Cover image: Sir John Soane’s Museum 2014 (detail) Overleaf: Battersea Power Station 2014 (detail)
Daniela Gullotta
4 - 28 FEBRUARY 2015
Daniela Gullotta London Known & Unknown
MARLBOROUGH FINE ART 6 ALBEMARLE STREET LONDON W1S 4BY T: +44 (0) 20 7629 5161 E: MMILLER@MARLBOROUGHFINEART.COM WWW.MARLBOROUGHFINEART.COM
Gullotta’s London
The capacity of an artist to make one see things anew is one of the most potent qualities of art. Equally to make the familiar seem unfamiliar, to force you to consider whether you like or dislike something normally too well known to merit consideration. This is what these paintings do.
They make us look again at London, and look through the eyes of an artist trained partly in another city with different artistic forebears rather than that of the British tradition. Daniela Gullotta comes from Bologna, a city of arcades, bright light, deep shadow, of confined views that suddenly open to great spaces and an interplay of gothic and renaissance architecture. Her artistic mentors are largely of the Italian late 20th Century school but hovering here are the scenographic designers of the 17th and 18th Centuries – Piranesi yes, but also Bibiena and his School. There is more than a touch of the stage about her works and here she has brought those talents to bear on carefully selected buildings which carry the weight of London’s development from the Middle Ages to today. The result is an exhibition that reintroduces the familiar and, on occasions, conveys us to the unfamiliar. She finds herself amongst a relatively small band of continental artists who have been seduced by London’s topography, each highly distinctive – Canaletto’s brilliant evocation of the city from the Thames, Monet’s smog-laden skies out of which familiar landmarks loom, or Kokoschka’s ariel perspectives from which the city almost dances with colour. Gullotta, though, has taken her own approach, largely concentrating on buildings in their particular environments strangely stripped of their daily activities. The starting point for a walk with these paintings might be the most westerly building: Battersea Power Station which, in the 1930’s, became the largest building in that part of the city. The three views demonstrate Gullotta’s ability to see its
different aspects. In the first it is seen as remote, a redundant edifice surrounded by impudent cranes; in the second as a work-horse with the railway and water arteries running towards it as if to feed its inexhaustible appetite for power. The last, the most colourful, shows it as a thing of transcendent beauty – its rich stone edifice, designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, a wonderful foil to the pale chimney stacks that seem to take off from its towers. The whole surrounding area, water and sky, take up the prism of its colours. Going east we encounter the historic buildings of the nation – the Palace of Westminster and its forerunner the Chapter House of Westminster Abbey, and beyond Trafalgar Square. The latter gives the artist the opportunity to position the National Gallery and St. Martin’s in the Field against a wonderful jumble of shapes which derive from the architecture of the square itself – Lutyens’ circular fountains set against the verticals and horizontals of plinths, staircases and balustrades – a brilliant tour de force. Travelling on we go inside buildings, first Sir John Soane’s Museum. In the first painting he presides over an interior where his ingenious spaces are wonderfully evoked but not at the expense of his collection which Gullotta rightly sees as part of the architectural expression. In the second, his position is taken by the Apollo Belvedere newly restored in its original space. Dropping down from Lincoln’s Inn Fields, she leads us to the Strand and the Royal Courts of Justice. Here it must have been tempting to try to do justice to George Street’s exterior, but instead, she conjures up the great central hall with its cut-away
BY JAMES MILLER
views through gothic arches, its lofty lancets all playfully reflected in the highly polished floor. A short walk beyond to Somerset House, the greatest of 18th Century London palaces, and here it is the great courtyard which she opens up to view – not glimpsed through the entrance arch but by a coup de théâtre of implied transparent walls opening outwards. Then the City itself – St. Paul’s Cathedral with the interplay of arcaded shapes remind one of how, in this most classical of buildings, Wren managed to create a sense of drama through ambiguous views. Beyond, the commercial world: Lloyds of London. The tautness of its financial life reflected in the brilliant use of the moving stairwell which seems to force itself through the space. Nearby Leadenhall Market appears as if by Panini. Sir Horace Jones’s richly painted interior fracturing into a wonderful interplay of colours. As in the Millenium Bridge which follows, Gullotta avoids the obvious, here eschewing the familiar ariel view and instead celebrating the sharpness of its piers, brilliantly set against the rotund outline of the Cathedral beyond. Yet further east we encounter Tower Bridge standing like a majestic sentinel to the City. This external watery view, amusingly contrasted with Bazalgette’s and Driver’s magnificent Albion Mills pumping station. Here its curious platforms that sit amongst the foul waters are fair game for Gullotta’s style. Above the pristine neo-renaissance galleries stare across the space illuminated by a semi transparent roof. Here her vantage point is from the upper gallery space whereas the extraordinary troglodyte lair of Crystal Palace Subway with its rich polychrome roof, is seen straight on,
as one might have encountered it as a prelude to the rebuilt Great Exhibition Halls on Sydenham Hill – surrounded by stone dinosaurs (what a curious place London is!). This journey ends with two places that demonstrate London’s continuing flux as a city. First the new Canary Wharf underground station, designed by Sir Norman Foster in 1990. This huge cavernous space little hinted at by the low glass coverings on ground level, below the great arcs intersect with the roofline, soaring up giving a daunting sense of space. Gullotta here takes full advantage of the rail tracks giving a wonderful sense of implied momentum to her picture. This approach also emerges in the mysterious rail tunnels, part of the unseen underground system that bores it way beneath London’s pavements. Whilst Canary Wharf almost resonates with the sound of trains, these mail tunnels seem unnaturally quiet, one strains one’s ear for a faint rumbling sound. There is an absence of people in her paintings although the buildings speak of human endeavour. It is a powerful absence reminding the viewer that these great feats of architecture from the Westminster Chapter House of 1250 to the Millenium Bridge of 2000 are symbols of our civilisation that we leave to posterity. Never is this more felt than the most evocative of her works, the three paintings of the Millenium Mills. This vast building standing on the south side of the Royal Victorian Docks near the Thames Barrier, was built in 1905 to mill corn coming in from the Empire into flour. Since its closure in 1981, its fate has been in the balance – destruction or resuscitation. As it waits,
its huge industrial halls still bristling with machinery seem to be haunted by times past and of thoughts of what is to come. Man is absent but it will be him to decide its fate. Meanwhile these cavernous interiors have been brilliantly caught by the artist’s brush. Strangely here, we seem to catch implied sounds as we wish for the entrance of commerce to start up once more. The coda to our walk is a surprise, though anyone driving into London on the M40 may know this building well although at a distance. Goldfinger’s Trellick Tower is enlivened by the beautiful patchwork of its inhabitants’ paraphanalia which lifts this lofty brutalist building into a thing of beauty against the night sky. These paintings acquaint us with a London we thought we knew well but here transformed by Gullotta’s artistry which renders their forms but also gives them an almost spiritual character.
The Directors of Marlborough Fine Art are grateful to the following who helped facilitate the artist’s visits to some of venues: Abraham Thomas and Helen Dorey, Sir John Soane’s Museum; Edward Holmes and The Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral; Kirsty Jones, Abbey Mills Pumping Station; Jules Hussey, Crystal Palace Subway; John Brisby QC and Sam Carter, Royal Courts of Justice; Edmund Miller and Max Lieven, The Millenium Mills.
List of works
All works are mixed media on wood 01 Abandoned Factory 2014 260 x 200 cm
14 Trafalgar Square 2014 100 x 130 cm
02 Sir John Soane’s Museum 2014 110 x 200 cm
15 Tower Bridge 2014 80 x 200 cm
03 Battersea Power Station 2014 140 x 200 cm
16 Mail Rail Secret Tunnels 2014 55 x 80 cm
04 Battersea Power Station 2014 90 x 130 cm
17 The Chapter House, Westminster Abbey 2014 80 x 55 cm
05 Millenium Mills 2014 100 x 150 cm 06 Canary Wharf Station 2014 90 x 130 cm 07 S t. Paul’s Cathedral 2014 130 x 90 cm 08 Lloyd’s of London 2014 200 x 100 cm 09 Trellick Tower 2014 130 x 65 cm 10 The Houses of Parliament 2014 170 x 154 cm 11 S ir John Soane’s Museum 2014 130 x 90 cm 12 Leadenhall Market 2014 100 x 110 cm 13 Somerset House 2014 80 x 200 cm
18 The Royal Courts of Justice 2014 80 x 55 cm 19 Abandoned Factory 2014 80 x 200 cm 20 Battersea Power Station 2014 55 x 80 cm 21 St. Paul’s Cathedral 2014 100 x 70 cm 22 Abbey Mills Pumping Station 2014 80 x 55 cm 23 Crystal Palace Subway 2014 46 x 100 cm 24 Sir John Soane’s Museum 2014 60 x 60 cm 25 Millennium Bridge 2014 140 x 200 cm 26 Millenium Mills, Diptych 2014 each panel 90 x 130 cm
01 Abandoned Factory 2014 260 x 200 cm
02 Sir John Soane’s Museum 2014 110 x 200 cm
03 Battersea Power Station 2014 140 x 200 cm
04 Battersea Power Station 2014 90 x 130 cm
05 Millenium Mills 2014 100 x 150 cm
06 Canary Wharf Station 2014 90 x 130 cm
07 St. Paul’s Cathedral 2014 130 x 90 cm
08 Lloyd’s of London 2014 200 x 100 cm
09 Trellick Tower 2014 130 x 65 cm
10 The Houses of Parliament 2014 170 x 154 cm
11 Sir John Soane’s Museum 2014 130 x 90 cm 12 Leadenhall Market 2014 100 x 110 cm
13 Somerset House 2014 80 x 200 cm
14 Trafalgar Square 2014 100 x 130 cm
15 Tower Bridge 2014 80 x 200 cm
16 Mail Rail Secret Tunnels 2014 55 x 80 cm
17 The Chapter House, Westminster Abbey 2014 80 x 55 cm 18 The Royal Courts of Justice 2014 80 x 55 cm
19 Abandoned Factory 2014 80 x 200 cm
20 Battersea Power Station 2014 55 x 80 cm
21 St. Paul’s Cathedral 2014 100 x 70 cm 22 Abbey Mills Pumping Station 2014 80 x 55 cm
23 Crystal Palace Subway 2014 46 x 100 cm 24 Sir John Soane’s Museum 2014 60 x 60 cm
25 Millennium Bridge 2014 140 x 200 cm
26 Millenium Mills, Diptych 2014 each panel 90 x 130 cm
Biography
1974 Born in Bologna. Lives and works in Bologna and London 1988-92 Diploma, Liceo Artistico Arcangeli di Bologna 1993-98 Diploma Accademia Delle Belli Arti di Bologna 1998-00 Master of the Arts, Royal College of Art, London
Solo exhibitions
2003 Interiors, Marlborough Fine Art, London 2006 Signs of Forgotten Spaces, Marlborough Fine Art, London 2008 Architektonische Relikte, Galerie Koch, Hannover 2009 Architektonisce Relikte, Junge Kunst, Wolfsburg 2011 Views of Rome:a personal tribute to Piranesi, Marlborough Fine Art, London 2012 Visioni, Galleria San Pietro in Atrio, Como, Italy 2013 Verlassenes Deutschland, Galerie Koch, Hannover La possibilità del futuro, Galleria L’Ariete, Bologna
Selected group exhibitions
1996 Arte in Comune-Comune in Arte, Baricella, Italy 1997 Primaparete, Galleria S. Fedele, Milan Mostra del Premio Maurizio Marchese, Rome 1998 Mostra Giovani Artisti, Bologna City Council exhibition room, Bologna, 1999 Underground, Ecole Nationale des Beaux Arts, Paris 2000 Assembly, Stepney City, London Urban Paintings, Albemarle Gallery, London Chase, Royal College of Art, London Painting 2000, Royal College of Art, London CAS Contemporary Art Society’s Market, Royal Festival Hall, London Between painting and photography, Exit Art Gallery, New York 2001 Still, Vertigo Gallery, London 11 Artists from the RCA in London, Museum of Contemporary Art, Denmark, Copenhagen RCA Secret, Royal College of Art, London Contemporary Dialogue, Marlborough Fine Art, London TI Group Collection, Sotheby’s Olympia, London 4 Italian Artists, Paul Morris Gallery, New York 2002 Project 10, Wimbledon Gallery, London Prospects 2002, Essor Gallery, London SO 02, Nunnery Gallery, London Painting and Photography, Art First Gallery, London
The BOC Emerging Artist Award 2002, Finalist Exhibition, BOC, Windlesham 2003 Eloge de L’immobilité et du silence (Amplifying Silence), Fondation d’Art Contemporain Guerlin, Paris, 2004 Perspektiven, Galerie Koch, Hannover Architectonic Views, A Gallery, London 2005 50 Jahre Galerie Koch, Galerie Koch, Hannover 2007 Stranger Geography, Palazzo Vaj, Monash UniversityPrato Centre, Prato, 2008-09 Artists, Marlborough Fine Art, London 2008-09 Gullotta, Oulton, Pilkington, Galerie Arque, Lisbon 2011-12 Lascia un segno, (Leave a mark), National Picture Gallery, Bologna 2012-13 Altrove-Luogo o Poesia, (Elsewhere-Place or Poetry), Catania Art Gallery, Italy 2014 A Window that isn’t there, Strange Neighbour Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
Awards 1998-00 John Crane Italy Scholarship, Royal College of Art, London 1999 John Crane New York Travel Award, London John Crane USA travel Award, London Daler-Rowney Prize for Drawing, London 2000 TI Budapest Travel Award, UK 2001 Artist in Residence, Paris Studio, Cité International des Arts, Paris Royal College of Art Society and Waterstones Artbook Prize 2007 Artist in Residence, Monash University, Melbourne
Selected bibliography
1997 Primaparete, Marina De Stasio, Catalogue, Galleria San Fedele, Milan 1998 Art Collections, Paul Huxley, Catalogue, London 2000 Assembly, Roger Black, Catalogue, London 2001 TI Group Collection, Catalogue introduction, Sotheby’s, London Still, Evening Standard, p. 49, 19 April 11 Artists from the RCA in London, Mette Marcus & Morten Sondergaard, Catalogue introduction, Museum of Contemporary Art in Denmark, Roskilde Contemporary Dialogue, Jim Healy, What’s On, 18 July, London
Interiors, Tom Morton, Catalogue introduction, Marlborough Fine Art, London, Eloge de l’immobilite et du silence, Roy Exley, Catalogue introduction, Fondation d’ Art Contemporain Guerlain, Paris Il silenzio della citta, Gabriele Magnani, ADArchitectural Digest, p. 36 N.268, September 2005 50 Jahre, Detlev Rosenbach, Catalogue introduction, Galerie Koch, Hannover 2006 Signs of forgotten spaces, Andrew Lambirth, The Spectator, 20 May Artists in Britain since 1945, David Buckman, Art Book, London Finding new Structures, Andrew Lambirth, Catalogue introduction, Marlborough Fine Art, London 2008 Architectonic relicts, Caroline Kading, Catalogue Galerie Koch, Hannover Gullotta, Outlon, Pilkington, Daniela Catulo, Catalogue introduction, Arque Chiado Galerie, Lisbon 2009 Daniela Gullotta, Indigo Magazine, April Dustere Relikte bei Junge Kunst, Wolfsburger Allgemeine, 17 April Verlassene Fabriken, Verfallende Kirchen, Hannover Zeitung, 17 April Austellung: Kunstlerin zeigt ruinen in Wolfsburg, Wolfsburger Zeitung, 20 April Zeigen, was bleibt wenn der mensch geht, Wolfsburger Kurier, 25 April 2003
J unge Kunst zeigt Daniela Gullotta, Wolfsburger Allgemeine, 12 June Relikte, Hannover Kurier 17 June 2011 Paintings that breathe, Vittoria Coen, Catalogue introduction Una pittrice bolognese alla conquista di Londra, Nicoletta Barbieri Mengoli, Spiritual Solace, Andrew Lambirth, The Spectator, 16 July Il Resto del Carlino, 26 July 2011 p. 26, Bologna Daniela Gullotta a Londra, L’informazione - Il Domani, 24 July, p. 22, Bologna
Public collections
British Airways, London and Milan Royal College of Art, London Bank of America, London Financial Services Authority, London ABN Amro Bank, Amsterdam Novartis, Basel, Switzerland Monash University, Faculty of Art and Design, Melbourne, Australia Pinacoteca Civica di Como Bizzi & Partners Collection Gabinetto di disegni e stampe- Accademia delle Belle Arti di Bologna
Marlborough
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Design: Shine Design, London Print: Impress Print Services Ltd. Photography: Matteo Monti ISBN: 978-1-909707-15-3 Catalogue no. 642 Š 2015 Marlborough
Daniela Gullotta London Known & Unknown