Simon Callery Finbar Ward

22.1. - 12.3.2016 Opening 21.1.2016, 6pm

annex14 | Raum für aktuelle Kunst Hardstrasse 245 | CH - 8005 Zürich | T +41 44 202 44 22 | [email protected] | www.annex14.com Öffnungszeiten Mi-Fr 12-18, Sa 12-16, oder nach Vereinbarung Simon Callery, Finbar Ward, Installation View, annex14 2016 Simon Callery,Wallspine (Leaf), 2015, Installation View, annex14, 2016 canvas, distemper, thread, aluminium, steel, 206 x 236 x 84 cm Finbar Ward, Archive II, 2015, Installation View, annex14, 2016 Oil, gloss, emulsion, wood, concrete, linen, canvas, 260 x 74 x 50 cm Simon Callery, Cadmium Red Deep Wallwork, 2011 Simon Callery, Purple Horizontal Pit Painting (5 pieces), 2016 canvas, distemper, pigment nails thread, staples, 64.5 x 17.5 x 18.5 cm canvas, wood, distemper, acrylic, 60 x 48 x 30 cm Finbar Ward, Untitled (White Shelf), 2016 Finbar Ward, Untitled (Again), 2016 Oil on linen, wood, 6 x 42 x 15 cm Oil and gloss on linen, wood, 22 x 14 x 15 cm Simon Callery, Finbar Ward, Installation View, annex14 2016 Simon Callery, Cadmium Red Horizontal Pit Painting (5 pieces), 2014 canvas, wood, distemper, acrylic, 26 x 56 x 44 cm Finbar Ward, Untitled (U Turn), 2016 Oil on linen, wood, 6 x 50 x 15 cm Finbar Ward – Simon Callery Wallspine, Painting, Archive

22.1.-12.3.2016 Opening: Thursday 21. January 2016, 6pm

This double exhibition of works by Finbar Ward (*1990, UK) and Simon Callery At first sight Finbar Ward’s work seems decidedly sculptural. They sit on the floor (*1960, UK) focuses on two positions in painting that explore the limits of the or project from the wall into the room like objects. Yet the constructions Ward pro- medium in different ways. Both artists engage in a critique of the omnipresence duces are born primarily out of the language of painting, using materials which point of images in contemporary culture and reposition painting more as physical rea- toward the traditions associated with the medium and by doing so exploring the poten- lity than as a means of representing reality. “Wallspine, Painting, Archive” is tial of painting as a relevant practise today. Stretchers, canvas, linen and paint, their first exhibition at annex14 in Switzerland. the primary tools of painting, are packed and compressed into forms and motifs which Simon Callery tests the limits of painting in his desire to know what it can nod to the idiom of Minimalism. In Archive (2015), for example, the artist builds up be and what it can do today. His titles often explicitly refer to his works as and compiles a record of both discarded and new material from his last year of pro- “paintings”. A grasp of materiality is at the core of his engagement and ambi- duction. Painted canvas and stray frames are assembled in such a way as to present tion for the painting. For Callery, it is of consequence that the physical and the artist’s ongoing tussle between the simultaneous doing and undoing of the work in sensual qualities of the materials are in equilibrium with the visual. Through its attempt toward a grand conclusion. Archive presents a very honest account of the these he would like to make it possible for the painting to be experienced in a artist’s relationship with material and indeed the notion of painting as a subject direct and unmediated way. He often works with strong saturated colour, like in itself. Here, timbers marked with oil and graphite underscore the works painter- Cadmium Red and Chromium Oxide green, which are impregnated into the canvas- ly origins and reveal the cyclical nature of the works concern with reassembly and ses. For him, it is important that each artistic decision taken can be traced in transformation. The focus, however, is not explicitly on repetition, as it could be the completed work. Involvement with landscape and archaeology have informed in Minimalism, but instead on the changes that take place in the course of a process, his painting, which is evident in his recent groups of work. Wallspine (Leaf) and thus enabling work to develop out of another. Ultimately, it is the ongoing ques- (2015), for example, is a large-scale work that projects almost a metre from the tioning of the status and validity of painting today that drives the artists work. It wall. It is formed of 125 metres of cotton canvas that has been soaked in dark is a venture centred in keeping one looking for longer. green paint (distemper), cut, folded and sewn into numerous open loops. This canvas hovers slightly above the floor. Its emphatic line and multi-layered internal slots underscore its three dimensional character and physical pres- ence. The more object-like works such as Cadmium Red Horizontal Pit Painting also allude to painting. In this work, the form consists of painted canvas and stretchers layered one on top of the other, positioned slightly off centre. Here too, the internal structure remains visible and tangible; surface and interior space are treated equally. Simon Callery is constantly in search of strategies with which to draw attention and awaken the curiosity of the viewer on a sensual level. To some extent, his concerns take into account the process of perception - beyond the realm of the visual – resulting in experimental situations in which new insights are possible. Simon Callery Finbar Ward *1960, lives and works in London *1990, born in London; lives and works in London

Solo Shows (Selection) EDUCATION 2015 Flat Paintings, FOLD Gallery, London 2010-2013 The Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, Oxford University Soft Painting, Bonington Gallery, Nottingham Trent University 2009-2010 Wimbledon College of Art, University of the Arts London 2012 Inland Sealand, 33 Newland, Sherborne, Dorset* 2010 Physical Painting, FOLD Gallery, London SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2007 Pit Paintings, University of the Arts, London 2015 Flatpack Matter, Geukens & De Vil, Knokke, Belgium 2005 Simon Callery, Philippe Casini Gallery, Paris 2014 Make Be More Than One Start, FOLD, London 2003 The Segsbury Project*, Officers Mess, Dover Castle, Kent 2002 Simon Callery: Paintings, Philippe Casini Gallery, Paris SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2000 Recent Paintings, Philippe Casini Gallery, Paris* 2015 UK/RAINE, Saatchi Gallery, London 1999 ARTNOW 19., Tate Gallery, London* unpainting \ / resurfacing, University of Hertfordshire 1997 The Segsbury Project*, The Great Barn, Great Coxwell, Oxfordshire, Goodbye Pourbus, Hello Leopold, Geukens & De Vil, Antwerp University Museum of Natural History, Oxford, The Pitt Rivers Museum, Garten a.V., Frontviews Temporary, Bethanien, Berlin Oxford Summertime...and the Living is Easy, Geukens & De Vil Antwerp 1996 Simon Callery: Paintings 1995 – 1996, Anthony Wilkinson Fine Art, Real Painting, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester London* Fin, FOLD, London 1995 MURI, Christian Stein Gallery, Turin 2014 30 Years of the Future, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester New Order ll: British Art Today, Saatchi Gallery, London 2013 Hurls Chamber, Cock ‘n’ Bull Gallery, London COLLECTIONS The Saatchi Gallery and Channel 4’s New Sensations, Victoria House, Arts Council Collection. Hayward Gallery, London //Astrup Fearnley Museum of Mo- London dern Art. Oslo. Norway //Comune di Carrara. Carrara. Italy // Birmingham // Museum The Ruskin Degree Show, The Old Powerstation, Oxford Trust // British Museum, London // European Investment Bank, Luxembourg // Fonds Journeys to an Interior, St Annes College, Oxford National D’Art Contemporain. Puteaux, France // Nottingham Trent University, Not- 2012 Taking Shape, Tricycle Gallery, London tingham //South Glamorgan County Council, Cardiff, Wales // Tate, London // Priva- Take 1, The Greenroom, Krakow te collections in Europe and U.S.A. BIBLIOGRAPHY AWARDS, RESIDENCIES AND PROJECTS 2015 Real Painting, exhibition review by Robert Clark, The Guardian, June 2014-2015�Moel yr Gaer Project. Bodfari. Denbyshire. Wales, Institute of 2014 Tricking Yourself, exhibition review by Laurence Noga, Saturation Archaeology. University of Oxford Point, August 2012-2013 Hadleigh in Place. ACAVA. Hadleigh. Essex New Order II: British Art Today, Saatchi Gallery, exhibition review by 2012 Exploratory Laboratory. Inland Sealand commission. Dorset Brian Sewell, The Evening Standard, February 2011 Estuary Project. Thames Estuary. Arts Council of England New Order II: British Art Today, Saatchi Gallery, Exhibition catalogue 2009 Arts Council England Grants for the Arts National Lottery. Thames 2013 Hunger TV, Interview, November Gateway Project Saatchi Art and Music, winter edition 2006 – 2009 AHRC Research Fellow in Creative & Performing Arts. Oxford Archaeology & University of the Arts London 2000 Artist in Residence; Institute of Archaeology, University of Oxford. 1997 Southern Arts Artist in Residence, Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, University of Oxford. Khoj International Artists Workshop. Modinagar, India. 1993 Prizewinner. John Moores 18, Liverpool. 1992 Artist in Residence. Camden Art Centre, London. 1986 Gold Medal Prizewinner. National Eisteddfod, South Wales. 1984 Arts Council Young Artists Grant. 1983 Arts Council Young Artists Grant.