MIKE MEIRÉ SUSAN MORRIS BEAT ZODERER ADAM BARKER-MILL JILL BAROFF HENRIK EIBEN FRANK GERRITZ ALAN JO ER ADAM BARKER-MILL JILL BAROFF HENRIK EIBEN FRANK GERRITZ ALAN JOHNSTON CLAY KETTER JULIA MANGOLD G RIK EIBEN FRANK GERRITZ ALAN JOHNSTON CLAY KETTER JULIA MANGOLD GIULIA RICCI ALLYSON STRAFELLA HADI TAB CLAY KETTER JULIA MANGOLD GIULIA RICCI ALLYSON STRAFELLA HADI TABATABAI NICK TERRY STEFANA MCCLURE MIKE LLYSON STRAFELLA HADI TABATABAI NICK TERRY STEFANA MCCLURE MIKE MEIRÉ SUSAN MORRIS BEAT ZODERER ADAM RRY STEFANA MCCLURE MIKE MEIRÉ SUSAN MORRIS BEAT ZODERER ADAM BARKER-MILL JILL BAROFF HENRIK EIBEN FR N MORRIS BEAT ZODERER ADAM BARKER-MILL JILL BAROFF HENRIK EIBEN FRANK GERRITZ ALAN JOHNSTON CLAY KET MILL JILL BAROFF HENRIK EIBEN FRANK GERRITZ ALAN JOHNSTON CLAY KETTER JULIA MANGOLD GIULIA RICCI ALLYSO ERRITZ ALAN JOHNSTON CLAY KETTER JULIA MANGOLD GIULIA RICCI ALLYSON STRAFELLA HADI TABATABAI NICK TERR ULIA MANGOLD GIULIA RICCI ALLYSON STRAFELLA HADI TABATABAI NICK TERRY STEFANA MCCLURE MIKE MEIRÉ SUSAN M ELLA HADI TABATABAI NICK TERRY STEFANA MCCLURE MIKE MEIRÉ SUSAN MORRIS BEAT ZODERER ADAM BARKER-MILL NA MCCLURE MIKE MEIRÉ SUSAN MORRIS BEAT ZODERER ADAM BARKER-MILL JILL BAROFF HENRIK EIBEN FRANK GERR S BEAT ZODERER ADAM BARKER-MILL JILL BAROFF HENRIK EIBEN FRANK GERRITZ ALAN JOHNSTON CLAY KETTER JUL L BAROFF HENRIK EIBEN FRANK GERRITZ ALAN JOHNSTON CLAY KETTER JULIA MANGOLD GIULIA RICCI ALLYSON STRAF ALAN JOHNSTON CLAY KETTER JULIA MANGOLD GIULIA RICCI ALLYSON STRAFELLA HADI TABATABAI NICK TERRY STEFA OLD GIULIA RICCI ALLYSON STRAFELLA HADI TABATABAI NICK TERRY STEFANA MCCLURE MIKE MEIRÉ SUSAN MORRIS BE I TABATABAI NICK TERRY STEFANA MCCLURE MIKE MEIRÉ SUSAN MORRIS BEAT ZODERER ADAM BARKER-MILL JILL BAR MIKE MEIRÉ SUSAN MORRIS BEAT ZODERER ADAM BARKER-MILL JILL BAROFF HENRIK EIBEN FRANK GERRITZ ALAN JO ER ADAM BARKER-MILL JILL BAROFF HENRIK EIBEN FRANK GERRITZ ALAN JOHNSTON CLAY KETTER JULIA MANGOLD G RIK EIBEN FRANK GERRITZ ALAN JOHNSTON CLAY KETTER JULIA MANGOLD GIULIA RICCI ALLYSON STRAFELLA HADI TAB CLAY KETTER JULIA MANGOLD GIULIA RICCI ALLYSON STRAFELLA HADI TABATABAI NICK TERRY STEFANA MCCLURE MIKE LLYSON STRAFELLA HADI TABATABAI NICK TERRY STEFANA MCCLURE MIKE MEIRÉ SUSAN MORRIS BEAT ZODERER ADAM RRY STEFANA MCCLURE MIKE MEIRÉ SUSAN MORRIS BEAT ZODERER ADAM BARKER-MILL JILL BAROFF HENRIK EIBEN FR N MORRIS BEAT ZODERER ADAM BARKER-MILL JILL BAROFF HENRIK EIBEN FRANK GERRITZ ALAN JOHNSTON CLAY KET MILL JILL BAROFF HENRIK EIBEN FRANK GERRITZ ALAN JOHNSTON CLAY KETTER JULIA MANGOLD GIULIA RICCI ALLYSO ERRITZ ALAN JOHNSTON CLAY KETTER JULIA MANGOLD GIULIA RICCI ALLYSON STRAFELLA HADI TABATABAI NICK TERR ULIA MANGOLD GIULIA RICCI ALLYSON STRAFELLA HADI TABATABAI NICK TERRY STEFANA MCCLURE MIKE MEIRÉ SUSAN M ELLA HADI TABATABAI NICK TERRY STEFANA MCCLURE MIKE MEIRÉ SUSAN MORRIS BEAT ZODERER ADAM BARKER-MILL NA MCCLURE MIKE MEIRÉ SUSAN MORRIS BEAT ZODERER ADAM BARKER-MILL JILL BAROFF HENRIK EIBEN FRANK GERR S BEAT ZODERER ADAM BARKER-MILL JILL BAROFF HENRIK EIBEN FRANK GERRITZ ALAN JOHNSTON CLAY KETTER JUL
L BAROFF HENRIK EIBEN FRANK GERRITZ ALAN JOHNSTON CLAY KETTER JULIA MANGOLD GIULIA RICCI ALLYSON STRAF ALAN JOHNSTON CLAY KETTER JULIA MANGOLD GIULIA RICCI ALLYSON STRAFELLA HADI TABATABAI NICK TERRY STEFA OLD GIULIA RICCI ALLYSON STRAFELLA HADI TABATABAI NICK TERRY STEFANA MCCLURE MIKE MEIRÉ SUSAN MORRIS BE I TABATABAI NICK TERRY STEFANA MCCLURE MIKE MEIRÉ SUSAN MORRIS BEAT ZODERER ADAM BARKER-MILL JILL BAR MIKE MEIRÉ SUSAN MORRIS BEAT ZODERER ADAM BARKER-MILL JILL BAROFF HENRIK EIBEN FRANK GERRITZ ALAN JO ER ADAM BARKER-MILL JILL BAROFF HENRIK EIBEN FRANK GERRITZ ALAN JOHNSTON CLAY KETTER JULIA MANGOLD G RIK EIBEN FRANK GERRITZ ALAN JOHNSTON CLAY KETTER JULIA MANGOLD GIULIA RICCI ALLYSON STRAFELLA HADI TAB CLAY KETTER JULIA MANGOLD GIULIA RICCI ALLYSON STRAFELLA HADI TABATABAI NICK TERRY STEFANA MCCLURE MIKE LLYSON STRAFELLA HADI TABATABAI NICK TERRY STEFANA MCCLURE MIKE MEIRÉ SUSAN MORRIS BEAT ZODERER ADAM RRY STEFANA MCCLURE MIKE MEIRÉ SUSAN MORRIS BEAT ZODERER ADAM BARKER-MILL JILL BAROFF HENRIK EIBEN FR N MORRIS BEAT ZODERER ADAM BARKER-MILL JILL BAROFF HENRIK EIBEN FRANK GERRITZ ALAN JOHNSTON CLAY KET MILL JILL BAROFF HENRIK EIBEN FRANK GERRITZ ALAN JOHNSTON CLAY KETTER JULIA MANGOLD GIULIA RICCI ALLYSO ERRITZ ALAN JOHNSTON CLAY KETTER JULIA MANGOLD GIULIA RICCI ALLYSON STRAFELLA HADI TABATABAI NICK TERR ULIA MANGOLD GIULIA RICCI ALLYSON STRAFELLA HADI TABATABAI NICK TERRY STEFANA MCCLURE MIKE MEIRÉ SUSAN M
ADAM BARKER-MILL JILL BAROFF HENRIK EIBEN FRANK GERRITZ ALAN JOHNSTON CLAY KETTER JULIA MANGOLD GIULIA RICCI WINSTON ROETH ALLYSON STRAFELLA HADI TABATABAI NICK TERRY STEFANA MCCLURE MIKE MEIRÉ SUSAN MORRIS JOAN WITEK BEAT ZODERER
20 YEARS IN LONDON
Henrik Eiben Central AC, 2020 Watercolor on paper 30 Ă— 23 cm
In 2000 we started our business from the livingroom of our basement flat in South Kensington, since then the gallery had spaces in Notting Hill, Fitzrovia and St James’s. As we mark our 20th anniversary and prepare to embark on an exciting new venture in 2021 we want to mark the occasion, take a moment to reflect and show you some works that truly excite us. The world will look quite different once we emerge from the current circumstances, there is little doubt about that, but we believe in the artists we have the pleasure of working with every day and in the lasting value of their endeavour. Uninterrupted by current affairs, these artists continue to inspire us. This is by no means a complete record, or comprehensive reflection of our gallery, the past twenty years or the future we envisage, but rather a snapshot. We hope these pieces will inspire you too and are pleased to be able to share them with you at this time.
JILL BAROFF
In 1996 Jill Baroff was the recipient of the US-Japan Exchange Fellowship granted by the National Endowment of the Arts. The time spent in Japan would come to influence Baroff’s practice to the present day. Made during her stay in Japan and as a precursor to her time as a visiting artist at the Awagami Paper Factory, this suite of four dark blue indigo drawings showcase the artist’s fascination with patterns and Japanese craftsmanship. Indigo or Aizome is an ancient process of dyeing fabrics, to a deep dark blue, also known as Japanese Blue. Fabrics are often dyed to expose repetitive patterns, which would be modulated by folding or draping. Drawn on small rectangles of gampi paper then mounted in four distinct folds that refer to the aforementioned practice of fabric folding. These drawings of intimate scale continuously reveal subtle shifts within the hand drawn grid.
Jill Baroff Indigo Doublings, 1997 Indigo ink on Japanese gampi mounted on rag Each 22 × 29.8 cm
JILL BAROFF
Duo, a work conceived for an exhibition at the Mies van der Rohe Haus in Berlin marking the centenary of the Bauhaus school, is a contemporary representation of the artist’s continued interest in sculptural form. Composed of two distinct elements, the diptych draws its title from Anni and Josef Albers who were teachers both at the Bauhaus, and, particularly in an American context, equally importantly, at Black Mountain College. This homage encapsulates principles of composition that embrace ideas of ‘dynamic symmetry’, theory and terminology first described by Piet Mondrian. The interlacing forms and dashes guide the eye towards the extremities and back towards the centre of the works were the two elements correspond but never meet. The decisive space separating the two components gives the work a sense of perpetual motion of two opposing parts that come together to make one strikingly cohesive work.
Jill Baroff Duo (for Anni and Josef), 2018 Painted wood 66 × 80 cm
FRANK GERRITZ
Kiyoshi an exceptional example of Frank Gerritz’s continuing series of wall-reliefs, occupies a space between installation, painting and sculpture. The formal language that informs all of Gerritz’s works are rooted in early European Constructive Art and Geometric Abstraction. However, Gerritz’s practice is often described as hard-edged, a term more commonly associated with American Minimalism. Perhaps this apparent contradiction reflects the progression of the artist’s early career, which was largely defined by working both in New York and Hamburg. More recently, his regular travels to Japan have had a profound effect on the artist and came to inform the title for this work. Kiyoshi’s remarkable precise composition, the exceptional clarity and dominant physical appearance all elevate the sheer endless play between the defused reflective quality of the anodised aluminium support and the sumptuous quality of the finely structured oil-paintstick that bestows these phenomenal reliefs their immense presence.
Frank Gerritz Kiyoshi, 2017 Paintstick on anodised aluminum 120 × 60 cm
FRANK GERRITZ
Frank Gerritz Diptych: Gemini Suite I + II, 2017 Pencil on paper Each 42 × 117.8 cm
Drawings play an important role in Gerritz’s oeuvre, encapsulate the elemental structure that determines the artist’s practice. Based on a core element, first manifested in a series of iron sculptures, Gerritz’s dense works on paper manage
to convey the sculptural volume and weight through a unique drawing method. By elevating the form to eye level each drawing explores a clearly defined spacial aspect akin to the experience of threedimensional space on the two-dimensional plane.
ALLYSON STRAFELLA
I began drawing out of the need to communicate, to find my own language. I was looking for a way to record my thoughts and ideas and a typewriter was a tool that could keep up with my thoughts. However, I employed no rules of the written language: no capitalization, no punctuation, no paragraphs. The writing slowly transformed - the words left the page and what remained has become my language: drawing. Instead of traditional drawing tools, Allyson Strafella is working with typewriters, standard and custombuilt. Using sheets of pigmented handmade paper, she creates assured abstract forms by applying dense repetitive marks. These concentrated forms are derived from the natural and constructed landscape, which suggest a surprising familiarity. The delicate nature of the works stems not solely from the thinness of the material she employs but from the quality of the mark-making. After piercing through the surface of the paper it barely holds its form. These intimate works carry an immense presence, which often stands in complete antithesis with their delicate appearance. With patience and determination, as Strafella continues to find the edge of form and formlessness.
Allyson Strafella dwelling, 2013 Typed marks on paper 23.9 Ă— 29.1 cm
ALLYSON STRAFELLA
Allyson Strafella contact, 2017 Typed marks on paper 29.2 × 22 cm
Allyson Strafella calving, 2018 Typed marks on paper 33.8 Ă— 28.4 cm
ALAN JOHNSTON
My work explores spatial contexts and relations through drawing and architectural construction, reflecting on the spatial and tactual implications in architecture where perceptual notions are rendered as common factors in sight and touch. This is a comparative context which has its roots in the practice of art, architecture and visual thinking in the West and the East, and relates to concepts and practices such as Wabi Sabi. In the early 1990s, Alan Johnston embarked on a new series of paintings which were exhibited at Haus Wittgenstein in 1994 and at Inverleith House in Edinburgh in 1995. The two works shown here were included in these two seminal exhibitions, that would come to define the artist’s career. The diptych, one of three examples following a similar theme shown at Haus Wittgenstein would inspire a set of prints entitled Loop published by Charles Booth-Clibborn’s Paragon Press. The work was also included in the exhibition at Inverleith House and the following year at the legendary Tilton Gallery in New York.
Alan Johnston Diptych: Untitled, 1994 Acrylic, pencil, charcoal and beeswax on linen 33 × 76 cm
ALAN JOHNSTON
Alan Johnston Inverleith House, 1995
Alan Johnston Untitled, 1995 Acrylic and pencil on linen 96 × 81 cm
CLAY KETTER
Since the conception of a series of photographs depicting the intricate patchwork of asphalt on Swedish roads in early 2000, Clay Ketter has periodically returned to use of photography to portray environments or compose illusionary images through the use of digital means. In 2003 and 2005 the artist travelled to Spain to capture ‘medianeras’ in the ‘barrios’ of Valencia. Entitled ‘Valencia Series’ these photographs would form a widely exhibited and to date the largest body of photographic works. Vinatea, depicted here, is without a doubt the definitive work of the entire series. Showcasing both the artist’s interest in surfaces and environments, conceived as an appropriated or found ‘painting’, the motif shares an abstracting composition through choosing a section from a larger area. This particular work, selected both for its seductive colours and the clearly structured composition, reveals layers upon layers of architectural artefacts and inadvertently serve as an archaeological record of human habitation dating from the middle ages to the present day.
Clay Ketter Vinatea, 2005 Diasec mounted C-Print, Edition 3 of 3 124 ×167 cm
CLAY KETTER
In 2019 Clay Ketter embarked on a new series of paintings on photographic medium, in this instance painting on top of a photographic reproduction of a diagram outlining a well-know conspiracy theory. The first in a series of new works based on found diagrams, this work combines the artist’s engagement with existing imagery and a process of altering information through painting. Growing out of a largely anthropological consideration, in which such diagrams could be viewed as an ideal representation of pop culture, the significance of this work in a contemporary context can not be understated. Indeed, appropriating a well known conspiracy theory for this work and by deleting all textual evidence through painting, the work neutralises any need for critical engagement with any groundless notions held within. Rather, the piece reveals the absurd information architecture, that inherently fails to legitimise its very excistence. I think these works, which are aimed at transcending intended content, suggest that this transcendence as a form of self-defence against information pollution. The abstract nature of the work underpins the transcendental quality of the work. Void of any prescribed narrative it could not be more formidable, more engaging, more relevant. Clay Ketter Conspiracy Transcended, 2019 Oil paint on Diasec mounted photo 160 × 120 cm
JULIA MANGOLD
Striped to a bare minimum, Mangold’s sculptures and works on paper display a visual language that has informed much of our gallery’s program. Julia Mangold is clearly not relying on a limited notion of romanticised modernism or a hard edge aesthetic, but rather the artist’s works evolve from a refined play on human-scale and the deliberate juxtaposition of precise forms and sensual surfaces. It is the artist’s unique ability to unite these two seemingly opposing traits, which in turn lend the works an extraordinary presence. The installation of layered drawings, each consisting of a single sheet of tracing paper placed on top of a backboard, depicts sixteen variations on a singular theme. Three rectangular forms of varying scale are applied either on the bottom layer, on the front or reverse of the tracing paper, resulting in a sequence of drawings that evoke a sense of movement and constant reinterpretation. Each a self-contained composition and hence an individual component, it is the play within the larger set that showcases Julia Mangold’s understanding of spacial concerns. The set, first exhibited at the Mies van der Rohe Haus in Berlin, could also be interpreted within the context of Jazz music, where the performance of standard pieces affords musicians endless possibilities for new iterations.
Julia Mangold Suite of 16 drawings: Unitled, 2015 - 0201...0216, 2015 Pigments and wax on paper Each 40 × 29.5 cm
JULIA MANGOLD
At first, each sculpture shown here at the CAB Foundation in Brussels, appears monolithic. Constructed from six rectangular elements these works are arranged to form vertical columns. The three works interact with each other through a carefully calibrated play of surfaces and volumes. Rather than relying on a representative depiction, the sculptures evolve through the viewer’s experience. Their highly pigmented and sensual dark surfaces stand in stark contrast to the sculpture’s geometric structured composition.
Julia Mangold Untitled 2012-001, 002 and 003, 2012 Pigments, lacquer and wax on wood 180 × 40 × 50 cm, 200 × 40 × 60 cm, 210 × 50 × 55 cm
GIULIA RICCI
Over the past year, Giulia Ricci has been working on a new suite of works entitled Alteration/Deviation. Employing a triangular element organised within a grid and her preferred method of freehand drawing, these new works take on a considerably larger scale than her previous works on paper. This is also the first time the artist conceived a series by applying pigments with a brush rather than pens or mechanical tools. The composition of each work is in essence a repeat pattern of bold and clearly ordered geometric arrangement. These works exemplify the principle that a small change can generate unexpected consequences and cascading transformations, something which might resonate with wider events unfolding around us.
Giulia Ricci Alteration/Deviation, Red No. 1, 2019 Watercolour and pencil on paper 120.4 Ă— 100.4 cm
GIULIA RICCI
Giulia Ricci Alteration/Deviation, Orange No. 5, 2020 Gouache and pencil on paper 120.4 × 100.4 cm
Giulia Ricci Alteration/Deviation, Blue No. 2, 2019 Watercolour and pencil on paper 120.4 Ă— 100.4 cm
MIKE MEIRÉ
Developed over the past five years, Mike Meiré’s continuing Eternal News Series further manifests the artist’s interest in news media and newspapers in particular. Informed by his work as a designer and art director the artist first embarked on a series of paintings on newspapers, which explore the fundamentals of information architecture, often relying on a simple colour code to further emphasise an inherent process of attributing importance through layout placement and scale. Eternal News Series takes a step back and reaffirms the instantly recognisable form of the Newspaper. An icon of information democratisation this omnipresent everyday object long appeared to be destined for failure. Another victim of the digital age their position as guardians of journalism has never been more relevant than today. In 2016 Meiré produced the first four works in the series based on the Swiss Newspaper NZZ, which he has previously helped redesign. The metallic elements used in the casting process are referenced in the title. Each material produced in a limited edition of three individually casts. Depicted here, the work showcases the distinct format of the New York Times.
Mike Meiré ELEMENT 79 / ETERNAL NEWS SERIES NYT, 2019 Nickel coated gold bronze, Edition 1 of 3 54.5 × 28 × 2 cm
WINSTON ROETH
Working with raw pigment and a polyurethane medium, Roeth’s spellbinding paintings have a dense matt surface that draws the viewer into the intensity of the colour itself. Portrait in Light, part of an ongoing series of portrait format paintings that contain an monochromatic colour field set within painted borders, is a perfect example of the artist’s extraordinary ability to modulate painted surfaces in such a manner that they simultaneously attract light and project it towards the viewer. The intensity of the experience, akin to the encounter with sunlight at the moment of sunrise or nightfall, is precisely calibrated and determined. In preparation for his survey exhibition at the Museum in Wiesbaden Germany, Winston Roeth embarked on two new large scale works entitled Summertime Blues and Buddha Sunset. Here the artist continues his exploration into the very essence of colour. In this instance subtle shifts in hue, intensity and surface texture are achieved through the application of pure raw pigments across an assembly of panels. The awareness and complete presence required to achieve works of such purity is unfathomable.
Winston Roeth Portrait In Light, 2014 Pigments and polyurethane on dibond panel 101.6 Ă— 76.2 cm
WINSTON ROETH
Winston Roeth Installation: Speed of Light, Museum Wiesbaden, Germany 11.09.20 - 21.02.21
Winston Roeth Buddha Sunset, 2020 Pigments and polyurethane on dibond panels 304.8 Ă— 304.8 cm
HADI TABATABAI
In 2003 Hadi Tabatabai visited Agnes Martin at her home in New Mexico. During his visit, Tabatabai asked Martin if she thought perfection, beauty, and reality were one and the same. Upon reflection, Martin countered that they are different, but there is a place where all three come together. Tabatabai’s practice evolves from exploring the aesthetic possibilities offered by repetition and precision. The works teeter on the edge between painting and sculpture. Embracing the formal aesthetic of American minimalism these works, conceived of string, paint and a variety of supports, encompass a haptic quality often missing in hardedged abstraction. The carefully calibrated composition of each work invites you to consider the planes of reality from which these works originate. The perception is best described as an experience, which evokes a sense of otherworldliness. Made by human hand, these objects appear to be machine-made but not mechanical. It is this contradiction harboured in each work that alludes to the artist’s own experience.
Hadi Tabatabai Suite of five paintings: Thread Painting 2015-05, 2015 Thread, acrylic paint, and ABS on Dibond panel Each 43.2 × 21.4 cm
HADI TABATABAI
Hadi Tabatabai Thread Painting 2020-05, 2020 Thread, acrylic paint, and ABS on Dibond panel 61.3 cm x 54.9 cm
HENRIK EIBEN
Henrik Eiben’s multifaceted works are full of deceptions and wilful contradictions. They evolve from a reduced vocabulary consisting of predominantly geometric elements, that embrace a thoroughly joyful use of colour and are applied in a wide variety of materials. The composition of each work is developed intuitively, rather than following a mathematical system. Eiben’s love for unorthodox materials extends to the use of fabrics ranging from cheap fake leather to cashmere felts or knitted wool. Humble construction materials are used alongside rare wood or highly engineered elements, often made in collaboration with craftsmen. The love for fabrics and the variety of materials began during Eiben’s studies in the USA. It was then that he decided to work untethered to any dogma and embraced variety, each material chosen for its ability to serve as a means to accomplish a preconceived idea, rather than for its inherent attributes. Many of Eiben’s pieces at first appear as clearly defined abstract art-works, however, on closer inspection their often skilfully hidden sub-context reveals a broader and more nuanced approach to abstraction.
Henrik Eiben CISMA (What If I Don’t), 2019 Ceramic and wood 101 × 15 × 5.5 cm
HENRIK EIBEN
Henrik Eiben Jawlensky’s smile 6 (R. Klüger), 2020 Nail polish, Leather, Brass and Cooper 13.5 × 9.5 × 10 cm
SUSAN MORRIS
Plumb Line Drawing No. 11, is a definitive example of the artist’s continuing series of repetitive linedrawings. Each work in the series is the product of an exhaustive process, employing a plumb bob or ‘snap string’. The tool, commonly used in construction, is suspended from a nail, hammered through a large sheet of paper mounted on the wall. The nail, positioned along a horizontal line, serves as anchor point from which the plumb line is suspended, pulled taut and snapped. Each contact releases a fine line of vine ash onto the paper. The artist repeats the process by placing the nail a few millimetres to the right of the hole left by the previous iteration. Once again, the plumb line is lowered, pinched and plucked, as a new impression appears. The resulting sequence of lines condenses to a mesmerizing drawing of exceptional beauty, concealing the laborious process of its creation. What finally results from this repetitive work is a widescreen of closely woven vertical lines, an accumulation of moments that responds to the history of abstract picture making whilst also giving visibility to time: an extended discontinuous cinematic time of sequenced traces and gaps. The fine texture of marks fall like rain, subject to gravity rather than to the will of the artist. As the vine ash holds to the paper the lines seem weightless, like a great ashen cloud.
Dr Edward Krčma, University of East Anglia
Susan Morris Plumbline Drawing No. 11, 2009 Vine ash on paper 157.8 × 218.6 cm
SUSAN MORRIS
A set of six Jacquard tapestries woven directly from a recording of ambient sound, taken in the garden outside a library. The sound recording is configured to the ‘score’ for John Cage’s 1952 Lecture on Nothing, a spoken word performance that has silence at its core. The most striking feature of the work is a gradient colour that travels from left to right, beginning with a dark, inky, blue and ending with a cloudy white. The choice of the colour blue, and the way this colour passes across the set of six tapestries like a shadow, is intended to evoke the Cyanotype - proto-photographic prints made with sunlight. Stretching the tapestries emphasises the net-like structure of crossing lines that make up both the rhythmic pattern of the sound recording and the gradient colour effect, which is achieved by weaving solid lines of colour either closer or further away from one another. Another gradient is applied to the sound recording itself, with the two gradients (background and foreground) producing a horizontal movement that the eye registers as traveling in both directions. Finally, the sound peaks, which fall like rain down the tapestries, produce a a vertical movement in the opposite direction. These works are related to a series of large-scale Jacquard tapestries that have recently been commissioned by St John’s College, University of Oxford, for permanent display in their new library and study centre.
Susan Morris Silence (Project for a Library) No 1 to 6, 2020 Jacquard tapestry, Cotton and Polyester yarn, Edition 1 of 3 Each 63 × 88.5 cm
NICK TERRY
The compositions of Nick Terry’s watercolours are distilled from the inherent qualities of the materials he works with and the openness of his method to unforeseen developments. � In his latest series, dating from the past several years, large rolls of vinyl-saturated papers, and application tapes, are employed as substrates. These thin, crepe-like papers induce the paint to pool into rivulets, pools, and crevices. Terry next edits down from each original largescaled sheet, isolating and developing areas of interest, working free from the confines of a predetermined proportion. The scale and shape of each finished painting is the direct result of this process.
Nick Terry Untitled (Ref. 7, 3, 5, 2, 4, 9), 2019 - 20 Watercolour on vinyl-saturated paper Each 40.6 Ă— 50.8 cm
STEFANA MCCLURE
Stefana McClure is probably best known for her Films on Paper, an ongoing series of monochromatic works composed of a succession of superimposed subtitles, inter-titles or closed captions depicting entire movies. The process is subtractive: the surface of the paper is slowly eroded as sequential layers of information are transferred off. Hours of translated dialogue are reduced to a ghost form, dense in the middle, fading towards the edges. The hypersensitivity and intrinsic memory of the transfer paper enable these multi-layered works to become palimpsests with the iridescent glow of high tech video screens. The eight Films on Paper, first presented at Sleeper in Edinburgh are embodiments of Woody Allen’s wonderfully dystopian science fiction spoof of the same name. For this project, in addition to working with languages with which she is familiar, McClure has entered the exotic and more challenging realm of the unknown. Downloading subtitles in Finnish, Danish and Brazilian Portuguese, the artist then began the riddle-breaking process of researching enough of the structure of each language to correct spelling, sort out glitches and reassign the accents that had inevitably been lost in translation. Learning a language in this way, more concerned with decoding words than interpreting context, is like being an Egyptologist, studying patterns and deciphering hieroglyphs.
Stefana McClure Installation: Sleeper, 2016-2017 Transfer paper mounted on rag, Size variable
STEFANA MCCLURE
Distillation of time, obliteration and reconstruction of information, characterize my drawings and sculptures. The work has a selfstructuring methodology: visual form being determined by the process by which the work is made. For the past fifteen years, McClure has been deconstructing books (often lengthy ones such as Herman Melville’s Moby Dick or the same ‘80’s edition of Rand McNally’s Reader’s Digest Atlas of the World), reconfiguring them as continuous balls of string. Self-isolation in the midst of a global pandemic proved the perfect time to complete reconstructions of The Idiot, The Brothers Karamazov, Crime and Punishment, The Possessed, and A Raw Youth, Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s five major novels, a project McClure had been working on since 2018. These five behemoths are collectively known as The Five Elephants, a phrase coined by Svetlana Geier, perhaps the world’s greatest translator of Russian literature, who spent her life retranslating these texts into German.
Stefana McClure The Five Elephants: Five novels by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 2018-20 Cut paper Dimensions variable
BEAT ZODERER
At first Beat Zoderer’s works appear to be based on mathematical systems, however, nothing could be further from the truth. Despite being methodically structured, the largely spontaneous process of conception is guided by a desire to create order in chaos. Drawing on the formal language, the artist cleverly undermines the inherent rigour of geometric works though his signature playful use of materials, colour and form. Bestowing each work a complexity that continues to evolve as the object reveals its underlying structure. The processes used intentionally allow for imperfections and mistakes. Trained as an architect in Zürich, Zoderer continues to make large scale interventions in the public sphere. Works by Zoderer can be found on every continent, fitting for an artist who has travelled and worked across the globe. Indeed many of the artist’s works inadvertently draw on his experiences in India, time spent in Italy and more recently the US and Africa.
Beat Zoderer Vertikales Keilbild No. 6/20, 2020 Acrylic on primed wood 52 × 306
Beat Zoderer Faltenguss No. 3/18, 2018 Plaster 46 Ă— 40 cm
Beat Zoderer Horizontales Zig-Zag No. 9, 2019 Acrylic on primed wood 123 × 123 cm
JOAN WITEK
Made during a 1995 residency at the Montauk, Long Island estate of Nobel Prize-winning playwright Edward Albee, Joan Witek conceived a series of watercolours on paper and film. This exceptional group of works harbour a sense of an expanding composition that continues beyond the picture plane. Loosely painted, these generous watercolours play with our senses, inviting references to tree barks, ploughed fields or the movement of waves across a stormy seascape. Each work develops its unique character despite being made using a repeating methodology. As the black watercolour pigment settles on the surface and the water that carried it evaporates, the viewer is left with seemingly organic forms that invite the literal images. Witek suggests her own experiences as a point of departure, even referring to some of her earlier paintings as self-portraits. Indeed, this particular suite of works is of place without depending on site-specificity. Witek’s pictures are intimate in nature and full of complex suggestions while her artistic vocabulary remains reductive. The pieces accomplished through the exclusive use of the colour black, which the artist chooses for its primitive and emotional character.
Joan Witek Untitled (WC-137), 1995 Watercolour on film 40.5 Ă— 45.8 cm Untitled (WC-144), 1995 Watercolour on paper 37.7 Ă— 50.3 cm
Joan Witek Untitled (WC-134), 1995 Watercolour on film 34.5 × 37.6 cm
Joan Witek Untitled (WC-138), 1995 Watercolour on film 32 × 45.6 cm
Untitled (WC-135), 1995 Watercolour on film 37.7 × 50.8 cm
Untitled (WC-136), 1995 Watercolour on film 37.7 × 50.8 cm
ADAM BARKER-MILL
The work of Adam Barker Mill examines the physical and experimental properties of light, an interest, which originated from the artist’s childhood fascination with the caves located in his hometown of Somerset. Barker Mill’s sculptures revisit his concerns for light, which he initially began exploring in the sixties. His works have a deceptively simplistic appearance, allowing the viewer to maintain an idealistic visual. Acutely unaware of the carefully structured designs, these wall-reliefs reflect, manipulate and modulate light. Barker Mill’s sculptures are highly engaging, the various light effects and constantly changing experience closely relates to the viewers positioning and natural light conditions that activate these works. Part of the continuing ‘Ambient Light’ Series these latest Colour Reflectors cast colour into a viewing chamber. The intensity of the hue and shade is largely determined by the daylight that enters the work from one side. Often the effects of Adam Barker Mill’s works are subtle and surprising, perceptual distortion is a common platform of discussion, which undoubtedly adds to the enticing elements within these beautiful and precise wall-reliefs.
Adam Barker-Mill Colour Reflectors (Red) and (Blue/Yellow), 2020 Acrylic paint, Valcromat and Plywood Each 70 × 70 × 8 cm
Photocredits: Henrik Eiben, def image, Berlin Alan Johnston, Hans-Georg Gaul, Berlin Clay Ketter, Jean Baptiste Béranger, Skåne Julia Mangold, Lola Pertsowsky, Brussels Julia Mangold, Reiner Hausleitner, Berlin Allyson Strafella, Pete Mauney, NY Hadi Tabatabai, Eussei Kiehn, CA Mike Meiré, Mareike Tocha, Cologne Winston Roeth, Thomas Moore, NY Susan Morris, Paulo Ricca, London Beat Zoderer, André Huber, Wettingen With special thanks to Hamish Morrison, Berlin, Mies van der Rohe Haus Berlin and Fondation CAB, Brussels.
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