How to use colour & manipulate people

How to use colour & manipulate people

An exhibition of new paintings & sculptures by Remi Rough

Unit 44 Gallery, Newcastle 22 June - 31 July 2012

Remi Rough painting at the top of the Megaro Hotel, London Photograph by Joanna Dudderidge

The Geometry of Colour by Alison Young Remi/Rough has been making images for more than a quarter of a century.

His art began on walls and trains in South London in 1984; today it has been exhibited in cities such as Miami, Newcastle, Berlin and New York. A respected train writer, Remi has also played a significant part in the development of ‘abstract graffiti’, a term that seems far too clinical to describe the accomplishments of his work, which has always been about the interplay of colour and shape.

His colour palette –and it seems to include an infinite range of shades and combinations – is worked out through deceptively simple arrangements of lines and angles that bring colours into unexpected encounters with each other. Much of this has been done on canvasses large and small, bringing the movement and style of train writing, condensed to its essential ingredients of line and colour, into the space of the gallery. And as part of the collective Agents of Change, Remi has also been re-imagining public spaces, whether in an abandoned ‘ghost village’ in Scotland, now transformed into a massive outdoor gallery, or on the exterior of the Megaro Hotel in the centre of London, offering passersby the sight of a new and dramatic mural five storeys high.

While Remi’s art has always been about creating dimension within the depths of a canvas or a wall, his new works have taken that idea in an exciting new direction, by transforming a three dimensional object such as a skull through the application of paint and by extracting complex shapes from the flat canvas into sculptural forms. The interplay of line and colour on Remi’s canvasses speak to his fascination with artists such as Kazimir Malevich; these new works point to a dialogue with shape and space, following sculptors such as Richard Serra.

And to me that makes perfect sense, for who is better placed to understand the interplay of colour, form and line than an artist with the kind of history that shapes Remi’s work – a history that begins with trains moving through the city and that weaves together gallery, graffiti and the architecture of the city.

When we look at Remi’s images today, we think about the spaces around us, whether in a gallery or a city street, and we lose ourselves in the sheer pleasure that he offers us through the geometry of colour.

Supreme Spray paint & matt emulsion on linen 100cm x 100cm

When colour changes direction Spray paint, matt emulsion & bitumen on linen 100cm x 100cm

Cadmium 17 Spray paint, matt emulsion & bitumen on linen 100cm x 100cm

When colour changes direction Spray paint & matt emulsion on linen 100cm x 100cm

Delorean structure Painted wooden construction 20.5cm x 46cm

Delorean structure Painted wooden construction 20.5cm x 46cm

Composition 01 Spray paint on canvas 50cm x 70cm

Composition 02 Spray paint on canvas 50cm x 70cm

Anthracite square Spray paint on canvas 40cm x 40cm

Reworking of ‘Black Square’ Spray paint on canvas 40cm x 40cm

They called him King Spray paint on actual sized resin cast lion skull 40cm x 25cm x 25cm

They called him King Spray paint on actual sized resin cast lion skull 40cm x 25cm x 25cm

So done Spray paint on canvas 62cm x 62cm

Definitely happnin’ Spray paint on canvas 62cm x 62cm

The neo-futurist Painted wooden construction in perspex 74cm x 74cm

Neon Wildstyle Painted wooden construction in perspex 105cm x 47cm

Imagisme (Detail) Spray paint & matt emulsion on linen 100cm x 10cm

The white knight (Detail) Painted wooden construction Approx 65cm high

The white knight Painted wooden construction Approx 65cm high

Live fast, die young Painted wooden construction Approx 60cm high

How to usecolour & manipulate people (In progress) Spray paint & emulsion on brick

How to usecolour & manipulate people (Detail) Spray paint & emulsion on brick

How to use colour & manipulate people - wall installation Spray paint & emulsion on brick

Selected exhibitions Solo /

06.12 – How to use colour & manipulate people. Unit 44 Gallery. Newcastle 05.11 – Selected Moments with Stormie Mills. Unit 44 Gallery. Newcastle 02.11 – A with Steve More. Blackall Studios. London 12.09 – ProjectRoom with Jaybo. ProjectRoom. Berlin 06.09 – Lost colours and alibis. Urban Angel Gallery. London 10.08 – Eighteen. Limited Press Gallery. Southampton 09.08 – Coded Language. Peacock Visual Arts. Aberdeen 11.07 – Repetition, Rhythm & Rough. Nancy Victor Gallery. London 01.07 – RigidMouth too. Nancy Victor Gallery. London 08.05 – Unsettled Content. Best. London 10.01 – Rigidmouth. Chamber of Pop Culture. London

Group /

06.12 – Unlucky for some. Recoat Gallery. Glasgow 05.12 – Streets of the world. Opera Gallery. New York 02.12 – Group show. Whisper Gallery. London 12.11 – Underbelly Miami. Wynwood Arts District. Miami 12.11 – In Situ. The Kohn Compound. Wynwood Arts District. Miami 10.11 – For, Against & The Truth. Linton & Kay Gallery. Perth. Australia 06.11 – Archetypes. The View Gallery. Bristol 03.11 – Unintended Calculations. Becker Galleries. Vancouver 12.10 – Graffiti Gone Global. Primary Flight. Miami 06.10 – No beginning no end, (with Jaybo). Galeria Nuble. Santander 03.10 – 10. Mews 42 Gallery. London 02.10 – Never a dull moment. White Walls Gallery. San Francisco 01.09 – Espacio Atlantico art fair. Vigo 06.09 – City 4 Sale. RZO Store. Strasbourg 05.09 – Graffiti. The Museum of Fine Art. Santander 02.09 – XXI. Urban Angel Gallery. London 02.09 – Prophet or profit. Pure Evil Gallery. London 01.09 – 5 days of doom. 401 Contemporary. Berlin 12.08 – Mutate Britain. Cordy House. London 12.08 – 2. Urban Angel Gallery. London 06.08 – Re-GNR8. Maison De L’architecture, Strasbourg 02.08 – Prologue >. Nancy Victor Gallery. London 11.06 – Self Titled. The Autopsy Gallery. Melbourne 05.05 – Project XI. Seven Dials. London 04.05 – Future Fantasy. COR + Interlubke. Strasbourg 10.04 – Through The Looking Glass. London

Bibliography Selected Paintings 2008 - 20011 - Remi Rough. AOC 2011 Walls & Frames - Maximiliano Ruiz. Gestalten 2011 Monokrome - Robert Whitelock. 12 Orchards/Monokrome 2011 Abstract Graffiti - Cedar Lewisohn. Merrel 2011 Untitled 3 - Gary Shove. Carpet Bombing 2011 Colourfu Condistion - David Shillinglaw. NoWhereNorth 2010 Lost colours & alibis - Remi Rough. AOC 2009 Custom Kicks - Maki. Lawrence King 2008 Proximamente - Stormie Mills. Magenta 2008 Stickerbomb - SRK Studios. Lawrence King 2008 Colors Zoo - Maxime Cortin & Oscar Forner Arin. Colors Zoo 2004 Graffiti World - Nicholas Ganz. Thames & Hudson 2004 Urban Discipline 2002 - Gerrit Peters. Getting Up 2002 Outliners - Blueprint 2002 The Graffiti Subculture - Nancy Macdonald. palgrave Macmillan 2001 RigidMouth - Remi Rough & Timid. 404 Design 2001

Design & layout Remi Rough Photography Joanna Dudderidge, David Bilborough & Remi Rough Text Alison Young & Carlos Mare Printed by Ripe Digital - www.ripedigital.co.uk Contact remi@remirough.com www.remirough.com www.agents-of-change-co.uk www.unit-44.com

Composition 02 (Detail) Spray paint &on canvas

Thank you to Danny Hughes, Steve Dunn, David Bilborough, Steve More, Timid, Rik Penny, David Shillinglaw, Whisper Gallery, Poesia, LX One, Augustine Kofie, Derm, Juice 126, Joanna Dudderidge, Carlos Mare & Alison Young.

Remi Rough How to use colour & manipulate people Š 2012

www.remirough.com