CHARLES AVERY EXPO CHICAGO PROFILE 821 GRIMM
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SEP 13 – SEP 17, 2017
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CHARLES AVERY 1973, Oban (UK)
Since 2005 Charles Avery has been describing a fictional Island in his drawings, texts, and objects. The Island is located at the centre of an archipelago of innumerable constituents. The gateway to the Island is the town of Onomatopoeia, once the arrival point of the pioneers who first came to discover the place, turned colonial outpost, turned boom town, bustling metropolis, depression ravaged slum, and regenerated city of culture and tourist destination. For EXPO Chicago’s Profile section which runs simultaneously with the Chicago Architecture Biennial, Avery presents a series of new architectural drawings and models of buildings for The Island.
Untitled (Design for an Enclosure, Onomatopoeia Zoo) 2017
Ink and pencil on paper, framed Paper size: 99 x 61.5 cm | 39 x 24 1/4 in Framed size: 101.5 x 64 cm | 40 x 25 1/4 in 202 BOWERY NEW YORK NY 10012
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Untitled (Elevation of Main Aquarium, Inner Circle, Onomatopoeia Zoo) 2017
Ink, pencil and acrylic on parchment mounted to board, framed Paper size: 89.5 x 60 cm | 35 1/4 x 23 5/8 in Framed size: 92 x 62 cm | 36 1/4 x 24 3/8 in
At the centre of the Inner Circle of Onomatopoeia Zoo stands a great aquarium, atop of which is a swimming pool. The aquarium is encased in a tower constructed of rhomboid concrete blocks, and hexagonal prism forms. An inner and outer wall enclose a staircase which conveys one to various viewing platforms, and ultimately to a landing which leads to two smaller stairways by which it is possible to access the pool level.
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Untitled (Plan of a swimming pool on top of the main aquarium, Inner Circle, Onomatopoeia Zoo) 2017
Ink, pencil and acrylic on parchment mounted to board, framed 1/8 Framed size: 56 x 77 cm | 22 x HALSSTRAAT 30 1/4 in 26 KEIZERSGRACHT 241 +1 (646) 484-5223 202 BOWERY FRANS NEW YORK NY 10012
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Untitled (Noumenology) 2014
Bronze, cherry wood and acrylic rod 73 x 20 x 27 cm | 28.7 x 7.9 x 10.6 in Edition of 1 + 1
In the Aquarium, the Islanders keep a leviathan, which they revere due to its size, and its mysterious nature. They fear the creature, which is why they have it so well contained, but they also gain a degree of frisson from feeling that they are swimming ‘with’ it. Therefore the pool is connected to the aquarium by a vertical pipe, far too narrow to imperil the bathers, but enough for both bodies of water to mingle.
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Untitled (The Momentary Man Gang) 2017 Acrylic and pencil on paper, framed 72 x 54 cm | 28 3/8 x 21 1/4 in
The tower serves another purpose, which is to provide the water pressure for the whole complex. It is connected — by a series of pipes and gates — to a series of smaller aquariums and enclosures, concentrically arranged around the tower. By opening a series of valves and locks, the Islanders are able to move water around the zoo as they wish. This begs the question - “How do they fill the tower with water?” They do so by two means: the pool itself acts as a great catchment vessel thus capitalising on the Island’s frequent rainfall. Furthermore, the edifice is connected to a colonnaded underwater lake — navigable either by walkway or boat.
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Untitled (Plan of Staircase going through three levels, Inner Circle, Onomatopoeia Zoo) 2017 Ink, pencil, watercolor and acrylic on parchment mounted to board, framed Paper size: 78 x 58 cm | 30 3/4 x 22 7/8 in Framed size: 80.5 x 60 cm | 31 3/4 x 23 5/8 in
Within the reservoir there are six Islands, three of which support bovine beasts tethered to a great lever. As the animals plod after one another on the circular trajectory to which they are constrained, they move a piston which displaces water through a chamber and forces it up the pipes into the top of the aquarium. The pool-goers above — and it’s an exclusive club — have little notion or feeling for the toil that goes on in the belly of the zoo, as they disport themselves.
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Untitled (Dha idol) 2017
316 marine grade mirror polished stainless steel 47 x 32 x 23 cm | 18 1/2 x 12 5/8 x 9 1/8 in Edition of 4
Egg Eating Egret 2011 Bronze, enamel paint and an egg 74 x 20 x 28.5 cm | 29 1/8 x 7 7/8 x 11 1/4 in Edition of 1 + 1 AP
Cafe Table and three short stools 2017 Maple wood and aluminum, four parts Table: 74 x 89.7 x 86 cm | 29 1/8 x 35 1/4 x 33 7/8 in Stool: 45.5 x 37.8 x 30 cm | 17 7/8 x 14 7/8 x 11 3/4 in Edition of 6 202 BOWERY NEW YORK NY 10012
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Untitled (Plan of Inner Circle, Onomatopoeia Zoo) 2017
Ink, pencil, watercolor and acrylic on parchment mounted to board, framed Paper size: 119 x 88.8 cm | 46 7/8 x 35 in Framed size: 123 x 93 cm | 48 3/8 x 36 5/8 in
The Islanders live in world without time, which is regarded as a superfluous construct of their colonial Nemesis, Triangland. Instead , they organise the ideas of their world spatially. Their eras are defined by geometric terms, not by a chronology. For example a building would be identified as belonging to the era of the pentagon, or of the nonagon, or of the tetrahedron. The zoo belongs to the era of the hexagon. The drawings shown here are plans and elevations of the zoo and its centrepiece, describing the extent of the underground lake, the structure of the great tower and highlighting the geometries by which it was conceived. 202 BOWERY NEW YORK NY 10012
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202 BOWERY NEW YORK NY 10012
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Artist CV Charles Avery Born 1973, Oban (UK) Lives and works in London (UK) AWARDS 2017 2004 2003 2002
Shortlisted for the Daniel and Florence Guerlain Contemporary Art Foundation’s Drawing Prize, Les Mesnuls Shortlisted for the Jerwood Drawing Prize, London Prospects Drawing Prize, London Shortlisted for the Jerwood Drawing Prize, London Shortlisted for the Prospects Drawing Prize, London
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2017 [forthcoming], Museum of Modern Art, Edinburgh (UK) [forthcoming], GRIMM 202 Bowery, New York, NY (US) The First Art Bus in Israel, Petach Tikva Museum of Art, Tel Aviv (IL) Study #15, David Roberts Art Foundation, London (UK) The People and Things of Onomatopoeia: Part 2, Pilar Corrias Gallery, London (UK) 2015 The impossible city, Edinburgh Art Festival, Edinburgh (UK) Charles Avery: The People And Things of Onomatopoeia, Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh (UK) What’s the matter with Idealism?, GEM, Museum for Contemporary Art, The Hague (NL) fig-2 2/50 Charles Avery, ICA Studio, London (UK) 2014 What’s so great about Happiness ? –The people and things from Onomatopoeia– Part 2, Galleria S.A.L.E.S, Rome (IT) What’s so great about Happiness ? –The people and things from Onomatopoeia, GRIMM, Amsterdam (NL) 2013 It means it means, Curated by Tom Morton, Pilar Corrias, London (UK) Vitrines: Charles Avery, L’Antenne, Le Plateau, FRAC, Paris (FR) Solo Exhibition, Galleria S.A.L.E.S, Rome (IT) 2012 New works from the Islanders project (Concerning the Qoro-qoros, the Jadindagadendar and the Eternal dialectic), GRIMM, Amsterdam (NL) 2011 New drawings of Onomatopoeia, Galleria S.A.L.E.S, Rome (IT) A Million Miles from home, The Folkestone Triennial, Folkestone (UK) Place de la Revolution, Pilar Corrias, London (UK) 2010 Onomatopoeia, Part 1, FRAC, Ile-de-France Le Plateau, Paris (FR) Onomatopoeia, Part 1, Kunstverein, Hanover (DE) Onomatopoeia, Part 1, EX3 – Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea, Florence (IT) Charles Avery Onomatopoeia, Part 2: The Port, Pilar Corrias, London (UK) 2009 Onomatopoeia, Part 1: Creeds, Galleria Sonia Rosso, Turin (IT) 2008 The Islanders: An Introduction, Parasol Unit, London (UK); touring to The National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh (UK) and Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (NL) 2007 Maquette of the Eternity Chamber, Faye Fleming & Partner (former Arquebuse), Geneva (CH) The Islanders: An Introduction - Part III, Faye Fleming & Partner (former Arquebuse), Geneva (CH) 2006 The Plane of the Gods, Cubitt Gallery, London (UK) The Islanders: An introduction - Part II, Galleria Sonia Rosso, Turin (IT) Charles Avery and Keith Wilson, Alexandre Pollazzon, London (UK) 2005 The Islanders : An Introduction, Doggerfisher, Edinburgh (UK) Hunting the Noumenon, Galleria Archimede Staffolini, Nicosia (IT) Avatars, Galleria S.A.L.E.S, Rome (IT) 2004 The Hunter, Man in the Holocene, London (UK)
2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998
It Thinks, Galleria Sonia Rosso, Turin (IT) The Square Root of 2, Sleeper, Edinburgh (UK) The Freedom of the Universe, Galleria S.A.L.E.S., Rome (IT) The Truth about the Truth, Doggerfisher, Edinburgh (UK) Triangle Land, Dee/Glasoe Gallery, New York, NY (US) The Palace of the Gulls, Percy Miller Gallery, London (UK) The Last Yolk, Sonia Rosso Gallery, Pordenone (IT) The Riddle of Pooch Avery, Dee Glasoe Gallery, New York, NY (US) The Ghost of Scirribin, Nylon Gallery, London (UK) Charles Avery, Richard Heller Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (US) The Life and Times of Nancy Haselswon, Tablet Gallery, London (UK) The creation of the Omniverse, Nylon, London (UK) Portraits of people who never existed, Entwistle Gallery, London (UK)
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2017 Plurivers- 4 imaginary ethnological studies, La Panacee Centre D’Art Contemporain (FR) Art Night 2017, Whitechapel Gallery, London (UK) Glasstress 2017, Fondazione Berengo, Palazzo Franchetti, Venice (IT) Exhibition paintings, Kunst Meran, Merano (IT) 2016 Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Kochi Biennale Foundation, Kunnumpuram (IN) The Science of Imaginary Solutions, Breese Little, London (UK) Drawing Conclusions, RISD Museum, Providence (US) 2015 The Improbable City, Edinburgh Art Festival 2015, Edinburgh (UK) 2014 Feels like Heaven, Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv (IL) Intenzione Manifesta, Castello di Rivoli (curated by Beatrice Merz and Marianna Vecellio), Turin (IT) The Great Acceleration: Art in the Anthropocene, Taipei Biennial (curated by Nicholas Bourriaud), Taipei (TW) GENERATION: 25 Years of Contemporary Art in Scotland, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh (UK) Year After Year: Works from the UBS Art Collection, Galleria D’Arte Moderna di Milano (GAM), Milan (IT) Huidige zaken, GRIMM, Amsterdam (NL) Potent Wilderness, Igal Ahouvi Art Collection, The Genia Schreiber University Art Gallery, Tel Aviv (IL) 2013 Drawing Room 2013, (curated by Ami Barak) Carre St Anne, Montpellier (FR) Mijn Derde Land [My Third Land], Frankendael Foundation, Amsterdam (NL) Revealed2: CollectorSpace, Anne and Gordon Samstag Museum of Art, University of South Australia (AU) The World is Almost Six Thousand Years Old, Collection and Usher Gallery, Lincoln (UK) Imagining Islands: Artists and Escape, The Courtauld Gallery (curated by MA Curating the Art Museum students and The Courtauld Institute of Art), London (UK) Beastly Hall, (curated by Artwise) Hall Place, Bexley (UK) A Parliament of Lines, The Pier Arts Centre, Orkney (UK) 2012 Galicia: Topographies of Myth, SOKOL, Nowy Sacz (PL) A Parliament of Lines, The Pier Arts Centre, Orkney; ECAC, (UK); City Art Centre, Edinburgh (UK); The RMIT University Gallery, Melbourne (AU) Hedendaagse Surreele Tekeningen Uit Rotterdam, Collectie Boijmans van Beuningen, curated by Marieke Wiegel, Institut Neerlandais, Paris (FR) Le miroir et l’encyclopedie, Galerie Michel Journiac, Paris (FR) Haunts and Follies, Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts, Melbourne (AU) Machines for Living, Yaffo 23, Jerusalem (IL) The Comic Side of Art, Nest, Den Haag (NL) 2011 A Million Miles from Home, The Folkestone Triennial, Folkstone (UK) As The World Turns: New Art From London, Anna Schwartz Gallery, Sydney (AU) 202 BOWERY +1 (646) 484-5223 FRANS HALSSTRAAT 26 KEIZERSGRACHT 241 +31 (0) 20 675 24 65 INFO@GRIMMGALLERY.COM NEW YORK NY 10012
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British Art Show 7: In the Days of the Comet, Hayward Touring Exhibition. Nottingham: Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham Castle Museum & Art Gallery, New Art Exchange; London: Hayward Gallery; Glasgow: Centre for Contemporary Art, Gallery of Modern Art, Tramway; Plymouth: Peninsula Arts Gallery, Plymouth Arts Centre, Plymouth City Museum & Art Gallery, The Slaughterhouse, Plymouth College of Arts Gallery (UK) 2010 Recent British Sculpture, curated by Tom Morton, GRIMM, Amsterdam (NL) Languages and Experimentations, Casa d’Arte Futurista Depero, Trento (IT) 2009 Altermodern, 4th TATE Triennial, London (UK) Walking in My Mind, Hayward Gallery, London (UK) A Duck for Mr Darwin, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead (UK) Life Forms, Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm (SE) 2008 Made Up, International Festival of Contemporary Art, 5th Liverpool Biennial, Tate Liverpool (UK) Scotland & Venice 2003, 2005, 2007, Charles Avery, Simon Starling and Cathy Wilkes, The Pier, Orkney (UK) Irony and Gesture, Kukje Gallery, Seoul (KO) 2007 Scotland & Venice, 52nd Venice Biennale, Venice (IT) The Lyon Biennale, Lyon (FR) The Athens Biennale, Athens (GR) Timer, Triennial Bovisa, Milan (IT) Every Eye Sees Differently as The Eye, The Drawing Room, London (UK) Welcome to My World, Alexandre Pollazzon, London (UK) 2005 Sculpture Garden, Jonathan Viner, London (UK) Memphis Flaca, London (UK) Theoroma, Musee d’Art Contemporain, Avignon (FR) 2004 Premio del Golfo, La Spezia (IT) Jerwood Drawing Prize 2004, London and touring trailer (UK) Trailer, Man in the Holocene, London (UK) Io Mi Ricordo, Galleria S.A.L.E.S, Rome (IT) 2003 Il Premio per la Giovane Arte Italiana, Padiglione di Venezia, 50th Venice Biennale, Venice (IT) Love Over Gold, Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow (UK) Necessary Kids: Charles Avery, Piotr Uklanski, Costa Vece, Gallerie Civico, Sicily (IT) Dark Shadows, Marc Foxx Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (US) Works on Paper, Archimede Staffolini Gallery, Nicosia, Cyprus (GR) Prospects Drawing Prize, Truman Brewery, London (UK) 2002 Contemporary Art Project, Museum of Modern Art, Seattle, WA (US) measure of distance, Magnani, London (UK) Jerwood Drawing Prize, Jerwood Space, London; MAC Birmingham; Glasgow School of Art; EICH Gallery, Hull; The Lowry, Manchester (UK) Prospects Drawing Prize, Truman Brewery, London (UK) Supersonic and Alien, S.A.L.E.S., Rome (IT) Flights of Reality, Turnpike Gallery, Leigh; Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge (UK) 2001 Ghosty, Mille Eventi, Milan (IT) Works on Paper, S.A.L.E.S, Rome (IT) 2000 Made Space, Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh; Changing Room, Stirling (UK) Drawing, Percy Miller Gallery, London (UK) Innuendo, Dee/Glasoe Gallery, New York, NY (US) Made Space, Pekao Gallery, Toronto (CA) 1999 Surveying the Landscape, Lombard Freid Gallery, New York, NY (US) Selection from the Files, Nylon, London (UK) The British on Paper, Galleria Sonia Rosso, Pordenone (IT) Untitled, Archimede Staffolini Gallery, Nicosia, Cyprus (GR)
on reverse
Untitled (Plan of Tondus Enclosure with Profile of Inner Circle, Onomatopoeia Zoo 2017
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Ink, pencil, acrylic and watercolor on parchment mounted to board, framed Paper size: 99.8 x 69.5 cm | 39 1/4 x 27 3/8 in FRANS HALSSTRAAT 26 KEIZERSGRACHT 241 +31 (0) 20 675 24 65 INFO@GRIMMGALLERY.COM 1072BR AMSTERDAM 1016EA AMSTERDAM THE NETHERLANDS WWW.GRIMMGALLERY.COM Framed size: 102 x 72 cm | 40 1/8 x 28 3/8 in
202 BOWERY NEW YORK NY 10012
+1 (646) 484-5223 UNITED STATES
FRANS HALSSTRAAT 26 1072BR AMSTERDAM
KEIZERSGRACHT 241 1016EA AMSTERDAM
+31 (0) 20 675 24 65 THE NETHERLANDS
INFO@GRIMMGALLERY.COM WWW.GRIMMGALLERY.COM