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WILL THORBURN
AGAINST NATURE WORKS, 2006 - 2012
Front cover: Against Nature (2012) Page 2: In Sickness and in Health (2007) (detail) Page 3: Endings (2007) (detail)
Š Will Thorburn 2012. All rights reserved.
AGAINST NATURE Will Thorburn is proud to present the launch of his new online catalogue, Against Nature. Charting the development of his painting over the last six years, the selected works reveal the evolution of the artist’s key themes; ‘aetheist aesthetics examining the relationship of the body and mortal soul, or essentially ‘meatphysics’, to borrow Jake Chapman’s phrase’. Taking its title from the English translation of JK Huysman’s seminal novel À Rebours, the artist refers to the influence of this work on his own painting: ‘The dense visual imagery of Against Nature provided a pattern and reference point for my recent works; the pyrrole orange of Baudelaire’s Requiem (2012), for example, reflecting the detailed description of Des Esseintes’ interior design. Artifice and embellishment are increasingly integral to the anatomical distortions and compositions I am working on; by referencing medical illustrations combined with Persian designs, I am trying to create representational paintings as divorced from ‘realism’ as possible.’ The early monochromatic works on paper, influenced by Renaissance medical engravings and in particular Andreas Vesalius’s De Humani Corporis Fabrica, contain various literary and symbolic references which have become subsumed by the artist’s present emphasis on pattern. Works such as The Trumps and Commandments (2006), with their referencing of Crowley’s occultism and mediaeval Christianity, contained themes developed in Endings (2007), the digital reworkings of Albrecht Dürer’s apocalyptic woodcuts. However two works of the same year, In Sickness and in Health and Erotica for Coroners, marked the first stages of an attempted break from visual content deriving from direct literary references. ‘My early works were illustrative of ideas taken from writers; I have moved away from this as I wanted to become more observational, less emotional…to create something ritualistic, totemic, whilst simultaneously inert and without feeling…like a contemporary scientist with the biases and superstitions of a mediaeval surgeon.’ Recent works such as Baudelaire’s Requiem, Romancer, and Against Nature (2012) continue the move away from depictions of entire figures that began in 2010 with The Years. Relating to the desire to become less emotional, the artist began omitting elements from his paintings which he believed were loaded with expectations regarding interpretation; particularly facial imagery, which centralises and focuses the viewer’s gaze and suggests a human, emotional dimension. The role of reflecting, repeating patterns has become integral, with anatomical representation taking a secondary role to the compositions into which they are imposed. Will Thorburn (b. 1983) is an unrepresented British artist living and working in London. He has curated and featured in five exhibitions in London’s Mayfair in the last two years, including his first solo show Endings.
Unknown Pleasures acrylic on canvas 200 x 150cm Painted in 2011
Mother’s Ruin acrylic on canvas 200 x 150cm Painted in 2011 Provenance Private Collection, USA Exhibited London, Gallery 27, Endings, August 2011
Baudelaire’s Requiem acrylic on canvas 200 x 150cm Painted in 2012
World Without End permanent marker on paper 80 x 80cm Executed in 2010 Exhibited London, Gallery 27, Endings, August 2011, p3 (illustrated) London, Alon Zakaim Fine Art, Summer Contemporary, July-August 2011
World Without End permanent marker on paper stretched on canvas 200 x 200cm Executed in 2010 Exhibited London, Gallery 27, Living Ornaments, July 2010 London, Gallery 27, Endings, August 2011, p7 (illustrated )
Against Nature signed, dated and titled ‘Will Thorburn Against Nature 2012 (on the stretcher) acrylic on canvas 110 x 80cm Painted in 2012 Exhibited London, Alon Zakaim Fine Art, Spring Contemporary, April-May 2012, p4 (illustrated in colour)
Romancer acrylic on canvas 150 x 100cm Painted in 2012
Pleasure’s Sabbath acrylic on canvas 150 x 150cm Painted in 2011 Exhibited London, Gallery 27, Endings, August 2011, p2 (illustrated in colour)
Ruiner acrylic on canvas 150 x 150cm Painted in 2011 Exhibited London, Gallery 27, Endings, August 2011, p8 (illustrated in colour)
The Years acrylic on canvas 150 x 150cm Painted in 2010 Exhibited London, Gallery 27, Endings, August 2011, p5 (illustrated in colour)
Living Ornaments permanent marker on paper stretched on canvas 180 x 90cm Executed in 2009 Exhibited London, Acquire Arts, Our Friendship Has Great Potential, August 2009 London, Gallery 27, Living Ornaments, July 2010 London, Gallery 27, Endings, August 2011, p12 (illustrated )
Birth Song permanent marker on paper stretched on canvas 150 x 100cm Executed in 2009 Exhibited London, Acquire Arts, Our Friendship Has Great Potential, August 2009 London, Gallery 27, Living Ornaments, July 2010 London, Gallery 27, Endings, August 2011, p10 (illustrated)
Following pages
In Sickness And In Health permanent marker on paper stretched on canvas triptych, each 310 x 150cm Executed in 2007
Skin Game acrylic and plastic rose on canvas 150 x 150cm Painted in 2011 Provenance Private Collection, USA Exhibited London, Gallery 27, Endings, August 2011, p6 (illustrated in colour)
In Bloom acrylic on canvas 180 x 150cm Painted in 2012
Following pages:
Buildings permanent marker on paper triptych, each 200 x 80cm Executed in 2010 Exhibited London, Gallery 27, Living Ornaments, July 2010 London, Windsor House, Untitled, August 2010
Chaos Theory Oil pastel on paper in 64 parts 168 x 168cm Executed in 2006
Following pages:
Commandments permanent marker on paper stretched on canvas 150 x 400cm Executed in 2006
Untitled acrylic on canvas 30 x 20cm Painted in 2011 Provenance Private Collection, London Exhibited London, Gallery 27, Endings, August 2011, p11 (illustrated in colour)
Following pages:
Untitled (after Pablo Picasso) acrylic and plastic collage on canvas diptych, each 100 x 80cm Painted in 2011 Exhibited London, Gallery 27, Endings, August 2011, p4 (illustrated in colour)
The Law oil bar on canvas 200 x 200cm Painted in 2009 Exhibited London, Gallery 27, Living Ornaments, July 2010
Previous pages:
Endings digital print on paper a set of 7, each 29.5 x 21cm edition of 50 Executed in 2007 Following pages:
Erotica for Coroners marker on paper stretched on canvas 100 x 200cm Executed in 2007
Previous pages:
The Trumps oil pastel on paper from a set of 16, each 60 x 41cm Executed in 2006
Curriculum Vitae Will Thorburn is a British artist living and working in London. 1983
Born in London
2005 - 2007
BA Critical Fine Art Practice, Brighton University
Exhibitions 2012
Alon Zakaim Fine Art, London, Spring Contemporary
2011
Gallery 27, London, Endings
2011
Alon Zakaim Fine Art, London, Summer Contemporary
2010
Windsor House, London, Untitled
2010
Gallery 27, London, Living Ornaments
2009
Acquire Arts, London, Our Friendship Has Great Potential
2008
Grosvenor Way Studios, London, The Way Of All Flesh
2008
Norlington Road Studios, London, Open Studio
2007
Start Gallery, Brighton, The Hole In The Brambles
+44 (0)7817 879985 info@willthorburn.com www.willthorburn.com