8 Clarendon Cross | W11 4AP laceycontemporarygallery.co.uk
COVER IMAGE: Onwards as the World Sinks oil on canvas, 100cm x 130cm, 2012, ÂŁ3000
GEOFF DIEGO LITHERLAND
is a Mexican born painter currently living and working in Nottingham. He graduated in 2002 from Falmouth College of Arts with a BA in Fine art and in 2012 with an MFA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths. Geoff describes his work as exploring the tension between the natural world and its grasping appropriation by human influence. He is inspired by the Hudson River painters, abstract expressionism, and the films of Stanley Kubrick and Christopher Nolan. Geoff creates a space where his work can sit between figuration and abstraction. He tears holes in space and other dimensions, providing sci-fi portals to pull you in or spit you out. Giant expanses of the cosmos compacted into octagonal gates bridge these spaces together. In his universe, different times and dimensions are woven together. Are these a documentation of a land from the past or the future? Space for Geoff has a continuous narrative - every moment accessible, every world in the infinite universe within reach. The past and future crash into one another with glorious results.
PARALLEL WORLDS Litherland’s foremost concern is to create a space where his paintings can sit between figuration and abstraction, and where the materials are used as a manifestation of the fragility of a landscape – using paint in layers to allow the viewer to engage in the act of creation. Litherland gains a lot of inspiration from literary references and sci-fi imagery. His works often depicts geometric portals housing Eden like scenes lodged or floating amongst rural and abandoned landscapes.
“...I draw from traditional genres of painting together with the rusty surrealism of science fiction and the fantasia of abstraction to create a parallel world that seeks to not only question our perception of and relationship to nature, but paintings’ historical and current role in that.” - Geoff Diego Litherland
All is Wild All is Silent oil on canvas 100cm x 130cm, 2012 Winner of the Wardens Purchase Prize, Goldsmiths University of London 2012 £3000
Ladies and Gentlemen we're Floating in Space oil on canvas 100cm x 130cm, 2012 Winner of the Saatchi Art Surreal Showdown 2012 ÂŁ3000
The Future is Blinding Oil on Canvas, 100x130 cm, 2013 ÂŁ3000
These Corrosives Do Their Magic Slowly Oil on Canvas, 100x130 cm, 2013 ÂŁ3000
Hold us Still While Everything Spins oil on canvas, 100cm x 140cm, 2013 ÂŁ3000
OCTAGONAL SERIES In more recent works, Litherland explores the use of Octagonal canvases which act as ‘Portals’ into another world. Each of these paintings provide viewers a glimpse at dramatic landscapes filled with oceans, forests and mountains. The scenes are in a state of flux hovering between solid and liquid, abstract and figurative, creation and destruction. They are seen through patinas of light and rust, painterly veils that enhance this sense of ambiguity.
“Initially want the viewer to be attracted to the complexity of my work, the aesthetics and the craftsmanship - the physical marks, I want them to engage in the detail of the painting. Secondly - I want the sense of a narrative to linger...”
Space Ship Earth (Window no. 5) Let Me Go Oil and gesso on linen, 98x98cm, 2013, ÂŁ1800
Space Ship Earth (Window no. 6) Pools of Rust Oil and gesso on linen, 98x98cm, 2013 £1800
Space Ship Earth (Window no. 7) Deep Water Oil and gesso on linen, 98x98cm, 2013 £1800
Space Ship Earth (Window no. 13) Everyone is a Burning Sun oil on canvas, 150cm x 150cm, 2014 £4200
Space Ship Earth (Window no.11) Always Returning oil on canvas, 150cm x 150cm, 2014 £4200
ADJACENT The Adjacent series represent Litherlands most recent exploration in 2014. These works seek to further question and disrupt the narrative element in the work, unlike the Octagons which allude to being portals into another dimension or space. The Adjacent paintings show our world being occupied by hovering and shimmering portals much larger in scale than their counterpoint Octagonal pieces. Here the portals are gigantic, engulfing the picture plane. They offer an entry point into a mysterious other world. Litherland’s new Adjacent works will act as opposite pairings to his Octagonal Paintings - each Octagonal eventually having an Adjacent.
Adjacent - Universal Sigh Oil on Canvas, 90x110cm, 2014 £3000
Adjacent - Echo of Tomorrow Oil and Gesso on Linen, 58x64cm, 2014 ÂŁ1500
Adjacent - Lullaby Machine Oil and Gesso on Linen, 58x64cm, 2014 ÂŁ1500
Adjacent - Nothing Inside Something Oil and Gesso on Linen 58x64cm, 2014 ÂŁ1500
GEOFF DIEGO LITHERLAND | CV EDUCATION:
SOLO SHOWS:
2010-2012 MFA Fine Art, Goldsmiths University of London
2013 We Were Never Here, BEARSPACE, London
2002 BA Fine Art Painting, 1st Class Honours, Falmouth College of Art
2013 We Will Say Goodbye to Everything, Nancy Victor Gallery, London
1999 BTEC Diploma Foundation Studies in Art, LUSAD
2012 Flat Like the Old Days, Watergate Gallery, Hay-on-Wye 2012 Geoff Diego Litherland: New Paintings, Tarpey Gallery,
AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS:
Castle Donnington
2014 Featured in the Bonhams auction A Contemporary Edge
2011 Collisions, Art Work Space Gallery, London
2013 Selected for the Summer Exhibition at the RA
2009 Conjuntos, Nottingham Castle Galleries
2013 Chosen for the 2013 Catlin Guide
2009 Multiverses, Wallner Gallery, Lakeside Art Centre, Nottingham
2012 Winner of the Surreal Saatchi Online Showdown
2008 Goldfactory Research Space Residency, Egerton Studios, Nottingham
2012 Awarded the Wardens Purchase Prize from Goldsmiths College
2007 Falling Awake (joint show with Michael Bowdidge) 1851 Gallery,
2012 Selected for the Oriel Davies Open 2012
Nottingham
2011 Shortlisted for the Attenborough Prize at the Leicester Open 23
2002 Esperar, Falmouth College of Arts Degree Show
2011 Selected for the Salon Art Prize
2001 long5º29ºwlat50º14ºn, Spring Gallery, Falmouth Arts Centre
2010 Selected for the FringeMK Painting Prize 2008 Winner of the Nottingham Castle Open
JURY SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2008 Selected for the John Moores 25 Painting Prize
2013 Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London
2007 Awarded – Arts Council Grant, Research and Development of fine
2012 Oriel Davies Open, Newtown, Wales
art studio practice
2011 Open 23, Leicester New Walk Gallery and Museum
2004 Luxa – Awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the Arizona Film Festival
2011 Salon Art Prize, Matt Roberts Arts, London
2001 Sail Loft Bursary Awarded by Falmouth College of Arts
2011 Nottingham Castle Open, Nottingham Castle Galleries
2011 Colour, Beldam Gallery, Brunel University, Uxbridge
2012 Preposterous, La Scatola Gallery, London
2010 Crash, Charlie Dutton Gallery, London
2012 MA Final Show, Goldsmiths College, London
2010 Nottingham Castle Open, Nottingham Castle Galleries
2011 MA Interim Exhibition, Goldsmiths College, London
2008 Nottingham Castle Open, Nottingham Castle Galleries
2011 The Bookmark Project, Nottingham Contemporary
2008 John Moores 25 Painting Prize, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
2010 Relay, Core Gallery, Deptford, London
2008 Muse, Edgar Modern, Bath
2010 Closely Held Secrets, Bonington Gallery, Nottingham
2008 Spring Exhibition, J-Gallery, Northampton
2010 Race for The Prize, Tether, Nottingham 2010 Group Exhibition, Tarpey Gallery, Castle Donington
EXHIBITIONS:
2010 A Moment before Decadence, CoExist, Southend
2014 Exploration, Antlers gallery, Bristol
2010 Group exhibition, Hart Gallery, Islington
2014 A Contemporary Edge, Bonhams, London
2009 New Artists, Modern Artists Gallery, Whitchurch on Thames
2014 Affordable Art Fair, Battersea London, showing with the
2008 Gold Soundz, (currated by Geoff Diego Litherland) Southwell Artspace
Contemporary London
2008 Drawing Out, Bonington Gallery, Nottingham Trent University
2014 The London Art Fair, showing with Bearspace, London
2007 Summer Show, Friar Lane Gallery, Nottingham
2013 Refresh, Bearspace, London
2007 Anon, Southwell Artspace
2013 Spatial, Antlers Gallery Bristol
2007 Town and Country, Bonington Gallery, Nottingham
2013 An Undelivered Postcard from the Edge of the World,
2006 Process, Southwell Artspace
Affordable Art Fair, Battersea, London.
2004 the premier of Luxa and the other Echoes films at the Arizona
2013 Out of This World Part 1, Syson Gallery, Nottingham
Film Festival
2013 Burning Bright, Saatchi Online Artists, Hyatt Hotel London,
2003 BAC! Contemporary art in the Raval (group show), Tallers Mina, Barcelona
Selected by Rebecca Wilson
2003 Tots els Continents a Gracia (group show), La Cafetera, Gracia, Barcelona
2013 The London Art Fair, showing with Bearspace, London
2003 Salamander Gallery Westerham, Kent
2012 The Aftermath, Bearspace, London
2002 Lights, Crescent Arts, Scarborough
2012 Flatland, Blyth Gallery, London
2002 Fresh Air, Studio 95, Brick Lane, London
2012 Cluster II, SW1 Gallery, London
2001 St. Ives Open Studios Cornwall
2012 Diamond Armour, ARTicle Gallery, Birmingham 2012 Be Real, Hamni Gallery, London
BACK IMAGE: Something Other than Remaining oil on canvas, 100cm x 130cm, 2013, £3000