Sunday, September 29, 2013

Darren Banks: "The Object Echo" FIGURE ONE at BALTIC|39, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

Image: Darren Banks The Object Echo Installation View at BALTIC|39, Courtesy of the artist and Workplace Gallery

FIGURE ONE

11 exhibitions, 5 weeks, 1 venue

4 September 2013 - 6 October 2013

 

ARKA Group: Ben Jeans Houghton & Matthew de Kersaint Giraudeau / Darren Banks / Paul Becker, Nadia Hebson & Tess Denman-Cleaver / Graeme Durant / Ella Finer Andrea Jespersen / Andrew Lacon / Kate Liston & Dan Wilde / Ben Sansbury / Andro Semeiko / Eleanor Wright & Sam Watson


The 11 exhibitions are to be held in the project space at BALTIC 39 from 4 September - 6 October 2013. BALTIC 39 | FIGURE ONE is an opportunity for artists to test works and ideas, or to develop works in progress within a public context.

 

Darren Banks - The Object Echo

Wednesday 25 September -  Sunday 29 September 2013


The Object Echo is a series of films focusing on the life and work of Churton Fairman (AKA Mike Raven, 1924-1997) a sculptor and horror film actor. New works will explore Fairman%u2019s complex and multifaceted history.

 

http://baltic39.co.uk/2013/09/baltic-39-figure-one-curators-blog-week-4/

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr7BRyVygpk

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Jacob Dahlgren: "KIASMA HITS" KIASMA Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland

Image: Jacob Dahlgren Neoconcrete Space 2012 (Still), Single Channel Video, endless edition, Courtesy of the artist and Workplace Gallery

 

Kiasma Hits

13th Collection Exhibition | 2nd floor 27.9.2013 - 19.1.2014,
3rd floor 27.9.2013 - 7.9.2014

 

Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma
Mannerheiminaukio 2, FIN-00100
Helsinki, Finland

http://www.kiasma.fi/calendar/hits

 

Vito Acconci, Giovanni Anselmo, John Baldessari, Mirosław Bałka, Stig Baumgartner, Joseph Beuys, Ebba Bohlin, Matti Braun, Elina Brotherus, Markus Copper, Petah Coyne, Jacob Dahlgren, Vladislav Delay, Walter De Maria, Ken Feingold, Tommi Grönlund, Petteri Nisunen, Markus Heikkerö, Alma Heikkilä, Timo Heino, Mikko Hintz, Olav Christopher Jenssen, Donald Judd, Hannu Karjalainen, Tiina Ketara, Yves Klein, Hilda Kozári, Matti Kujasalo, Markus Kåhre, Peter Land, Esa Laurema, Ange Leccia, Robin Lindqvist, Cristina Lucas, Jaana Maijala, Christian Marclay, Juha Mäki-Jussila, Maurizio Nannucci, Bruce Nauman, Jussi Niva, Paul Osipow, Nam June Paik, Vesa-Pekka Rannikko, Silja Rantanen, Anni Rapinoja, Kimmo Schroderus, Richard Serra, Joel Shapiro, Frank Stella, Iiu Susiraja, Marianna Uutinen, Roi Vaara, Thomas Westphal, Lea Whittington.

 

Classics of Finnish contemporary art are presented alongside famous international artworks as well as the latest acquisitions from the Kiasma collection. The Kiasma Hits exhibition pays tribute to the 15-year-old museum and to contemporary Finnish art. The show includes impressive art by nearly 50 artists. The 'hits' selected from Kiasma's collections lead us to the very foundations of contemporary art. Kiasma Hits is a review of Kiasma's collections and of the history of Finnish contemporary art. A commissioned piece by the Polish artist Mirosław Bałka will be installed in Studio K, to remain thereafter in Kiasma's collections. Room X is reserved for the latest acquisitions, some of which are yet to be made. The audience will also have a chance to influence the selection of works for the show. Daycare-age children will choose their own colourful favourites from the collections, to be exhibited starting from February 2014. One interesting addition to Kiasma Hits is Vladislav Delay's commissioned audio work installed in the museum's toilets. The piece is the electronic music composer's interpretation of the architecture of and life in Kiasma.

 

The Kiasma Hits publication sheds light on the history and concepts of contemporary art. It is already the tenth volume in Kiasma's collection series.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Workplace Gallery at The Manchester Contemporary 2013: Paul Merrick solo presentation

Image: Paul Merrick Still Life (Chrysanthemum), 2012, Plywood, powder coated steel, melamine, magazine, pins, 122 x 90 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Workplace Gallery, UK

 

Paul Merrick

The Manchester Contemporary

27 - 29 September 2013

 

Preview 26 September 2013

(by invitation only)

 

Spinningfields

Manchester, UK

M3 3AN

www.themanchestercontemporary.com

 

 

For a preview of available works please email: chris@workplacegallery.co.uk

Matt Stokes: "Northern Soul - Keep the Faith " The Culture Show, BBC 2 Tonight

Image: Matt Stokes  Long After Tonight, 2005, Super 16mm film and audio transferred to DVD, 6 min 45 sec. Courtesy of the artist and Workplace Gallery.

 

 

Matt Stokes' 2005 film Long After Tonight will be featured on Northern Soul - Keep the Faith a BBC Culture Show special tonight at 10pm.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03bs488


Northern Soul marked the birth of late-night dance culture in Britain. Paul Mason, economics journalist and once a regular at the famous 'all-nighters' at Wigan Casino, discovers the origin of this underground music scene and why it continues to inspire such devotion.

Many of the songs that eventually became Northern Soul classics were once rejected or unreleased. Recorded in the 1960s by African-American artists attempting to replicate the successful Motown sound, these discarded tracks would later be rediscovered and revered by white working-class dancers and music fans in the north of England.

Paul Mason tells the extraordinary story of Northern Soul and the dance culture that sprang up around it, influencing musicians, choreographers and filmmakers and growing into a global phenomenon.

Cecilia Stenbom: "The Case" Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival, UK

Image: Cecilia Stenbom The Case 2013 Single Channel HD Film. Duration: 8 Minutes 53 Seconds. Courtesy of the artist and Workplace Gallery, UK 


Cecilia Stenbom: The Case

Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival

World premiere at opening gala on September 25th at 7pm.
At Custom House September 26th - 29th, 11 am - 6pm.
For more information http://www.berwickfilm-artsfest.com

Duration 8 min 53 sec

The Case is a short film by Cecilia Stenbom.

The Case investigates how crime fiction preys and perpetuates anxiety in a culture of fear whilst being a constant source of entertainment within popular culture. The Case examines the fine line between justified safety measures and peoples' irrational fears for personal safety.

The film takes its starting point from popular crime fiction and in particular the opposing genres of Nordic (or Scandinavian) Noir and popular British TV crime drama. The perceived narrative created in The Case is constructed around the relationship between a female and a male detective who are apparently investigating a crime in a small town. Their conversations take place around a series of extracted scenarios within what is actually a fictitious crime investigation: the crime scene, the police squad room, and the aftermath of an arrest, as all of the dialogue and voiceovers in the film are reenactments from a series of transcribed recordings in which members of the general public were invited to talk about their perception of crime, potential for violence and popular crime drama.

The structure of the film plays with the fictional and documentary origins of the narrative by mixing voiceover segments with actors playing roles in what appears to be a more constructed drama. The drama is then juxtaposed with cut away scenes of  breathtaking views of the sea and the surrounding landscape of the picturesque town of Berwick. The location of Berwick builds on a clichéd tradition of setting crime drama in small respectable towns, towns that in reality are generally safe places where few actual acts of random crime ever take place.

As a Swedish Artist living in England Stenbom has used The Case to make a work that explores her own very specific interest in how notions of identity are connected over The North Sea through popular fiction.

The Case is entirely shot in and around Berwick upon Tweed, Northumberland, North East England. The Case was commissioned by Berwick Visual Arts and Berwick Film & Media Festival. Produced together with independent producer and filmmaker Mat Fleming. Cinematography by Minttumaari Mäntynen, edited by Edwin Mingard and original score by Marek Gabrysch.

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Mike Pratt and Miles Thurlow: "Jesmonite on Paper" A3 Project Space, Birmingham, UK






Miles Thurlow All things equal, constant and turning (Mystic Ring) 2012, Pigmented Epoxy resin, 110 x 70 x 70 cm (MT0070)
Mike Pratt Left:  Untitled, 2009 Oil, enamel spary paint on canvas, 40 x 30 cm (MP0110)
                 Right: Smells Like White Spirit Part I, 2010 Oil on canvas, 240 x 180 cm (MP0114)
                 Courtesy of the artist and Workplace Gallery, UK

Jesmonite on Paper

A3 Project Space
20 - 28 September 2013
Opening hours: Fri & Sat, 12pm - 5pm
Preview Event
Thursday 19 September, 6pm - 8.30pm

Rachel Adams / Luca Bertolo / Samantha Donnelly / Graeme Durant / Andrew Maughan / Mike Pratt /  
Miles Thurlow / Matt Welch

A3 Project Space is an artist-led gallery in Digbeth Birmingham, run by Trevor Pitt, Oliver Jones and Cathy Wade.
A responsive and evolving programme of exhibitions, projects and events will support contemporary artists, designers and makers to experiment and take risks with their work and their relationships with audiences.
A3 Project Space culminates its opening programme with 'Jesmonite on Paper', an exhibition which explores a re-emergence of non-objectivity amongst a new generation of artists.

The works in the exhibition develop from and engage in their own materiality as stuff is manipulated in to things.
The things are constructed through kinaesthetic processes, trial and error and experimentation, and the human qualities (mistakes, slippages, imperfections and unexpected results) become integral both to the form of the work and the viewers' reading of it.

Curated by Newcastle based artist Andrew Maughan the exhibition has been re-worked for A3 Project Space in collaboration A3 Curator Cathy Wade, with support from Arts Council England.

A3 Project Space
Unit A3, 2 Bowyer Street,
Digbeth,
Birmingham
B10 0SA


Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Workplace Gallery at EXPO CHICAGO 2013: Jacob Dahlgren solo presentation

Image: Jacob Dahlgren Untitled Endless Cut, 2012, Hand Saws, 165 cm Diameter (JDA0125) Courtesy of the artist and Workplace Gallery

 

Jacob Dahlgren Solo Presentation

 

Booth #621

EXPOSURE Section

EXPO CHICAGO 2013

Navy Pier
600 E Grand Ave
Chicago, IL 60611

 

19th - 22nd September 2013

http://expochicago.com

 

Jacob Dahlgren was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1970. Dahlgren represented Sweden in the Nordic Pavilion at the 2007 Venice Biennale. His work has been exhibited at Henry Art Gallery, Seattle USA, KIASMA Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center/MoMA, New York, USA, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden, Turner Contemporary, Margate, UK, Tramway, Glasgow, UK.  He lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden.

 

Dahlgren's work is concerned with a dialogue between the authoritative singularity of pure formal abstraction and its position within a variable, complex and social shared culture. Dahlgren's repetitious collections of ubiquitous and ordinary objects, often domestic, industrially manufactured (and frequently, knowingly Scandinavian); stand in their gestalt form as proxy for High Modernist Abstract Painting and for all of the ideological territory that Twentieth Century Art Theory has staked out for it. The contributing objects, however, signify a collective and human aspect of society, each representing an individual choice, used in a unique way by its consumer. Together these objects stand for the group or community, and as such they become democratic rather than authored. Through endless ingenious amalgams of pattern, abstraction and mass-produced objects, Dahlgren's recent works purposefully inhabit modes of modernist painting, deliberately playing with the inherent autonomy of the source material.

 

For a preview of available works please email: info@workplacegallery.co.uk

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Catherine Bertola 'Sad Bones' - Preview: Friday 13th September 6-8pm Workplace Gallery, Gateshead, UK

Catherine Bertola - Sad Bones

Preview: Friday 13th September 2013, 6 - 8pm


14th September - 19th October 2013
Thurs - Sat, 11am - 5pm
(or by appointment)

 

Workplace Gallery is pleased to present Sad Bones a new exhibition by Catherine Bertola.

 

Sad Bones is a collection of interventions into photographs of interiors taken directly from the archives of Country Life Magazine of buildings that no longer exist. In each case Bertola has carefully set the image alight allowing the flames to momentarily animate the space as the paper smoulders, leaving behind a permanent, fragile, and destructive mark on the surface.

 

Bertola's practice involves creating installations, objects and drawings that respond to specific sites, collections and historic contexts. Underpinning the work she makes is a desire to look beyond the surface of objects and buildings, to uncover forgotten and invisible histories of places and people as a way of reframing and reconsidering the past.

 

Catherine Bertola was born in Rugby, UK in 1976. Exhibitions include Swept Away: Dust, Ashes and Dirt in Contemporary Art and Design, Museum of Art and Design, New York, USA, To be forever known, Bronte Parsonage Museum, Haworth, UK, Shake Before Using, Artium, Vitoria Gastiez, Spain, Scion, Beacon Art Project, Barrington Court, Somerset, UK, Out of the Ordinary, Millennium Gallery, Sheffield, UK, From Trash to Treasure, Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Germany, Personal Tempest, Neue Galerie, Innsbruck, Austria, Cult of the Difficult, Cass Gallery, London, Walls are talking: Wallpaper, Art and Culture, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, UK, Out of the Ordinary, V&A Museum, London, Unpicked and Dismantled, Kaunas Art Biennale, Kaunas, Lithuania. She currently lives and works in Gateshead.

 

Kindly supported by

Darren Banks 'Evermore' - Preview: Friday 13th September 6-8pm Workplace Gallery, Gateshead, UK

Darren Banks - Evermore

Preview: Friday 13th September 2013, 6 - 8pm


14th September - 19th October 2013
Thurs - Sat, 11am - 5pm
(or by appointment)

 


Workplace Gallery is pleased to present Evermore our second solo exhibition with British artist Darren Banks.

Darren Banks is interested in the relationship between film and sculpture, both formally and within popular culture, specifically horror film. His new work examines how objects are haunted by memory and experience. The resulting series of filmic sculptures uses digital effects to alter the objects' image, playing with theatrical tensions between sculpture and film.

Evermore presents new work by Banks resulting from his ongoing interest in horror actor and sculptor Churton Fairman. Churton Fairman (AKA Mike Raven, 1924 - 1997) began his career as a ballet dancer and ballet photographer, then shifted to be a pioneer of blues music on pirate radio (Atlanta, Radio King and 390) where he adopted the alias 'Mike Raven'. As a horror film actor he appear in several horror films including Crucible of Terror (1971) and Discipline of Death (1972), he also featured in 'I Monster' alongside Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. The starting point for Banks is archival footage from an unfinished documentary about Fairman's later life as a sheep farmer and sculptor on Bodmin Moor.

Banks' new video works focus on a series of small carved wooden sculptures made by Fairman. Banks has chosen to rework film rushes of the sculptures, which depict biblical scenes, or characters that Fairman uses as a metaphor for his ideas about sexuality and faith. In these works, Banks presents multiple layers of appropriation. The sculptor transforms the material of wood through carving until it becomes an art object. It is then documented on film, before being re-edited by Banks into a new filmic sculpture. Taking his cue from feature film and radio, Banks has experimented with film techniques that enable new configurations of the sculpture. In one film a foreshortened camera shot known as the 'dolly shot' commonly used to create suspense, shifts the perspective of the object in relation to its surroundings. In another work a pirouette echoes Fairman's early desire to become a dancer. The jump-cut, abruptly introduces a new seemingly unrelated image. Another film uses sound to dictate the movement of the object. Through this process the distinction between subject and object, author and artist, sculptor and filmmaker are merged.

Banks' works project aspects of Fairman's complex and multifaceted history onto his sculpted objects. This has the effect of layering different moments of time through different themes and materials.  By reanimating documentary footage of the sculptures, Banks transforms the carvings into unformed objects characterized by formal effects from throughout Fairman's life: balletic gestures, sound from radio and effects from horror film. Although a generation apart, Banks and Fairman have a shared interest in sculpture, horror film and music. Although in the conventional biography these interests appear as distinct categories, Banks has tried to bring them together formally. By subjecting Fairman to the constraints of contemporary art, Banks is reframing the sculpture within a current discourse. The work has both a historical and contemporary significance.

Darren Banks was born in 1978 on Orsett, Essex, UK. Recent Exhibitions include: Backwater, Fishmarket Gallery, Northampton, Soothsayers, Sierra Metro, Edinburgh, Like a Monkey with a Miniature Cymbal, Aid & Abet, Cambridge, be like water, Workplace Gallery, Gateshead, Empty Distances, Mark Moore Gallery, Los Angeles, Magnum Opus, N/V_Projects, London, Deep Space, Francois Ghebaly Gallery, Los Angeles, Shape, Generator Projects, Dundee, Scotland, File Transfer Protocol, curated by Pil and Galia Kollectiv, Haifa Museum of Art, Israel, Omnia mea Mecum Porto, Kotti Shop, Berlin, The Art of Fear, Nighthawk Cinema, Brooklyn, New York, Translate/Transcribe, Central House of Artists, Moscow, Double, Double, Workplace Gallery, Gateshead, UK, ROTATE, Contemporary Art Society, London, Mural Newspaper (organised by Hugo Canoilas), Abrons Art Center, New York, Defective Science, Sala Dogana, Palazzo Ducale, Genova, Italy, The Days of This Society are Numbered, Abrons Arts Center, New York. From 25th - 29th September 2013 Banks will present The Object Echo a continuation of is research into Churton Fairman as part of Figure 1 a programme of 11 exhibitions over 5 weeks at BALTIC 39 in Newcastle, UK.

Banks currently lives and works in London.

 

Kindly supported by

Friday, September 06, 2013

Jacob Dahlgren: 'Demonstration (Swansea 07.08.13)' Art Across The City 2013, Swansea, UK

Image: Jacob Dahlgren Demonstration ((Swansea 07.08.13) 2013, Amphitheatre, Swansea, Courtesy of the artist and Workplace Gallery, UK

 

Art Across The City 2013, Swansea

6th September – 6th October
Launch event on Friday 6th September at 6.30pm at the National Waterfront Museum

We are pleased to announce our Autumn 2013 programme of public art commissions across Swansea. There are thirteen artworks to be seen across the city. Six have been newly commissioned in 2013 and seven are permanent.

The new commissions include Jacob Dahlgren’s abstract placards taking over the Amphitheatre following a procession through the city; Juneau Projects have placed idiosyncratic symbols high in the trees in Singleton Park to attract passers by; Laura Sorvala’s unique drawings cover a plinth-like object on the Princess Way illustrating people’s thoughts on a future Swansea and Matthew Houlding’s large modernist monument sits in front of the Guildhall, mirroring the renovated tower. These join two commissions from Spring 2013, Pete Fowler’s iconic work opposite the train station and Sinta Tantra’s palm trees on the High Street.

Seven permanent LOCWS International commissions further support the 2013 programme. These include works by artists, Sean Puleston; Rik Bennett, Bristow Lloyd, Bedwyr Williams, Bermingham and Robinson, Mark Folds and Niamh McCann

www.artacrossthecity.com

Jacob Dahlgren, Demonstration (Swansea 07.08.13)

Amphitheatre, Swansea

Jacob Dahlgren’s oversized placards in the Amphitheatre are the culmination of a series of community workshops. Based upon the abstract paintings of Swedish artist, Olle Baertling (1911-1981), the work acts as an optimistic, artistic protest, providing a peaceful place for contemplation.

Dahlgren is leading an artistic procession through Swansea from the train station to the Amphitheatre on 7th Sept 2pm

Click here to read about Jacob Dahlgren and his work for Art Across The City

http://www.locwsinternational.com/?p=6941

Wednesday, September 04, 2013

Marcus Coates: Shortlisted for the Fourth Plinth Commission

Marcus Coates, Leopard Slug (Great Slug), Limax maximus, Self portrait, cotton wool, 2013, Archival Giclée Print mounted on Aluminium, 76.2 x 66 cm, Courtesy of the artist and Workplace Gallery 

  

 

Workplace Gallery would like to congratulate Marcus Coates on being shortlisted for the Fourth Plinth Commission



The shortlist of artists for the next two Fourth Plinth Commissions has been announced. The artists are: Marcus Coates, Hans Haacke, Mark Leckey, Liliane Lijn, David Shrigley and Ugo Rondinone.

The six artists have been commissioned to produce maquettes of their proposed works, which will go on display at St Martin-in-the-Fields from 25 September - 17 November 2013. The two selected artists will be announced by the Mayor of London in early 2014, and their works will be unveiled in Trafalgar Square in 2015 and 2016 respectively.

The Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: 'In a prime position in the heart of our great city, the Fourth Plinth is one of the most exciting platforms for international contemporary art. Always eagerly anticipated, it's about cutting-edge artworks that get people talking and debating and I've no doubt the artists on this latest shortlist will do just that.'

Ekow Eshun, Chair of the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group, said:
"The quality and range of this shortlist further underlines the strength of the Fourth Plinth programme, built up over successive commissions, as one of the leading public art commissions on the international cultural landscape. This is an exciting and imaginative group of proposals and the commissioning group will have a tough time choosing between them for our recommendation to the Mayor early next year. Debate is at the heart of the Fourth Plinth programme and we hope that the public will enjoy the exhibition and will share their thoughts with us."

The Fourth Plinth Programme is the most high profile and provocative contemporary art prize in the UK. Funded by the Mayor of London it commissions world-class artists to make challenging new works for the historic heart of the capital. Bringing out the art critic in everyone, the Fourth Plinth Programme aims to trigger public debate about contemporary art in London's public spaces. Visitors to the shortlist exhibition will be invited to post their comments at the exhibition and via the Fourth Plinth website from 25 September.

www.fourthplinth.co.uk

Fourth Plinth commission shortlist exhibition:
25 September - 17 November 2013
The Crypt, St Martin-in-the-Fields
Trafalgar Square
London
WC2N 4JJ

Monday - Saturday 8am - 8pm, Sunday 11am - 6pm
Free Entry

PRESS ENQUIRIES
Erica Bolton / Jessica Baggaley, Bolton & Quinn
T: 44 (0) 20 7221 5000
E: erica@boltonquinn.com / jess@boltonquinn.com


ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Marcus Coates
Born 1968 in London. Lives and works in London.
Marcus Coates makes videos, performances and installations that attempt to answer questions about how we live in urban societies. He has had recent solo exhibitions at South Alberta Gallery, Canada (2012); and Milton Keynes Gallery (2010). Recent public art projects include Create London (2013) and Vision Quest: a ritual for Elephant & Castle (2012). Coates has also performed at Port Eliot Festival, Cornwall; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; Kunsthalle Zurich; Barbican Art Gallery, London; and Hayward Gallery, London.

Hans Haacke
Born 1936 in Cologne. Lives and works in New York.
For the last four decades Hans Haacke has been examining the relationships between art, power and money, and has addressed issues of free expression and civic responsibilities in democratic societies in his work. He works in many different mediums including painting, photography and written text. He has had recent solo exhibitions at Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid (2012); MIT List Visual Arts Centre, Cambridge, MA (2011); Specific Object, New York (2011); and Akademie der Künste, Berlin (2006). Haacke's work has been included in four Documentas and numerous biennials around the world. He shared a Golden Lion Award with Nam June Paik for the best pavilion at the 45th Venice Biennale (1993), and in 2000 he unveiled a permanent installation in the Reichstag, Berlin.

Mark Leckey
Born 1964 in Birkenhead. Lives and works in London.
Mark Leckey's work explores the mediated nature of public and private environments, often working collage and animation techniques into his video and sculptural work. He has had recent solo exhibitions at The Hammer museum, Los Angeles (2013); Banff Centre, Alberta (2012); Serpentine Gallery, London (2011); Abrons Art Centre, New York (2009); and Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne (2008). Leckey curated the Hayward Touring show 'The universal addressability of dumb things' (2013) and was awarded the Turner Prize in 2008.

Liliane Lijn
Born 1939 in New York. Lives and works in London.
Liliane Lijn creates kinetic installations made using high-tech materials and techniques including laser cutting and space-race materials. She has had recent solo exhibitions at Museo di Santa Croce, Capolavori del Valtiberina (2013), mima, Middlesbrough (2012); Sir John Soane's Museum (2011); Royal Academy Schools Gallery, London (2008); and Mead Gallery, Warwick (2005). Recent public commissions include Starslide, Evelina Children's Hospital,  Solar Beacon on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco; and Light Pyramid, commissioned by Park Trust and Milton Keynes Gallery.

David Shrigley
Born 1968 in Macclesfield. Lives and works in Glasgow.
David Shrigley's work draws on the British tradition of satire, creating drawings, animations and sculptures that reflect the absurdity of contemporary society. He has had recent solo exhibitions at Bradford 1 Gallery (2013); Cornerhouse Gallery (2012), Hayward Gallery, London (2012); Yerba Beuna Centre for the Arts, San Francisco (2012); and Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow (2010). Shrigley's Sort of Opera: Pass the Spoon was performed at Tramway, Glasgow, and Southbank Centre, London (2011 - 12), and he has been nominated for the Turner Prize 2013.

Ugo Rondinone
Born 1964 in Brunnen, Switzerland. Lives and works in New York.
Ugo Rondinone is a mixed-media artist whose work explores themes of fantasy and desire. He has had recent solo exhibitions at M Museum, Leuven (2013); Art Institute of Chicago (2013); Common Guild, Glasgow (2012); Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens (2012); and Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau (2010). Rondinone has created public commissions for the Rockefeller Plaza, New York; the IMB Building, New York; and Louis Vuitton, Munich. He represented Switzerland in the 52nd Venice Biennale (2007).

 

 

The Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group:

Jo Baxendale, Relationship Manager, Visual Art, Arts Council England
Iwona Blazwick - Director of Whitechapel Gallery
Mick Brundle - Principal, Arup Associates
Jeremy Deller - Artist
Tamsin Dillon - Head of Art on the Underground, Transport for London
Ekow Eshun - Writer, Broadcaster (Chair)
Grayson Perry - Artist
Matthew Slotover - Co-director, Frieze
Jon Snow - Broadcaster
Justine Simons - Greater London Authority (Director, Fourth Plinth Programme)

The Fourth Plinth Programme is the most provocative contemporary art prize in the UK. Funded by the Mayor of London, the programme invites world class artists to make astonishing new works for the centre of the Capital City. The programme was initiated in 1998 by the RSA with the support of the Cass Sculpture Foundation. In 1999 responsibility for Trafalgar Square was transferred to the Mayor of London and the Greater London Authority.

The Fourth Plinth Programme is led by the Mayor's Culture Team, under the guidance of the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group (FPCG). The FPCG recommends contemporary works for the Fourth Plinth. The first commission under the FPCG was Marc Quinn's sculpture Alison Lapper Pregnant, unveiled in a public ceremony in September 2005. It was followed by Thomas Schütte's Model for a Hotel in 2007 and by Antony Gormley's One & Other in 2009. Yinka Shonibare MBE's sculpture Nelson's Ship in a Bottle remained on the plinth until the end of January 2012 and now has a permanent home at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. Powerless Structures, Fig 101 by artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset was unveiled in 2012 and was replaced by Katharina Fritsch's Hahn / Cock in July 2013. Previous commissions have been Ecce Homo by Mark Wallinger (1999), Regardless of History by Bill Woodrow (2000) and Monument by Rachel Whiteread (2001). Arts Council England has been a significant funding partner of the programme.