Ambient Space
Creative Colabs presents
robert currie
at VAN DER GRINTEN GALERIE, germany
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Launch tour
Robert Currie
VAN DER GRINTEN GALERIE. GERMANY.
exhibiting at
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‘36,550cm
‘36,550cm of Nylon Monofilament and Acrylic’ (Hay Bales in Snow)
‘36,550cm of Nylon Monofilament and Acrylic’ (Red Barn on Snow)
‘56,260cm of Nylon Monofilament and Coloured Acrylics’ (Sunset Car Park)
‘56,260cm
‘56,260cm of Nylon Monofilament and Coloured Acrylics’ (Abandoned house on snow plain)
‘56,840cm
‘56,840cm of Nylon Monofilament and Acrylic’ (Garage Reflection)
'56,260 cm
‘56,260cm of Nylon Monofilament and Coloured Acrylics’ (Family Cafe)
‘36,550cm of Nylon Monofilament and Acrylic’ (Red and White Barn)
‘101,700cm of Nylon Monofilament and Acrylic’ (Secluded Snowscape)
‘101,700cm
‘101,700cm of Nylon Monofilament and Acrylic’ (After the Snowstorm)
'‘101,700cmcm
101,700cm of Nylon Monofilament and Acrylic (Dungeness at Sunset)
Ambient space
This is a preview of an exhibition scheduled to take place in April 2020 during Art Cologne. Due to the appearance of Covid-19 the show will instead open sometime during Summer 2020. We have created this new virtual experience to immediately transport you into the gallery space to view the artworks. Please contact Franz Van Der Grinten at franz@vandergrintengalerie.com for further information about the artworks and new launch date.
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"Looking is, I feel, a vital aspect of existence. Perception constitutes our awareness of what it is to be human, indeed what it is to be alive”
The Van der Grinten Galerie last presented Robert Currie works in 2013. So we are especially pleased to open this long-awaited solo exhibition of the London-based artist’s completely new works. Robert Currie (*1976, GB) works across the mediums of sculpture, installation and drawing to produce work that explores the inevitable emergence of order from disorder. This creates a physical sensation and redirects our way of viewing. In his three-dimensional paintings Currie generates dynamic energy, rhythm, movement, light and space as he investigates different possibilities for physically engaging the viewer in the visual perception of a work.
'56,260cm of Nylon Monofilament and Acrylic’ (Abandoned house on snow plain) 2019
In this new exhibition, Currie presents new iterations of his wall-based kinetic artworks, for the first time in colour. Contrary to the earlier works in monochrome black or very subdued colourations, here the human hand that applies the colour in a painterly action is much more strongly emphasized: still strictly systematically constructed of rows containing thousands of nylon strands within a Perspex case, each strand is hand painted with absolute precision in various colours. The resulting motif, however, can only be seen from one particular standpoint, which the viewer must first find by moving back and forth in the space in front of the work. The artwork, in other words, prompts the viewer to engage in a sort of choreography. With their strictly formal, linear construction, the sculptural canvasses strongly reference architecture – a field that has always been an important source of inspiration for Currie – but they also play with counteracting effects of the ephemeral and the deceptive. The images oscillate between the abstract and the photographic, while a closer study of the individual painted strands opens the process of painting and time to the viewing eye: the work becomes an “exploded” canvas.
The new motifs draw on places and spaces that people have made their own, ambient spaces that were once useful and productive for a time, but were later abandoned. The neglect and dereliction of these subjects gives rise to a new sense of loneliness and tranquillity. Comparisons with Edward Hopper and Ed Ruscha are apparent. Blended with the influence of Currie’s fascination for 1960’s Op-art and its protagonists, such as Jesús Rafael Soto, Bridget Riley and Victor Vasarely, completely new visual and spatial possibilities arise, in which a combination of poetical mood and precision structure join in a unique union.
Robert Currie studied at the Manchester Metropolitan University and at the Royal College of Art in London. His works are represented in numerous collections in the UK and abroad (Lady De Rothschild, Beth Rudin DeWoody, Defauwes and Simmons & Simmons) and in public spaces in Frankfurt, London and Brussels.
'56,260cm of Nylon Monofilament and Acrylic’ (Sunset Car Park) 2019
Bridget Riley. 2017
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The new motifs draw on places and spaces that people have made their own, ambient spaces that were once useful and productive for a time, but were later abandoned. The neglect and dereliction of these subjects gives rise to a new sense of loneliness and tranquillity. Comparisons with Edward Hopper and Ed Ruscha are apparent. Blended with the influence of Currie’s fascination for 1960’s Op-art and its protagonists, such as Jesús Rafael Soto, Bridget Riley and Victor Vasarely, completely new visual and spatial possibilities arise, in which a combination of poetical mood and precision structure join in a unique union.
Having achieved a First Class BA (Hons) in Design & Art Direction in Manchester Currie then completed his Masters at the Royal College of Art in 2000. In the same year he was selected for New Contemporaries by Jeremy Deller, Gavin Turk and Sarah Kent and privately commissioned by Sotheby's to produce a site specific installation for their atrium which was on display for 3 months. Since 2001 he has been represented by a number of International galleries, including Van der Grinten (Cologne), Blancpain Art Contemporain (Switzerland), Gimpel Müller (Paris) and Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery (New York) in a series of international solo exhibitions, installations and commissioned works.
Having achieved a First Class BA (Hons) in Design & Art Direction in Manchester Currie then completed his Masters at the Royal College of Art in 2000. In the same year he was selected for New Contemporaries by Jeremy Deller, Gavin Turk and Sarah Kent and privately commissioned by Sotheby's to produce a site specific installation for their atrium which was on display for 3 months.
Since 2001 he has been represented by a number of International galleries, including Van der Grinten (Cologne), Blancpain Art Contemporain (Switzerland), Gimpel Müller (Paris) and Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery (New York) in a series of international solo exhibitions, installations and commissioned works.
The rational and irrational; negative and positive; order and disorder; Robert Currie continually develops contrasts in his work.
Working with synthetic materials; videotape, cassette tape and nylon, Currie works across the mediums of sculpture, installation and drawing to produce work that explores the inevitability of the emergence of order from disorder.
Currie's understanding that the appearance of his installations are entirely dependent upon the variables of time and space is central to his work. His skillful use of the external environment means his works constantly evolve, their technical specifications altering but the purity of their medium remaining unchanged. Reflecting, diffracting and absorbing light, Currie's work achieves a sense of weightlessness that both disorientates and remains elusive. In this, Currie succeeds in making visible the forces and energies that go otherwise unnoticed in the everyday.
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Photo London 2019 ©Robert Currie
Currie's early drawings delved into the intricacies that can be achieved only through mechanical processes. His use of a simple drawing machine, made from every day objects, produced forms and impressions that appear natural and hand-drawn but are, in fact, impossible to create by hand.
Conversely, it is the unmistakable human touch present in the production of his current practice - sculptures and installations constructed in nylon and tape – that makes his installation work so unique. Currie constructs each piece by hand, precisely placing, wrapping, threading and twisting his chosen materials to create structures that are at once both static and fluid.
Robert currie
Born and currently working in London, Robert studied at the Manchester Metropolitan University and completed his MA at the Royal College of Art in London. He graduated in 2000, which coincided with his inclusion in New Contemporaries that year.
His works are featured in public and private high-profile international collections and he is represented by galleries in New York, Germany and France.
His unique portfolio and career is testimony to his skill in responding intelligently to spatial challenges. To find out more visit robertcurrie.com
Han Springett, founder of a London based digital consultancy specialising in interactive storytelling recently launched CreativeCoLabs, an innovative campaign to help struggling freelancers and creatives affected by the current virus.
han springett ltd: Interactive design
Enzo Mehdi, a BA graphic design graduate from Camberwell College of Arts. His work varies from motion graphics to 3D / Virtual reality installations.
Enzo mehdi: 3d Modelling
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robERT currie
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