Boo Saville
Chimera
Boo Saville Chimera
09 February - 18 March, 2017
521 West 26th St, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10001 T (212) 759-7555 F (212) 759-5824 www.davidsoncontemporary.com info@davidsongallery.com
Chimera Installation view (10th floor)
Davidson Contemporary presents Chimera, a solo exhibition of paintings by Boo Saville. The exhibition marks Saville’s first show with the gallery and first in the United States. The show features a combination of color abstraction and monochrome figuration. The title Chimera references a female mythical creature, a hybrid of different animals. It can also be defined as an organism consisting of different genetic tissues, or any fanciful mental illusion or fabrication. Here, the chimera reflects the duality of Saville’s two styles of painting in conjunction with and in opposition to one another. They are divergent models of aesthetic exploration, polar opposites or simultaneous opposites. The so-called ‘monochrome’ works are chosen from a larger selection of images gathered from a simple Internet search. The paintings in this series emerge from a taxonomy of surface, time and energy and hope to inform the abstracts, which embody the same things. Those abstracts are pure color and stem from the artist’s own emotions. However, Saville removes almost any trace of the painter’s hand, inviting and provoking the viewer to project her own emotions and classifications onto the work. Saville’s paintings seamlessly intertwine the emotional internal realm and the tangible external world. The divide between life and how we perceive it becomes manifest. Saville was born in Norwich, England, and lives and works in Margate, England.
PANDORA 2016 Oil on canvas 59 x 51 1/3 inches 150 x 130 cm
PHOBOS 2016 Oil on canvas 59 x 51 1/3 inches 150 x 130 cm
MAB 2016 Oil on canvas 59 x 51 1/3 inches 150 x 130 cm
JULIET 2016 Oil on canvas 59 x 51 1/3 inches 150 x 130 cm
HYDRA
FOIL 2017 Oil on canvas 17 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches 45 x 40 cm
RING 2017 Oil on canvas 17 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches 45 x 40 cm
PAPER 2017 Oil on canvas 17 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches 45 x 40 cm
MAGNETIC 2017 Oil on canvas 17 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches 45 x 40 cm
ABSTRACT #22 2017 Ink on paper 30 x 22 inches 76 1/4 x 56 cm
ABSTRACT #23 2017 Ink on paper 30 x 22 inches 76 1/4 x 56 cm
ABSTRACT #24 2017 Ink on paper 30 x 22 inches 76 1/4 x 56 cm
ABSTRACT #25 2017 Ink on paper 30 x 22 inches 76 1/4 x 56 cm
ABSTRACT #26 2017 Ink on paper 30 x 22 inches 76 1/4 x 56 cm
ABSTRACT #27 2017 Ink on paper 30 x 22 inches 76 1/4 x 56 cm
(Tree Ring, detail) 2017
Biography
Education 2000-2004
Slade School of Fine Art, London, UK
Saville’s work has been shown in various exhibitions internationally, including: 2017 2014 2012 2010 2009 2008
CHIMERA, Davidson Contemporary, New York, New York, USA POLYCEPHALY, T J Boulting, London, UK THE WORLD, THE FLESH AND THE DEVIL, T J Boulting, London IDOLUM, Studio Giangaleazzo Visconti, Milan, IT TOTEM, Trolley Gallery, London GHOST PROOF, Other Criteria, London BUTTER SUNK, Trolley Gallery, London LAID BARE, Martin Summers Fine Art, London
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Chimera Installation view (9th floor)
This catalogue was produced in conjunction with the exhibition Chimera at Davidson Contemporary, New York City, 9 February - 18 March 2017 All works Š Boo Saville 2017 Studio photography by Boo Saville.