GAVIN NOLAN | Mise en Abyme

GAVIN NOLAN | Mise en Abyme

Postby Zavier » Thu May 02, 2013 1:32 pm

GAVIN NOLAN

Mise en Abyme

Private View
Thursday May 16th 6.30-8.30pm

Exhibition Dates
Friday May 17th – Saturday June 22nd 2013

Gallery Hours
Wednesday–Saturday 11am–6pm or by appointment


CHARLIE SMITH london is delighted to host Gavin Nolan’s second one person exhibition at the gallery.

Nolan’s recent collection represents an enquiry into the life, mind, thoughts and feelings of the practising artist. Taking a nihilistic approach to the notion of portraiture, Nolan undoes many of the modes that have previously underpinned his work, and embraces the abstract in order to unveil his subjects.

By imagining characteristics and simultaneously projecting himself onto his subjects, each painting becomes a representation of an art world type, and most predominantly the artist. The paintings in themselves might be considered a mirror, and we the audience find ourselves between two mirrors infinitely reflecting each other: the painter and the painting. This diaristic approach is revealing then, but also affirms that while elements of an artist’s life and work are universal, there is also much that is fleeting and fugitive.

This sense of self-reflection is magnified by the appearance of paintings within paintings. Means of Production features a version of itself at an earlier stage of completion. And the reverse side of a large scale canvas in The Crash recalls Velazquez’s Las Meninas, where the Spanish master famously portrays himself looking directly out from the picture plane towards the spectator, whilst standing before a large canvas. In the distance a mirror reflects King Philip IV of Spain and his wife the Queen. The spectator is, therefore, caught between the artist’s gaze and an imagined subject, whilst the reflection causes a logical conundrum. Nolan, in turn, substitutes himself for that subject, whilst reminding us that the artist was originally in the position of the spectator. Thus, artist, audience and subject become inexorably intertwined.

Nolan employs research into technological viewing devices in order to reveal his subjects. The Crash depicts a smoking, drinking artist hero whose form is defined by the language of thermal imaging. In opposition to traditional figure painting shadows are represented by hot colours and surface areas by cool. Recalling earlier work there is an indication of energy emanating from the subject, which is a reminder of our need of life force in order to create, and of the power of the individual. This unmasking of the interior world is continued throughout the collection, where faces are peeled back to reveal skull like visages that appear to be haunted by the mixed empirical associations of making and showing work: absorption, paranoia, egotism and anxiety.

Please contact gallery for images and further information


Biographical:

Born: 1977

Education: 1999 – 2002: MA in Fine Art, Royal Academy Schools; 1996 – 1999: BA (Hons) in Fine Art, Loughborough University School of Art

Selected Exhibitions: 2013: Mise en Abyme (one person), CHARLIE SMITH london, London; 2012 : The Saatchi Gallery & Channel 4’s New Sensations and The Future Can Wait (curated by Zavier Ellis, Simon Rumley & Rebecca Wilson), B1, Victoria House, London; The Id, the Ego and the Superego (curated by Zavier Ellis & Marcella Munteanu), BRAUBACHfive, Frankfurt; 2011: Polemically Small (curated by Edward Lucie-Smith), Klaipeda Culture Communication Centre, Klaipeda; The Future Can Wait presents: Polemically Small (curated by Zavier Ellis, Edward Lucie-Smith, Max Presneill & Simon Rumley), Torrance Art Museum, Torrance; Attraction of the Opposites (curated by Kiki Petratou), CUCOSA, Rotterdam; 2010: A King’s Gambit Accepted (one person), CHARLIE SMITH london, London; Papyrophilia, CHARLIE SMITH london, London; The Reflected Gaze, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance; 2009: Hexen Reflex (one person), Mark Moore Gallery, Los Angeles; 2008: The Past is History (curated by Zavier Ellis & Simon Rumley), Changing Role Gallery, Naples & Rome; New London School (curated by Zavier Ellis & Simon Rumley), Mark Moore Gallery, Los Angeles; 2006: Icons, Chungking Projects, Los Angeles; Unnatural Selection (one person), Sartorial Contemporary Art, London; 2005: Maji Jabii!! Fucking Brilliant!!, Tokyo Wondersite, Tokyo; New London Kicks, Wooster Projects, New York; The Sun Also Rises, Rockwell, London; 2004: Born, Cry, Eat, Shit, Fuck, Die, Rockwell, London

Collections: Marc Coucke, Ghent; Jean Pigozzi, Geneva; David Roberts, London; Dr Rainer Schiweck, Munich; Howard Tullman, Chicago; private collections in Germany, United Kingdom & United States
Zavier
 
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