Location:
Exhibitions/Events
2006 – Paintingish
Chapman Gallery, University of Salford
Date:
2006
The exhibition was based on a number of painting projects undertaken between 1998 and 2001 with the intention of exhibiting them in Manchester in Spring 2002. In the end this exhibition did not take place but the works (or more precisely the components that together made up the works) were completed by early 2002. These components – some clearly recognisable as paintings, some less so, were around in my studio for the last three years and I continued to reflect on them, and the possible ways of using them alongside other work. It was as if I was always aware of them but out of the corner of my eye – a kind of peripheral but ever-present body of (potential) work that wouldn’t go away.
So Paintingish became a kind of re-construction of this reflexive process. It involved a period of residency in the gallery providing an opportunity for the components of these projects to interact with the material and cultural features of the exhibition space. But, there was no certainty as to what would be included in Paintingish. Might it be the original painting-works themselves, or could it be the visual-reflections on the painting-works produced over the last few years, or even a radically reduced presentational-form that simply directs attention to gallery itself? These questions remained unanswered until they were considered through this period of residency.
Paintingish was not intended as a conventional art exhibition. It was more an attempt to promote discussion around the nature of painting. In support of this overall ambition there was a parallel, inter-connected presentation in the Borland Gallery at the Irwell Valley campus.
See also Selected Writings:
