Graham Little
21 Nov - 19 Dec 2008
© Graham Little
What about all those Librarians with all their lovely beards, 2007
MDF, ply, coloured pencil, varnish
Overall: 178 x 127 x 50 cm
What about all those Librarians with all their lovely beards, 2007
MDF, ply, coloured pencil, varnish
Overall: 178 x 127 x 50 cm
GRAHAM LITTLE
21 NOVEMBER - 19 DECEMBER 2008
OPENING THURSDAY 20 NOVEMBER, 6-8pm
Alison Jacques Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of new drawings and a large floor - based sculpture by the British artist Graham Little.
Graham Little's work reveals an obsession with beauty and detail. In his recent drawings the artist has worked from his own photographs of carefully composed tableaux vivants. Among these works is a triptych in gouache and coloured pencil representing the three stages of his wifeʼs pregnancy.
Several of the objects depicted in these drawings are suggestive of balloons, ribbons or wrapped presents, which allude to a celebratory atmosphere and a sense of something concealed and expectant. The depiction of rich drapery, deep colours, intense light, and dark shadows demonstrates a concern for Baroque aesthetics while the positioning of the female figure is inspired by contemporary fashion photography.
Littleʼs floor-based sculptures allude to the shape and scale of the human figure but their surfaces demonstrate a fascination for print design with their repeated still-life motifs. His use of interlocking, cuboid components shows a disregard for Minimalismʼs conceptual tenets in favour of its superficial design qualities.
With their varied and colliding patterns Littleʼs sculptures reference the visual noise of our media obsessed society. In these passages of meticulously rendered pencil drawing, half recognisable elements disappear beneath one another before the viewer has a chance to reconcile them.
In Facts are stupid things (fruit vs. fashion), 2008, Littleʼs largest sculpture to date, the extended linear elements and various repeated motifs produce different atmospheres and rhythms. Visual styles of different hierarchies and art historical genres are played against one another with jarring effect. Where the hand painted folds of crimson drapery recall the colours, textures, and mood of Venetian portrait paintings, his simulated exposed brickwork undermines the artifice of illusion and brazenly disrupts the ongoing collision of geometric patterns. Littleʼs sculptures ultimately function as an expanded form of painting; one in which we come to read the composition at different speeds and times, and in the round.
Graham Little (Born Scotland, 1972) lives and works in London. In 2001 Little was featured in a solo presentation at Camden Arts Centre. Previous group exhibitions include: Girls on Film, Zwirner and Wirth, Germany (2005); Works on Paper, Max Hetzler Galerie, Berlin (2004); Collage, Bloomberg Space, London (2004); Images of Society, Kunstmuseum Thun, Switzerland (2003); Drawing Now: Eight Propositions, MoMA, New York, curated by Laura Hoptman (2002). Little is currently showing in the group exhibition Wall Rockets: Contemporary Artists and Ed Ruscha, curated by Lisa Dennison,
The FLAG Foundation, New York. His work is in the collections of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and MoMA, New York.
TUESDAY 16 DECEMBER, 6PM: ARTIST IN CONVERSATION WITH BRENDAN PRENDEVILLE Brendan Prendeville teaches in the Department of Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, where he is currently Head of Department. His published works include Realism in 20th Century Painting, and articles on philosophy and painting, with particular reference to Maurice Merleau-Ponty.
21 NOVEMBER - 19 DECEMBER 2008
OPENING THURSDAY 20 NOVEMBER, 6-8pm
Alison Jacques Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of new drawings and a large floor - based sculpture by the British artist Graham Little.
Graham Little's work reveals an obsession with beauty and detail. In his recent drawings the artist has worked from his own photographs of carefully composed tableaux vivants. Among these works is a triptych in gouache and coloured pencil representing the three stages of his wifeʼs pregnancy.
Several of the objects depicted in these drawings are suggestive of balloons, ribbons or wrapped presents, which allude to a celebratory atmosphere and a sense of something concealed and expectant. The depiction of rich drapery, deep colours, intense light, and dark shadows demonstrates a concern for Baroque aesthetics while the positioning of the female figure is inspired by contemporary fashion photography.
Littleʼs floor-based sculptures allude to the shape and scale of the human figure but their surfaces demonstrate a fascination for print design with their repeated still-life motifs. His use of interlocking, cuboid components shows a disregard for Minimalismʼs conceptual tenets in favour of its superficial design qualities.
With their varied and colliding patterns Littleʼs sculptures reference the visual noise of our media obsessed society. In these passages of meticulously rendered pencil drawing, half recognisable elements disappear beneath one another before the viewer has a chance to reconcile them.
In Facts are stupid things (fruit vs. fashion), 2008, Littleʼs largest sculpture to date, the extended linear elements and various repeated motifs produce different atmospheres and rhythms. Visual styles of different hierarchies and art historical genres are played against one another with jarring effect. Where the hand painted folds of crimson drapery recall the colours, textures, and mood of Venetian portrait paintings, his simulated exposed brickwork undermines the artifice of illusion and brazenly disrupts the ongoing collision of geometric patterns. Littleʼs sculptures ultimately function as an expanded form of painting; one in which we come to read the composition at different speeds and times, and in the round.
Graham Little (Born Scotland, 1972) lives and works in London. In 2001 Little was featured in a solo presentation at Camden Arts Centre. Previous group exhibitions include: Girls on Film, Zwirner and Wirth, Germany (2005); Works on Paper, Max Hetzler Galerie, Berlin (2004); Collage, Bloomberg Space, London (2004); Images of Society, Kunstmuseum Thun, Switzerland (2003); Drawing Now: Eight Propositions, MoMA, New York, curated by Laura Hoptman (2002). Little is currently showing in the group exhibition Wall Rockets: Contemporary Artists and Ed Ruscha, curated by Lisa Dennison,
The FLAG Foundation, New York. His work is in the collections of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and MoMA, New York.
TUESDAY 16 DECEMBER, 6PM: ARTIST IN CONVERSATION WITH BRENDAN PRENDEVILLE Brendan Prendeville teaches in the Department of Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, where he is currently Head of Department. His published works include Realism in 20th Century Painting, and articles on philosophy and painting, with particular reference to Maurice Merleau-Ponty.