This weeks #ArtThurday instalment is another brilliant exhibition held at our very own Thames-Side Studios.
'Counter' Exhibition
Jonathan Callan is a London-based artist. Born in Manchester, Callan has now been working in London for around 30 years and is now exhibiting his work for the first time in over 17 years. This instillation features a range of pieces by Callan which showcase a variety of different materials and techniques alike, selected to communicate a story of both continuity and contradiction.
Books play a prominent role throughout much of Callan's 3D work, utilised as a way of filtering his experience of the world around him. Presented on table-top, the exhibition is a linear progression of objects that spans through a period of around twenty three years. 'Materiality' and 'intuition' are two central themes of both his work and this exhibition. He also often explores the intersection between these two themes and language.
Throughout the nineties, Callan and his work were shown regularly throughout the United States and Europe. He also currently has work in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art New York, The British Museum, The Henry Moore Institute, and other Museums and private collections in the UK, Europe, the US and Asia.
‘Life in early days’. 2006.
Paper and silicone rubber. 22 x 14
x 6cm.
Preview: Friday 20 May, 6-9pm
1 May till 5 Jun 2022, Main Gallery
‘Inland to the Hales' gallery. 2000. Paper and
silicone rubber.
This piece is an allusion to Callan's time spent working at a studio in Deptford: "I’d haunt the gallery office
hoping to be able to rifle the waste paper bin for
opened envelopes. I perforated the text, the
stamp and any other graphic matter on the
surface, filled the envelope with silicone rubber
and manipulated it so that the silicone poured
out. The extrusion of anything never really gets
away from the body. It always seems loaded with
fascination and disgust."
‘O’. 2014. Paper. 71 x 67 x 6cm.
‘Tomb for 46 volumes’. 2011.
Paper and plaster. 62 x 51 x 54cm.
Thames-Side Studios Gallery open Thursday-Sunday 12-5pm during exhibitions and by appointment. For general Thames-Side Studios Gallery enquiries please email info@thames-sidestudios.co.uk
‘Sleeping speech bubbles
(2)’.2021. Alpha plaster and 1k
paint. 29 x 25 x 6cm.
‘Tribe. 2020. Paper, wood, polyester resin, 1k paint. 49 x 46
x 8cm.
Featuring what Callan described as a "flow or tide of paint", this piece seems to obey a "new realm of physics where liquids have internal geometry."