As part of the UK/Korea 2017–18 season, Goyang Aramnuri Aram Art Gallery in Korea presents The Painting Show from 4 July to 24 September 2017. For this iteration of the exhibition, contemporary paintings by 15 British artists, many of which are from the British Council Collection, are shown alongside works by eight contemporary Korean artists.  

Works by Merlin Carpenter, Stuart Cumberland, Dexter Dalwood, Kaye Donachie, Michael Fullerton, Celia Hempton, Neal Jones, Morag Keil, Fiona MacKay, Lucy McKenzie, Dawn Mellor, Alan Michael, Michael Simpson, Sue Tompkins and Padraig Timoney are presented alongside Korean artists Eull Kim, Sung Hun Kong, Geun Taek Yoo, Sue Jin Chung, Song Sik Min, Zik Seong Jeong, Ji San Ahn and Ha Young Kim. 

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This group exhibition presents a selection of recent works by fifteen British artists that demonstrate the richness and vigour of contemporary painting in the UK.

British painting has a different look and feel in this century: a lighter touch, more conceptual, sometimes ironic and even funny. These paintings show traces of everyday reality and reflections on the age that we live in, whether we consider it to be a post-industrial or digital era or a period of religious, political, financial and social conflict.

Compared to the heavy spirit of the medium in the 1980s, painting now seems more focused on the idea of surface and reflects a virtual idea of space, referring to image technology and the images we see on smartphones and computer screens. A century of struggle between photography and painting provides a backdrop to this contemporary style. As the photographic image has shifted from heavy, analogue printed matter to the weightless digital image, this lightness has become characteristic of visual culture.

The underlying theme of The Painting Show is influenced by Unlawful Assembly (2013), a book of crime fiction stories written by artists Lucy McKenzie and Alan Michael. In the foreword to this book, artist Ed Atkins and gallerist Martin McGeown propose that the plot structures of crime novels, designed to lead the reader on a journey that questions the stability of truth and fiction, mirror the subversive way in which certain painters manipulate their medium, its history and the audience’s understanding of it. The artists in this exhibition have different approaches to experimenting with painting: they play with the romanticism of the act of painting, wryly imitate historical styles and question the relationship between the artist, the subject and the viewer.

The Painting Show brings together new additions to the British Council Collection alongside generous loans, and was curated by the British Council.

The exhibition features works by: Merlin Carpenter, Stuart Cumberland, Dexter Dalwood, Kaye Donachie, Michael Fullerton, Celia Hempton, Neal Jones, Morag Keil, Fiona MacKay, Lucy McKenzie, Dawn Mellor, Alan Michael, Michael Simpson, Sue Tompkins, Padraig Timoney.

Catalogue
The exhibition is accompanied by a full colour catalogue, designed by The Bleach Room, London and featuring commissioned texts by art historian John-Paul Stonard, and exhibition curator Linsey Young. You can purchase a copy from Cornerhouse Publications. 

Audio guide
Blind or partially-sighted visitors can discover this exhibition by listening to a free audio guide on SoundCloud.  

Collection Artist(s)

Other Artist

  • Dexter Dalwood

     

    Conspicuously drawing from a wide range of personal interests which include art history, modern politics, literature, music and lived experience Dalwood paints works that act almost as diorama’s or stage sets for an action which we will not see performed. Introducing elements of collage to the canvas his works create a jolt in the viewer, balanced as they are in a space between the decorative and conceptual and the private and public. The peculiar sense of otherworldliness that the canvases invoke is heightened by the fact that Dalwood paints in a style related to the time at which the action or event alluded to in the image took place. This action heightens the sense of historical importance of events that might otherwise be considered of niche interest; the death of banker Roberto Calvi or the OJ Simpson trial, locating them within the context of art history.

     

    Selected solo exhibitions: Dexter Dalwood, Kunsthaus, Centre d’art PasquArt, Biel, Switzerland (2013) Orientalism, David Risley Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark (2012) Dichter Und Drogen, Nolan Judith, Berlin, Germany (2011) Dexter Dalwood, Tate, St. Ives, UK (2010) Endless Night, Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills, California (2009) Represented by Simon Lee, London.

    http://www.dexterdalwood.com/

Installation Images

  • The Painting Show installation at Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, January 2016
  • The Painting Show installation at Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, January 2016
  • The Painting Show installation at Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, January 2016
  • The Painting Show installation at Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, January 2016
  • The Painting Show installation at Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, January 2016
  • The Painting Show installation at Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, January 2016
  • The Painting Show installation at Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, January 2016
  • Painting Show Installation Photo Vilnius
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Glossary

  • Contemporary

    Existing or coming into being at the same period; of today or of the present. The term that designates art being made today.

  • Curator

    A person who creates exhibitions or who is employed to look after and research museum objects.

  • Medium

    Refers to either the material used to create a work of art, craft or design, i.e. oil, bronze, earthenware, silk; or the technique employed i.e. collage, etching, carving. In painting the medium refers to the binder for the pigment, e.g. oil, egg, acrylic dispersion. The plural form is media.

  • Painting

    Work of art made with paint on a surface. Often the surface, also called a support, is a tightly stretched piece of canvas, paper or a wooden panel. Painting involves a wide range of techniques and materials, along with the artist's intellectual concerns effecting the content of a work.