Graham Collins
05 Sep - 04 Oct 2014
GRAHAM COLLINS
Concert in Central Park
5 September - 4 October 2014
Jonathan Viner Gallery is pleased to present Concert in Central Park, Graham Collins’ first solo exhibition in London. In the first gallery, Collins shows new works from an ongoing series that combines reclaimed wood frames, glass, window tint and canvases. The aluminium vitrines in the second gallery are shown alongside a new series of re-stretched found canvases each of which approach the central questions of his practice from distinct and specific angles.
Paying attention to the historical problems of abstract art, colour field painting particularly, Collins’ monochrome works play on formal colour theory by adding commercial car window tint to the glass of their frame. The tint changes the perceived colour of the painting, extending the work to incorporate the glass surface, thereby pushing it to tread a line between sculpture and painting. This notion is re-iterated with the aluminium vitrines in the second gallery, where the painting within becomes a part of the structure of the sculpture. The works do not labour this point but it is the evasion of either tradition which give them their lightness.
A further theme that carries through Collins’ practice is the denial of a visible authorial hand. By focussing his practice on the conditions of production, the structures employed for production and the way the work is viewed, Collins is able to highlight the physicality of his works beyond his own hand. In the same way that the title of the show Concert in Central Park refers to a specific event and place while intentionally remaining ambiguous, so the skills used to create the Collins’ works are generic yet carried out within very specific delineations of his practice. The visible results of the methods Collins employs allow the artwork a gentle resistance of definition and questioning of context, acknowledging many of the issues surrounding contemporary art production and re-emphasising the individual creative act.
Concert in Central Park
5 September - 4 October 2014
Jonathan Viner Gallery is pleased to present Concert in Central Park, Graham Collins’ first solo exhibition in London. In the first gallery, Collins shows new works from an ongoing series that combines reclaimed wood frames, glass, window tint and canvases. The aluminium vitrines in the second gallery are shown alongside a new series of re-stretched found canvases each of which approach the central questions of his practice from distinct and specific angles.
Paying attention to the historical problems of abstract art, colour field painting particularly, Collins’ monochrome works play on formal colour theory by adding commercial car window tint to the glass of their frame. The tint changes the perceived colour of the painting, extending the work to incorporate the glass surface, thereby pushing it to tread a line between sculpture and painting. This notion is re-iterated with the aluminium vitrines in the second gallery, where the painting within becomes a part of the structure of the sculpture. The works do not labour this point but it is the evasion of either tradition which give them their lightness.
A further theme that carries through Collins’ practice is the denial of a visible authorial hand. By focussing his practice on the conditions of production, the structures employed for production and the way the work is viewed, Collins is able to highlight the physicality of his works beyond his own hand. In the same way that the title of the show Concert in Central Park refers to a specific event and place while intentionally remaining ambiguous, so the skills used to create the Collins’ works are generic yet carried out within very specific delineations of his practice. The visible results of the methods Collins employs allow the artwork a gentle resistance of definition and questioning of context, acknowledging many of the issues surrounding contemporary art production and re-emphasising the individual creative act.