Saul Fletcher
22 May - 27 Jun 2009
© Saul Fletcher
Untitled#206 (Ronnie), 2009
black & white Polaroid
Unframed: 13.3 x 10.8 cms / 5.25 x 4.25 ins Framed: 52 x 42 cms / 20 1/2 x 16 1/2 ins
Untitled#206 (Ronnie), 2009
black & white Polaroid
Unframed: 13.3 x 10.8 cms / 5.25 x 4.25 ins Framed: 52 x 42 cms / 20 1/2 x 16 1/2 ins
SAUL FLETCHER
22 May – 27 June 2009
Opening Thursday 21 May, 6-8pm
“In his photographs Saul Fletcher visualizes human existence in all its temporal dimensions and physical fragility. The scenes he depicts achieve a concentrated intimacy: In order to take in every detail, the viewer is compelled to get as close as possible to the work. His careful still lifes draw attention to details; the discarded moments of the everyday become the focus, and in this way are imbued with new or altered meaning.”
Extract from catalogue for the 4th Berlin Biennial (2006)
Alison Jacques Gallery announces our first solo exhibition with British artist Saul Fletcher. A maverick of the art world, this will be Fletcher’s first solo exhibition in the UK for 12 years, and is a substantial survey of his work to date communicating his melancholic and poetic vocabulary through photography and also assemblage and painting.
Fletcher was born in 1967 and raised in the North of England, he had no formal training as an artist. The starkness of the Lincolnshire landscape can be felt in his work, especially his series of photographs shot in the potato fields where he used to work. Since 1997, Fletcher has exhibited internationally including solo shows at The Kunstverein, Cologne; Anton Kern Gallery, New York; Sabine Knust, Munich and Galerie Neu, Berlin. His work is in many museum collections including Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; DESTE Foundation, Athens; Guggenheim, New York and Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. Important museum group shows include Hautnah, the Goetz Collection (2002); Carnegie International (2004); 4th Berlin Biennial (2006); Rings of Saturn, Tate Modern (2008); Disappearances, Shadows and Illusions, Miami Art Museum (2008) and most recently Saints and Sinners, The Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University (2009). Past catalogues published by Anton Kern Gallery include essays by Dan Fox and Neville Wakefield.
In his solo show at Alison Jacques Gallery, the proximity of Fletcherʼs personal history can be felt in a series of new previously unexhibited Polaroids which depict quiet moments: deserted interiors, portraits and places around which there is a somber and poetic stillness. Fletcher photographs his personal environment, belongings, friends and family – the people and places that have touched his life in some way. In Untitled #208 (Lili) the artist’s daughter stands in a white dress, in another portrait Untitled #207 (Alex) a man has his back against a wall, arms outstretched embodying the iconography of the Crucifixion. These images represent a succession of moments which are precisely staged without ever seeming forced or contrived. They not only constitute a vague autobiography but also record isolated fragments from life: a birdcage, glass lantern, floral curtains - scenes and subjects imbued with Fletcher’s haunting private mythology.
Also in this exhibition, Fletcher will show new assemblages and a series of new paintings. Mounted flag-like on the gallery wall, an eighteenth century wrought-iron fence panel is woven through with coloured threads and text handwritten by the artist on fragments of paper. The symbolism at work remains ambiguous, and intentionally obscure.
Fletcherʼs canvases are made with children’s water-based pigments and the colour is often applied with implements that he finds such as a feather or twig, thereby resisting the traditional notion of painting and communicating a naïve quality.
A major new installation winds around the entire second space of the gallery. A 3D frieze made from a large expanse of black cloth forms the backbone of the work onto which are attached, nailed and sewn fragments and pieces of material, objects and animals – everything that informs and relates to Saul Fletcher’s life and work, it is in a sense a self portrait or autobiography. Wood, lace, wool, paint, pages of books, the mummified body of a pigeon, crow’s feet, pheasant feathers, a large wheel with spokes made from walking sticks, drawings and much more make up this epic work.
PROJECT ROOM: IAN KIAER: 22 MAY – 27 JUNE 2009
22 May – 27 June 2009
Opening Thursday 21 May, 6-8pm
“In his photographs Saul Fletcher visualizes human existence in all its temporal dimensions and physical fragility. The scenes he depicts achieve a concentrated intimacy: In order to take in every detail, the viewer is compelled to get as close as possible to the work. His careful still lifes draw attention to details; the discarded moments of the everyday become the focus, and in this way are imbued with new or altered meaning.”
Extract from catalogue for the 4th Berlin Biennial (2006)
Alison Jacques Gallery announces our first solo exhibition with British artist Saul Fletcher. A maverick of the art world, this will be Fletcher’s first solo exhibition in the UK for 12 years, and is a substantial survey of his work to date communicating his melancholic and poetic vocabulary through photography and also assemblage and painting.
Fletcher was born in 1967 and raised in the North of England, he had no formal training as an artist. The starkness of the Lincolnshire landscape can be felt in his work, especially his series of photographs shot in the potato fields where he used to work. Since 1997, Fletcher has exhibited internationally including solo shows at The Kunstverein, Cologne; Anton Kern Gallery, New York; Sabine Knust, Munich and Galerie Neu, Berlin. His work is in many museum collections including Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; DESTE Foundation, Athens; Guggenheim, New York and Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. Important museum group shows include Hautnah, the Goetz Collection (2002); Carnegie International (2004); 4th Berlin Biennial (2006); Rings of Saturn, Tate Modern (2008); Disappearances, Shadows and Illusions, Miami Art Museum (2008) and most recently Saints and Sinners, The Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University (2009). Past catalogues published by Anton Kern Gallery include essays by Dan Fox and Neville Wakefield.
In his solo show at Alison Jacques Gallery, the proximity of Fletcherʼs personal history can be felt in a series of new previously unexhibited Polaroids which depict quiet moments: deserted interiors, portraits and places around which there is a somber and poetic stillness. Fletcher photographs his personal environment, belongings, friends and family – the people and places that have touched his life in some way. In Untitled #208 (Lili) the artist’s daughter stands in a white dress, in another portrait Untitled #207 (Alex) a man has his back against a wall, arms outstretched embodying the iconography of the Crucifixion. These images represent a succession of moments which are precisely staged without ever seeming forced or contrived. They not only constitute a vague autobiography but also record isolated fragments from life: a birdcage, glass lantern, floral curtains - scenes and subjects imbued with Fletcher’s haunting private mythology.
Also in this exhibition, Fletcher will show new assemblages and a series of new paintings. Mounted flag-like on the gallery wall, an eighteenth century wrought-iron fence panel is woven through with coloured threads and text handwritten by the artist on fragments of paper. The symbolism at work remains ambiguous, and intentionally obscure.
Fletcherʼs canvases are made with children’s water-based pigments and the colour is often applied with implements that he finds such as a feather or twig, thereby resisting the traditional notion of painting and communicating a naïve quality.
A major new installation winds around the entire second space of the gallery. A 3D frieze made from a large expanse of black cloth forms the backbone of the work onto which are attached, nailed and sewn fragments and pieces of material, objects and animals – everything that informs and relates to Saul Fletcher’s life and work, it is in a sense a self portrait or autobiography. Wood, lace, wool, paint, pages of books, the mummified body of a pigeon, crow’s feet, pheasant feathers, a large wheel with spokes made from walking sticks, drawings and much more make up this epic work.
PROJECT ROOM: IAN KIAER: 22 MAY – 27 JUNE 2009