INFINITY : ONE Karl Bielik Terry Greene Gwennan Thomas David Webb 13 June - 19 July 2014
dalla Rosa Gallery | 121 Clerkenwell Road | London EC1R 5BY | dallarosagallery.com
INFINITY : ONE KARL BIELIK, TERRY GREENE, GWENNAN THOMAS, DAVID WEBB 13 June – 19 July 2014 Infinity : One is based on a simple premise – the painter’s approach to different surfaces. This starting point has lead to further consideration of the four artists’ practice, especially in relation to canvas and paper. We have selected one painting for each artist to be presented alongside works on paper, card, and newspaper. These have been picked to establish a dialogue between mediums and among the four artists. During this selection process the interest has partly shifted towards artist studios’ activities with a focus on technique and medium, aim and progress. London-based painter Karl Bielik works with oils on canvas, board, paper, and found cardboard. The pieces on paper and card are sometimes preparatory to paintings, but not as a rule. Asked if a specific surface lends itself to more experimental work Karl writes: ‘I try to be experimental with all my work, but the cost of paper does play a part in a looser approach and allowing the works to be finished earlier than I may when working on a more precious surface. It works well to stop me going down the well worn path of overworking paintings.’ Terry Greene lives and works in Yorkshire, he uses found paper, card, and newspapers to experiment alongside his paintings on canvas. Mixing collage, tape, acrylic paint, and marker pens, Terry uses paper to ‘record forms that made too early an appearance - before I was ready to accept them. When working on found bits of board or paper I’m perhaps less concerned with questions of how and why, allowing for new improvised ways of making to be discovered. Also It’s often fine to produce something quickly and much more provisional.’ Gwennan Thomas graduated from Wimbledon College of Art and has recently moved to Berlin. Her paintings on canvas and board are characterized by delicate layers of oil paint that seem to filter forms lingering in the background. ‘As well as works on paper and paintings I am working on, my studio is often littered with notes and drawings stuck on walls with information on different paint combinations, thoughts and rough drawings as well as sketchbooks. I like there to be a running conversation between drawings and paintings and often look to my sketches to inform my larger paintings. My paper pieces are either works in themselves or echoes of ideas I am working on.’ David Webb uses acrylic paint to create condensed recollections that gather archetypical forms, characterised by the vivid colours of memory. About his use of different surfaces David writes: ‘I work on paper and canvas simultaneously, I usually have a pile of ready cut cartridge paper in the studio and make work on this alongside working on canvases. Work on paper can be preparatory, unrelated, or independent from the work on canvas. I also carry a small notebook with me everywhere in which I draw and make written notes, every day, all the time. These are almost always in pencil or black/blue pen and are nearly always line drawings. They serve to record things and to remind myself. Most of my paintings on canvas and my work on paper described above begin in these notebooks.’
previous page: David Webb, Vermonter (2012), detail, acrylic and pumice on canvas, 77 x 51 cm opposite: Karl Bielik, Playtime (2014), detail, oil on linen, 180 x 200 cm
4 QUESTIONS + 4 PAINTERS Q&A WITH KARL BIELIK, TERRY GREENE, GWENNAN THOMAS, DAVID WEBB Giovanna PaternĂł: What comes first, paper or canvas? Do you use paper (or similar) in the preparatory stages of your work or is it unrelated to your painting on ‘tougher’ surfaces? Terry Greene: My works on paper tend to be self contained explorations, incorporating a variety of approaches and made very intuitively. However, very recent paintings on canvas, probably for the first time, bear a close relationship with an ongoing series of evolving thumb-nail sketches which initially documented something interesting arising at an earlier stage of older paintings, something that was probably subsequently covered over and would now be forgotten. I guess these thumbnail notations, in marker pen and coloured pencils, are a record of forms that made too early an appearance - before I was ready to accept them. Gwennan Thomas: Both. As well as works on paper and the paintings I am working on, my studio is often littered with notes and drawings stuck on walls with information on different paint combinations, thoughts and rough drawings as well as sketchbooks. I like there to be a running conversation between drawings and paintings and often look to my sketches to inform my larger paintings. My paper pieces are either works in themselves or echoes of ideas I am working on. I also use the works on paper to try out different colour combinations. Karl Bielik: I work on them side by side, mainly on unprimed paper around 40 x 30cm , sometimes found paper and cardboard. They do sometimes work as a preparatory pieces but that is not the intention. I have around 10 works on the paper on the go at most times alongside 20 or so works on canvas and panel. David Webb: Work on paper for me falls into two distinct practises. Firstly, I work on paper and canvas simultaneously, in that I usually have a pile of ready cut (random sizes/formats) cartridge paper in the studio and make work on this alongside working on canvases. In terms of how I make and see them, work on paper can be any of the above - preparatory, unrelated (though they are normally related) or independent from the work on canvas. Just like my work on canvas I often work within an idea (sometimes a similar motif is explored again and again) but am always prepared to go off on a tangent and make a one-off image. Secondly, I carry a small notebook with me everywhere in which I draw and make written notes, every day, all the time. These are almost always in pencil or black/blue pen and are nearly always line drawings. Sometimes the notebooks are plain paper, but I also really like doodling on squared and lined paper. They serve to record things and to remind myself. Most of my paintings on canvas and my work on paper described above begin in these notebooks. I date and keep them all and sometimes refer much later to the drawings/notes.
opposite: Terry Greene, Foragora (2013-14), detail, acrylic on canvas, 29 x 39 cm
Giovanna Patern贸: Do you use the same medium on different surfaces? For example: oil/acrylic/pencil/ marker pen/collage. Gwennan Thomas: In the sketchbooks I use either felt tip pens which have a tip reminiscent of a paintbrush or my fountain pen. I like the flatness of the colour of the felt tips and the scribbled monochrome of the pen. I also prime paper for working on with oil paints as I enjoy the fluidity of paint and the speed with which it allows me to work whilst I am sketching. My paintings on board, linen or calico are made exclusively using oils. David Webb: I almost always use acrylic. Sometimes I also add charcoal and/or pumice into the paint. In the notebooks, pencil and pen. Terry Greene: I mostly use the same mediums and that list pretty much covers what I employ (along with various types of tape). Karl Bielik: I work primarily in oil paint on canvas/board and paper, sometimes pencil, marker, pastels,spray paint or collage will creep in but mainly oil.
Gwennan Thomas, Untitled (2014), oil on paper, 24.1 x 15.5 cm opposite: Gwennan Thomas, Untitled (2014), detail, oil on calico, 25.2 x 30.9 cm
Giovanna Paternó: Do you think a specific surface lends itself to more experimental work? If so, is your approach to said surface more instinctive compared to others? Karl Bielik: I try to be experimental with all my work, but the cost of paper does play a part in a looser approach and allowing the works to be finished earlier than I may when working on a more precious surface. It works well to stop me going down the well worn path of overworking paintings. Terry Greene: Certainly, working on certain surfaces I find offers a greater level of freedom. When working on found bits of board or paper I’m perhaps less concerned with questions of how and why, allowing for new improvised ways of making to be discovered. Also It’s often fine to produce something quickly and much more provisional. When painting on canvas there is this whole ‘other’ thing going on as well - which is perhaps about experiencing something in the making (and over a prolonged period) which becomes part of the subject you are trying to explore. David Webb: I love the smooth surface of paper (I try to make my canvases as smooth) and the way that very watery paint forms pools of intense colour when you work flat. I also really like the way the paper wrinkles up and never work on stretched, coloured or heavily textured paper. I think the work on paper and canvas are closely related, but I’d like them sometimes to be even more so, in that like most artists who make both, I am slightly less precious about the works on paper and perhaps more spontaneous and instinctive; take a few more risks. Gwennan Thomas: I recently started working on calico or quite thin cottons which has meant that I have had to renegotiate how I apply paint on this surface. My paintings on boards allowed for a lot of layering which isn’t true of the calico. I’m quite particular about the surfaces I work on. I prefer these to be smooth (a bit like ice-skating). In my series of works on ply, I liked the grain of the wood to come through so the layers had to be very considered. This also applies to the calico as it doesn’t hold heavy paint work well. The paper I think tends to be more instinctive as these are often sketches or ideas for works in their early stages.
Karl Bielik, installation view, all Untitled (2013), oil on paper opposite: Karl Bielik, Untitled (2013), detail, oil on paper, 12.1 x 20 cm following page: David Webb, installation view, all acrylic on card (c. 2013)
Giovanna Patern贸: How often do you show your work on paper? David Webb: Not as often as work on canvas, though in every solo show I include some, and recently was in a four-man show of work on paper. Karl Bielik: I showed some works on paper in late 2013 in a show curated by Matthew Macaulay and Lisa Denyer in Manchester (which also featured Terry Greene). They had around 10 pieces dotted around this silver walled unused office space, and it somehow worked.
Terry Greene: Almost never. I occasionally publish the odd work on paper via my blog, but that is about it. Gwennan Thomas: I have shown my works on paper in exhibitions (at Lion and Lamb Gallery and at my solo show at Flowers Gallery in Cork St) but I do tend to show my paintings more than my drawings.
KARL BIELIK Selected Exhibitions 2014 A Dream within a Dream, Bankley Gallery, Manchester Occurence, Aurora City Gallery, Illinois Eight Painters curated by Paul Behnke, Kathryn Markel, New York Encounter Fine Art Launch, Broadway House, London Art Converters, Studio 1.1, London 2013 First Come, First Served, The Lion and Lamb, London Exchange Project curated by Claire Undy, APT Gallery, London Form/Function curated by Lisa Denyer and Matthew Macaulay, Piccadilly Place, Manchester Now you see it, now you don’t, The 8th Terrace Annual Open, London Other Objects, curated by Caterina Lewis & Gwennan Thomas, The Lion and Lamb, London WILAY North, curated by Julie Torres, Imogen Holloway Gallery, New York WILAY, curated by Julie Torres, Parallel Art Space, New York Meditations, curated by Lisa Denyer and Matthew Macaulay, The Meter Room, Coventry 2012 Plane Space curated by Dan Roach, The East Crypt, Worcester Cathedral The Art of Falling Apart, the 7th Terrace Open, London 2011 The Velryba Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic Done Paint Done, The Drawers Gallery, London The Creekside Open, Selected by Phyllida Barlow, APT Gallery, London A Heap of broken Images, where the sun beats, The 6th Terrace Open, London The Marmite Painting Prize touring Coventry, Tameside and London 2010 The Barbican Arts Group Trust Open, London BHVU Winter Open, London Vintage at Goodwood, A Customized mannequin for an Artists charity auction. Hang then Decay... It says something to me about my life, The 5th Terrace Open, London The Anthea Turner Prize, Compton Studios, London 2009 The Art Factory, Budapest, Hungary And it’s Time, Time, Time and it’s Time...The 4th Terrace Open, London Surface, Imperial College, London 2008 The Marmite Painting Prize, Studio 1.1, London So Much Wasted Wine... So Many Dead Flowers, The 3rd Terrace Open, London 2007 Oh Deborah! CA Projects, London Departure Lounge, Terrace, London Doodles, Noodles and Snippets, Vital Arts, Whitechapel Hospital, London 2006 Time Flies, The 2nd Terrace Open, London New Pain, Vertigo Gallery, London 2005 Happiness Blues, Terrace, London Painting, Y.A. Gallery, Berlin 2004 Lexmark European Art Prize, Eyestorm, London London Arts East, 291 Gallery, London Somewhere, The 1st Terrace Open, London
2002 36X36, Mafuji Gallery, London Art 2002, Stricoff Gallery, New York 2001 36X36, Mafuji Gallery, London 1999 Bratri Capku Gallery, Prague Do not go gently, Jednorozec Gallery, Prague
Karl Bielik in his Hackney studio, April 2014 Š Lorna Milburn
TERRY GREENE Selected Exhibitions 2014 About Painting, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester Painted Thought, ArcadeCardiff, Cardiff 2013 Pairs, curated by Ian White Williams, Proto Gallery, Hoboken, New Jersey Painting Too, HMS Exhibition Space, Nottingham A Welsh Pavillion, Sluice Art Fair, London Form|Function, Piccadilly Place, Manchester Without an edge there is no middle, Pluspace Gallery, Coventry 2012 Materials and Methods, curated by Brian Edmonds, curatingcontemporary.com (online) 2011 6-inch Cube, curated by Patricia Calver, The Gallery at South Square, Bradford 2009 HALLelujah!, curated by Janie Nicoll, 212 West Princes Street, Glasgow 2008 FLESH, curated by Steve Manthrope, Bradford Gallery, Bradford Music Exhibition, curated by Caroline Hick, the Gallery, Bradford Playhouse Art/Home Movies, High Rise Cinema, the Park Gallery, Falkirk
2007 RGB, curated by Stephen White, The Gallery at South Square, Bradford Consequence Screenings, Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, Edinburgh Consequence Screenings, Low Salt Gallery, Glasgow Deviant Art Festival, Pumphuset, Trollhättan, Sweden 2006 Intersection, curated by Sorrel Muggridge, Yorkshire Craft Gallery, Bradford 2005 New Art Birmingham, The Kettle Works, Birmingham Selected Projects 2011 WONDERLAND, collaboration with Robert Hope, Gallery II, Bradford 2007 Robert’s World, collaboration with Martin Heron and Jean McEwan, South Square Gallery, Bradford 2005 Michael, collaboration with Martin Heron, Keighley Arts Factory, West Yorkshire 2004 Serendipity, collaboration with Martin Heron, Leeds University, The Old Mining Building Selected Publications (Standard) INTERVIEW, September 2012 Buddy of Work, June 2012 Studio Critical, May 2012 A/Art Blog, February 2012 Terry Greene’s studio in Yorkshire, April 2014 © Philip Jones
Terry Greene, installation view, all Untitled (2012-13), collage, acrylic, pen, and tape on paper
GWENNAN THOMAS Education 2008-11 Wimbledon College of Art, BA Hons Fine Art: Painting Solo Exhibitions 2013 Monday 24 June “Artist of the Day”, Flowers gallery (Cork Street), London Group Exhibitions 2014 Take Me Home projects, London 2013 Small is Beautiful, Flowers Gallery (East), London Oblique Exchange, curated by Claire Undy, APT Gallery, London Take Me Home, co-curated by Chris Ilankovan and Kybor Carlsen, London Other Objects, co-curated with Caterina Lewis, Lion & Lamb, London Form From Form, curated by Benjamin Bridges and Michael O’ Reilly, Matthews Yard, Croydon 2012 First Come First Served, Lion & Lamb, London Plane Space, curated by Dan Roach, Worcester Cathedral City of Words, City of Stone, Islington Arts Factory, London Abstract Critical Newcomer Awards, King’s Place Gallery, London 2011 Hackney Wicked Art Festival, Stour Space, London, UK Wimbledon College of Art BA Degree Show, London Miles/Km, La Tabacalera, Madrid Close Quarters, Vyner St Gallery, London 2010 Departures, The Viewtube, Hackney Wicked, London Panic Wagon, Fold Studios, London 2009 The Still Image Captures Something Else, Xindanwei Gallery, Shanghai 2008 Seventeen 08, Chapter House, Exeter Curatorial Projects 2013 Other Objects, co-curated with Caterina Lewis, Lion & Lamb, London 2012 Exhibit 3, Co-curated with Alice Cretney, Matthews Yard, Croydon Awards 2012 Abstract Critical Newcomer Awards Residencies 2013 Cyprus College of Art Summer School, Lemba, Cyprus Press and Publications Selected reviews on Gwennan Thomas’ work can be found on Paintes Table: http://painters-table.com/category/tags/gwennan-thomas “A 1000 Living Painters”, Art Initiative Verfhond (Amsterdam): http://a1000livingpainters.wordpress.com/2012/02/28/gwennanthomas/ The Times City Diary, Martin Waller 16/03/12 Abstract Critical Newcomer Awards 2012 Catalogue Wimbledon College of Art Degree Show Catalogue (2011)
Gwennan Thomas, Untitled (2014), oil on linen, 30 cm diameter
DAVID WEBB Education 2001-2002 Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Art. Cyprus College of Art, Lemba, Cyprus 1998-2000 MA Fine Art (painting). Canterbury Christ Church University College,UK 1999 Painting Summer School. Cyprus College of Art, Lemba, Cyprus 1994-1997 BA (Hons) Fine Art. School of Art, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK 1992-1993 Foundation Course in Art. Hastings College of Art, UK Selected Solo Exhibitions 2014 Freedom Street The Royal Over-Seas League, London 2013 Fragmentarium, dalla Rosa Gallery, London 2012 Tourist Smoking Room. Transition Gallery, London 2010 Oaxaca Stadium. Arch Gallery. London 2008 David Webb New Works on Paper. Osokool Gallery, London 2004 Cyprus Paintings. First Floor Gallery, Yerevan, Armenia Selected Group Exhibitions 2014 Necessary Monsters, Stephen Lawrence Gallery, London GB/Switch/NL Pulchri, The Hague Paper Games Highgate Literary and Scientific Institute, London 2013 Chromatology. Cornaro Institute, Larnaca, Cyprus Without An Edge There Would Be No Middle Pluspace, Coventry Panel Paintings. Eagle Gallery, London 10 Years Too Late. Institut Fur Alles Mogliche, Berlin 2012 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Royal Academy of Arts, London Artprojects. Axis (selected London artist) London Art Fair The Perfect Nude, Wimbledon Space, London 2011 Drawing Connections. Siena Art Institute, Italy 2010 Exeter Contemporary Open. Selectors: Cathy Lomax,Domo Baal. Phoenix, Exeter Fwd: Drawing on Paper. Galleri Se Konst, Falun, Sweden 2009 Jerwood Contemporary Painters. Jerwood Space, London, and tour 2008 Small is Beautiful XXVI. Flowers East, London Jerwood Drawing Prize. Jerwood Space, London, and tour 2007 Triangle Alumni Exhibition. D.U.M.B.O Arts Festival, New York City Building Picturing. The Painting Center, New York City 2006 Thread. APT Gallery, London. (co-curator) Terra Incognita. Atelier Wilhelmina Gasthuisterrein, Amsterdam 2005 Re-escape (Viewing Club), Bucanearo, Hamburg BP Portrait Award. National Portrait Gallery, London 2004 Fourth International Biennial, Gyumri Centre for Contemporary Art, Armenia re:project. Access Gallery, Vancouver 2003 Common Fields, Studio Voltaire, London
2002 Opus 39 Gallery Nicosia, Cyprus 2000 Hung, Drawn and Quartered. Phoenix Gallery, Brighton 1998 Tabernacle Prize, MoMA Wales 1997-98 Wales Drawing Biennale Aberystwyth Arts Centre and Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Cardiff Collections Siena Art Institute, National Library of Wales, corporate and private collections in UK, USA, and Australia. Bibliography 2014 Necessary Monsters Dr. Veronica Sekules. Stephen Lawrence Gallery. Essay 2012 The Maternal Elephant Eleanor Moreton. Transition Gallery, London. Essay
2011 500 Portraits: BP Portrait Award, Sandy Nairne, National Portrait Gallery, London About Painting Barry Schwabsky. Transition Editions/University of Northumbria 2009 David Webb - New Paintings Dr. Cuillin Bantock. Essay Grants/Awards 2011 The Gihon River Collective Fellowship Award The Cornaro Institute, Cyprus. Fellow 2009 Jerwood Contemporary Painters. Award winner 2007 The David & Rosamond Putnam Transportation Fund. Travel Grant Arts Council England Award (Group). Bounty. A.P.T Gallery, London 2002-2003 Florence Trust Studios. Residency award, London
previous page: David Webb in his Deptford studio, June 2013 Š Benjamin Bridges David Webb, Croc (For M), c. 2013, acrylic on paper, 29.5 x 20.8 cm
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