Pippy Houldsworth Gallery is delighted to present an exhibition of new paintings and sculptures by young British artist Gabriel Hartley, running from 12 June to 22 August 2015.
Hartley approaches painting with sculptural dexterity. Characterised by bold, linear brushstrokes, the artist’s paintings are constructed through a process of layering and erasing. Initially, the artist will create a vibrant undercoat before covering it with an entirely new composition. In turn, paint is scratched and scraped away, leaving behind marks and striations which reveal the blemished colours of the underlying painting. As one’s eye moves over the mottled surfaces of his work, the foreground and background teeter in and out of focus. Hartley complicates this tension further by incorporating soft-edged forms into the works, which writhe in between the shifting planes.
These lozenge-like motifs mirror the forms of his sculptures, which also play a direct role in the production of his paintings. Made by pressing pieces of ripped foam against the wet surfaces of his paintings, this action leaves a flat imprint of the sculpture on the painting, whilst simultaneously depositing remnants of the paint onto the foam. In turn, these crumpled, anthropomorphic forms are coated in resin so that they stiffen and stand erect. Populating the gallery space, they serve to emphasise the spatial effects triggered in his paintings by appearing to slip directly out of the works.
Gabriel Hartley (born in 1981) lives and works in London. He holds a BA from Chelsea College of Art and Design, London and a Post Graduate Diploma from the Royal Academy, London. His work has been shown internationally in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including Saatchi Gallery, London; Josh Lilley Gallery, London; Foxy Production, New York; Royal Academy of Arts, London; Jerwood Space, London; The New Art Gallery, Walsall; The Moving Museum, London; Praz-Delavallade, Paris; Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, and Kinman, London. In 2007, he was selected as one of the Bloomberg New Contemporaries. In 2008, his work was shortlisted for the John Moores Painting Prize. In 2013, Art Review selected Hartley as one of the Future Greats.