Tim Braden
17 Apr - 29 May 2010
TIM BRADEN
"Paleis van Decoratie"
17 April – 29 May 2010
Paleis van Decoratie (Palace of Decoration) is the second solo exhibition of Tim Braden (UK, 1975) at Galerie Juliette Jongma. It consists of a group of new paintings, in which the artist disseminates the notion of ‘decoration’ by oscillating between both its functional and autonomous manifestations, activating it as a stylistic element and as subject matter at the same time.
In Braden’s earlier work, themes like memory and dislocation were addressed through representations of the ‘travelling man’ in our collective unconscious – an image in which the romantic concept of the explorer/scientist strongly resonated. In this new series, Braden shifts his attention to a specific artistic application of natural classification: the production of the decorative pattern, based on natural motifs, and its incorporation into everyday life. As is typical for Braden’s artistic approach, he zooms in on the results of his research – the decorative motifs themselves - and amplifies their painterly qualities by enlarging them (in works like Fabric Painting and Tapestry). At the same time, he offers a panoramic representation of the socio-cultural context in which these images are produced (in works like Paleis van Decoratie and Textile Workshop).
In his 1907 study Abstraktion und Einfühlung, Wilhelm Worringer argues that stylisation and the use of ornamental motifs is not to be interpreted as artistic primitivism, but rather that they are the purest and most direct expression of a society’s spiritual register. Braden thematises the physical crafts-side of artistic labour in three paintings in the exhibition entitled Making is Thinking. Here, he seems to point towards the need for a re-evaluation of Worringer’s ideas, questioning the primacy of rationalism in our contemporary, discourse-heavy art world.
Tim Braden studied at the Ruskin school of fine art at Oxford University in Oxford and did a post graduate at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. In 2009 the artist had solo exhibitions at SE8 in London, Ludlow38 in New York and a group exhibition in the Henry Moore institute in Leeds and the Pumphouse gallery in London.
"Paleis van Decoratie"
17 April – 29 May 2010
Paleis van Decoratie (Palace of Decoration) is the second solo exhibition of Tim Braden (UK, 1975) at Galerie Juliette Jongma. It consists of a group of new paintings, in which the artist disseminates the notion of ‘decoration’ by oscillating between both its functional and autonomous manifestations, activating it as a stylistic element and as subject matter at the same time.
In Braden’s earlier work, themes like memory and dislocation were addressed through representations of the ‘travelling man’ in our collective unconscious – an image in which the romantic concept of the explorer/scientist strongly resonated. In this new series, Braden shifts his attention to a specific artistic application of natural classification: the production of the decorative pattern, based on natural motifs, and its incorporation into everyday life. As is typical for Braden’s artistic approach, he zooms in on the results of his research – the decorative motifs themselves - and amplifies their painterly qualities by enlarging them (in works like Fabric Painting and Tapestry). At the same time, he offers a panoramic representation of the socio-cultural context in which these images are produced (in works like Paleis van Decoratie and Textile Workshop).
In his 1907 study Abstraktion und Einfühlung, Wilhelm Worringer argues that stylisation and the use of ornamental motifs is not to be interpreted as artistic primitivism, but rather that they are the purest and most direct expression of a society’s spiritual register. Braden thematises the physical crafts-side of artistic labour in three paintings in the exhibition entitled Making is Thinking. Here, he seems to point towards the need for a re-evaluation of Worringer’s ideas, questioning the primacy of rationalism in our contemporary, discourse-heavy art world.
Tim Braden studied at the Ruskin school of fine art at Oxford University in Oxford and did a post graduate at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. In 2009 the artist had solo exhibitions at SE8 in London, Ludlow38 in New York and a group exhibition in the Henry Moore institute in Leeds and the Pumphouse gallery in London.