & White Circuit 2013 Oil on canvas 29 x 39.5 cm / 12 x 15 ½ inches
36 Orange Double White Circuit 2012-2014 Oil on canvas 29 x 39.5 cm / 12 x 15 ½ inches
37 Triple White Wedge Circuit 2012-2014 Oil on canvas 29 x 39.5 cm / 12 x 15 ½ inches
38 White Blue Double Circuit 2012-2014 Oil on canvas 29 x 39.5 cm / 12 x 15 ½ inches
INDEX 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39
Rue Gambetta Le Cannet From Black 2 Blue / Yellow Streak Pink, Blue & Green Wedges Elgin Re-visited Four Corners, Two Circuits Four Corners, Blue / Orange Circuits Speckled Pink - They All Clinked Glasses Again Strolling in the Sunshine - Yellow Green Edges Three Reds - Friendship is Friendship and Nothing to Beat It Rolling Blues Green Black - No Beginning No End Butterfly Wedges Red Edges - Pincushioned Sonic Triangle Pilanch Grelanch Centre Twist Yellow Orange Edges - Out on the Streets Blue Diagonal Twist Green Yellow Red Edges - Spring Came Magenta Green & Black Edges - Nothing Left To Fear Yellow Green Pink & Blue Edges Haven of Idleness & Enjoyment Ultramarine Magenta Gamboge & Black Edges Everyone Should Have Some Privacy Bottle Green Centre - Tipped Him the Wink Black & Yellow Corner Orange Purple Yellow - When It Didn't Put Anyone Out Green Red Lilac Up Down Pink Green Grey White Edge - Calm Went On Blue Centre Yellow Edge - Badingue Green Orange Red - A Stately Tread Lilac Yellow - Good Health Blue Yellow - Again Between Green Yellow & White Circuit Orange Double White Circuit Triple White Wedge Circuit White Blue Double Circuit Here to Here, Red Autumn
2007-2010 2007-2013 2009- 2014 2010-2013 2012-2014 2013-2014 2012 2012 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2013-2014 2014 2013-2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014
Oil Oil Oil and oil-stick Oil and oil-stick Acrylic Charcoal and acrylic Oil and oil-stick Oil and oil-stick Oil Oil Oil Oil Oil Oil Oil Oil Oil Oil Oil Oil Oil Oil Oil
211 x 168 cm 211 x 168 cm 120 x 100 cm 170 x 152 cm 220 x 169 cm 190.5 x 90 cm 79 x 99 cm 79 x 99 cm 90 x 71 cm 90 x 71 cm 90 x 71 cm 80 x 60 cm 80 x 60 cm 80 x 60 cm 80 x 60 cm 80 x 60 cm 80 x 60 cm 76 x 61 cm 76 x 51 cm 60 x 49.5 cm 60 x 49.5 cm 60 x 49.5 cm 60 x 49.5 cm
2014
Oil
60 x 49.5 cm
2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2012-2014 2012-2014 2014 2012-2014 2012-2014 2013 2012-2014 2012-2014 2012-2014 2013
Oil Oil Oil Oil Oil Oil Oil Oil Oil Oil Oil Oil Oil Oil Acrylic
60 x 49.5 cm 60 x 49.5 cm 60 x 30 cm 60 x 30 cm 60 x 30 cm 51 x 40.5 cm 51 x 40.5 cm 51 x 40.5 cm 51 x 40.5 cm 51 x 40.5 cm 30 x 39.5 cm 30 x 39.5 cm 30 x 39.5 cm 30 x 39.5 cm 19.5 x 19.5 cm
BIOGRAPHY Gary Wragg, born in 1946, first attended the High Wycombe School of Art before moving to London. There he studied at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts, where he won a Rotary Travelling Prize to Florence and Rome as well as the Lord Carron Prize awarded by Bryan Robertson. He continued post-graduate painting at the Slade School of Fine Art and won a Boise Travelling Scholarship to USA and Mexico, which he took in 1972. He also received an Arts Council grant in 1975 and a London Arts Association grant in 1978. Wragg’s trips to America, first to New York and Provincetown to visit Jack Tworkov, between 1971 and 1974, and time he spent in Springs, East Hampton with Willem de Kooning in 1985, were highly significant in his artistic development. His first one man exhibition was held at Acme Gallery, London in 1976, with a subsequent successful show in 1979. He exhibited regularly at the Nicola Jacobs Gallery, London, between 1980 and 1989 and held a series of important solo and group exhibitions at Flowers East, London, between 1996 and 2010. In his work Wragg explores from what he calls his ‘treasure chest’, a traditional lineage of Poussin, Titian, Rubens, Goya, Delacroix, Cézanne, Bonnard, Matisse, Pollock and de Kooning. Since the late seventies Wragg’s love for painting has integrated with his passion for the Chinese martial art of Tai Chi Chuan. Wragg has found that the gestures and controlled movements of the discipline have formed a parallel in the painting and his work has subsequently evolved from the vocabulary and legacy of Abstract Expressionism to his investigation of energy painting.
TEACHING / LECTURING 1971-1988 1971-1996 1972-1993 1975-1997 1994-1995 1995 1996 1996 1998-2003 1999 2001 2004 2004-2008 2005 2009 2011-2014
Portsmouth Polytechnic Visiting Lecturer at Chelsea School of Art, London; Slade School of Art, London; Bath Academy of Art, Bath Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts, London St. Martin's School of Art, London Slade School of Fine Art, London Tate Education Department Special Projects: A Dialogue with de Kooning, Tate, London Tate Education Department Special Projects: Figuring Cézanne, Tate, London Tate Education Department Special Projects: Jackson Pollock Exhibition, Tate, London Artist Summer Residence, The Painting School of Montmiral, Castelnau de Montmiral, S.W. France Drawing Masterclass, Classic Cézanne Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia Cézanne Lecture, Newcastle University Drawing Marathon, Studio School, New York, USA Annual Studio Drawathon, Vyner Street, London Artist in Residence, Alayrac, France Annual Studio Drawathon, Epping Upland, Essex Annual Studio Drawathon, Epping Upland, Essex
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
1980
1976 1978 1979
1982
1982 1983 1984 1986 1989
1990 1991 1993 1994 1996 1997 1999 2000 2003 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014
Acme Gallery, London Newcastle Polytechnic Art Gallery Acme Gallery, London Peterloo Gallery, Manchester Nicola Jacobs Gallery, London Herbert Art Gallery, Coventry Nicola Jacobs Gallery, London Castlefield Gallery, Manchester Nicola Jacobs Gallery, London Jean Wainwright, Chiswick, London Open Studio, Hackney, London Studio Show, West Hampstead, London Goldsmiths Gallery, London Studio Show, West Hampstead, London Gallery 10, London Studio Show, West Hampstead, London Studio Show, West Hampstead, London Works on Paper, Gallery M, Flowers East, London Flowers East, London Flowers East, London King Street Gallery, Sydney, Australia The Quiet Paintings, Flowers East, London Flowers Central, London Studio Show, Vyner Street, London Burgh House, Hampstead, London Flowers East, London Mason’s Yard Gallery, London Early Works 1968-1969, Alan Wheatley Art, London Spontaneity of Movement, Alan Wheatley Art, London Constant Within The Change, Clifford Chance, London
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 1969 1971 1974 1977 1978 1979
Play Orbit, ICA, London Young Contemporaries, Royal Academy of Arts, London British Painting 1974, Hayward Gallery, London British Painting 1952-77, Royal Academy of Arts, London Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London Hayward Annual, Hayward Gallery, London
1983 1984 1985 1991 1995 1999 2001
2010 2011 2014
Three British Artists, Studio Marconi, Milan, Italy 7 British Artists, Bernard Jacobson Gallery, New York, USA Sydney Biennial, Australia Contemporary Choice, Serpentine Gallery, London Hayward Annual, Hayward Gallery, London Younger British Artists, Warwick Arts Centre, London English Expressionism, Warwick Arts Centre, London Spuren und Zeichen, 200th Anniversary of Trier, Germany 30 London Painters, Royal Academy of Arts, London John Moores Exhibition, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool London Group, Royal College of Art, London A Dialogue with de Kooning, Royal College of Art, London London Group Biennial Exhibition, Barbican, London A Personal View of British Painting & Sculpture (curated by Bryan Robertson), Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge Art Crazy Nation (curated by Matthew Collings), Milton Keynes Gallery, Milton Keynes Art of the 20th Century, Flowers, New York, USA John Moores Exhibition, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool The Art of Giving, Saatchi Gallery, London Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London The Social Basis of Abstract Art, Up Down Gallery, Ramsgate Small Is Beautiful, Flowers Gallery, New York, USA PUBLIC COLLECTIONS Arts Council of Great Britain Barclays de Zoete Wedd, London Contemporary Arts Society, London DeBeers Consolidated Mines, London Eastern Arts Association, Leicester The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge Leicestershire Education Committee, Glenfield National Gallery of South Africa, Cape Town, South Africa Pompidou Centre, Paris, France Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham Saatchi Collection, London Slade School of Art Collection, London St. Pancras Library, London University College, London Victoria & Albert Museum, London
39 Here to Here, Red Autumn 2013 Acrylic on canvas 19.5 x 19.5 cm / 7 ¾ x 7 ¾ inches
Front cover: Blue / Yellow Streak (cat. 4)
Published to accompany the exhibition Gary Wragg: Constant Within The Change: Circuits & Edges, 19 November – 5 December 2014 © ALAN WHEATLEY ART, 22 Mason’s Yard, Duke Street St. James’s, London SW1Y 6BU All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without first seeking the written permission of the copyright holders and of the publisher.
Artworks © Gary Wragg Photography © Gary Wragg
Catalogue design by Iwona Chroscielewska
____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 22 Mason’s Yard T: +44 (0)20 7930 1262
Duke Street St. James’s F: +44 (0)20 7839 8043
London SW1Y 6BU E: contact@alanwheatleyart.com
United Kingdom W: alanwheatleyart.com