London

Chroma

February 04 - March 14, 2020

Marlborough Graphics is pleased to present Chroma, an exhibition of six extraordinary prints by celebrated artists: Louise Bourgeois, Ken Kiff, Beatriz Milhazes, Victor Pasmore, Grayson Perry and Bridget Riley. For all these artists, printmaking forms a significant part of their creative output and the artworks in this exhibition have been selected for the particularly skillful and bold assertions of color through a range of printing techniques.

 In Large Fragment 2, 2009, Bridget Riley’s signature op-art forms are rendered with vivid precision using screenprinting. In Pimenta vermelha (Red pepper), 2009-10, Beatriz Milhazes combines layers of woodblock and screenprint to create an intricate layering of compositions, a method also typical of her paintings and textile works. The painterly spontaneity of Ken Kiff’s monotype, Green Fish, Woman Rowing, Man Climbing Steps, 1996, makes impressive use of a one-off printing method which is so close to painting itself. Hear the Sound of a Magic Tune, 1974 is a typical example of Victor Pasmore’s pioneering lyrical abstraction. Grayson Perry’s monumental Selfie with Political Causes, 2018, triumphantly asserts its message through the bewitching array of color and texture created by layers of large woodcut. In Triptych for the Red Room, 1994, Louise Bourgeois uses her mastery of etching to depict the nuances of pain and ecstasy of the figures and contrasts this with luscious washes of blue aquatint.

 Each artwork is a testament to the unique ambitions of the artists who have created them and the rich variety printmaking offers.

Bourgeois, Kiff, Milhazes, Pasmore, Perry, Riley. Chroma_Installation View 1_Luke Walker
Bourgeois, Kiff, Milhazes, Pasmore, Perry, Riley. Chroma_Installation View 2_Luke Walker

Hayward Gallery's major retrospective exhibition devoted to the work of celebrated British artist Bridget Riley opened on 23 October 2019. The show traces both the origins and the evolving nature of Riley’s innovative practice and brings together the artist’s iconic black-and-white paintings of the 1960s, expansive canvases in colour, early figurative works and recent wall paintings. Alongside Riley’s best known canvases, the exhibition also includes rarely-seen drawings, studies and preparatory materials that offer an insight into the artist’s working methods from 1947 to the present day.

Riley, To Midsummer, 1989, screenprint, edition of 75, 36 1-2 x 36 in., 92.7 x 91.5 cm

The exhibition held at Turps Gallery in association with ASC Gallery encompasses over three decades of works produced by Ken Kiff. Humans and animals often take centre-stage in Kiff’s dream-like landscapes, with violations of scale and perspective. His much-admired body of work, invokes fantasy and myth while exploring the realities of humanity. Through a range of media from drawing to painting and printmaking, Kiff was able to express a highly personal combination of figurative and abstract elements to depict the human condition. 


Visit MoMA’s website to view Louise Bourgeois: The Complete Prints & Books, the online collection documents Bourgeois’s extensive work in the printmaking medium. This site offers a range of innovative, interactive approaches to the artist’s work, including the ability to examine her creative process, and to place her prints and illustrated books within the broader context of her sculpture and drawings.

Bourgeois, The Olive Branch, 2004, lithograph, edition of 146, 16 x 11 3-4 in., 40.6 x 29.8 cm, (email)

The exhibition Southern Geometries, from Mexico to Patagonia celebrates the wealth of color and diversity of styles in the geometric art of Latin America, bringing together 250 artworks made by over 70 artists. Through a wide range of media, the  show explores a vast array of approaches to geometric abstraction in Latin America, weaving visual relationships among diverse cultures and regions across time, inviting visitors to discover the vibrant patterns and designs of Latin American art.

Milhazes, Bibi, 2003, screenprint, edition of 43, 22 1-2 x 22 1-2 in., 57.2 x 57.2 cm

Grayson Perry: The Pre-Therapy Years explores the artist’s earliest forays into the art world, reintroducing the explosive and creative works he made between 1982 and 1994. It provides a snapshot of a very British time and place, revealing the transition of Grayson’s style from playful riffs on historic art into a style that is patently his own.

Perry, Reclining Artist, 2017, a single woodcut from eight blocks, edition of 12, 77 1-4 x 115 3-8 in., 196 x 293 cm

This upcoming exhibition explores Victor Pasmore’s unique place in the canon of British art, from the lyrical landscapes and naturalist work of a young artist attending evening classes at the Central School of Arts and Crafts; early explorations of Fauvism and Impressionism; the development of a new, pure abstraction; experiments with constructivist sculpture, spray painting, collage and Perspex; all the way to Pasmore’s involvement with the planning and design of the new town of Peterlee in County Durham, and recently re-discovered and never-before-seen work made close to his death in 1998.