Press Information
Brian Catling has been described as a 'transient room-maker'. The room is constructed through imagination in his writing, and in his performances through movements of discovery and exploration. In his installations, materials are used as instruments with which first to receive and comment on the qualities of a particular room - light, atmosphere, space - and then to re-invent it. In doing so, he creates a resonance in the objects through which an invocation of presence takes place. This articulation of the ephereal through solid form is the key to Catling's work.

In Lair, a new installation for Matt's Gallery, three signifiers - a calendar- of Angels, a metal engraved 'carpet', and a feather, each brought into the space to fuel a response, mark out invisible and physical boundaries. Traces of a presence can be detected in a number of 'objects', which illuminate the atmosphere through a friction created by the juxtaposition of the qualities of parchment, vellum and perspex. The association of parchment with knowledge stored from another time, the idea of inscription (also associated with the feather, or quill), and the living, tangible, characterful opacity of its surface is set against the manipulable, transparent modernity of perspex. The contradiction contained within the choice and use of materials is also present in the contrast between the physicality of construction and the immateriality surrounding the result.

Ambivalence and implication within the room suggest Hypothenia, the area occupied by angels, within which transformation and metamorphosis take place. The angelic presence functions for Catling both as an exploration of that hypothenic space and as a metaphor for the human search for knowledge and meaning.

To accompany the exhibition the gallery is publishing a booklet by the artist entitled Lair - containing extracts from 'Written Rooms and Pencilled Crimes'.

Lair will be on view at Matt's Gallery between 14th and 27th September
Daily: 2pm - 8pm
Sponsors: Parchment by Benyon Ltd; Perspex by Talbot Designs Ltd Refreshments kindly supplied by Moosehead Beer

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Biography
Born London 1948. Lives and works in Oxford Studied MA Linacre College Oxford, MA Royal College of Art, BA North East London Polytechnic Solo Exhibitions (installation, sculpture & large performance works): 2010 Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool Biennial 2008 Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh 2005 Antix, Matt's Gallery, London 2002 Antic, ( norwegian language version), Trans-Art Gallery, Trondheim; Buhl Cyclops, AKW, Stadt Buhl, Germany 2000 Man In the Moon, Galleri e.s.Bergen 1999 Were : The Chamber works, ICA, London, (funded by the British Council) 1998 Were, durational performance, Matt's Gallery, London 1997 Cyclops (video installation in German language), Project Gallery, Leipzig; Country of the Blind, text, drawings & video, The Economist, London; Nordic Cyclops (video installation), Museet for Samtidskunst, Oslo 1996 Cyclops (video installation), South London Gallery, London 1995 Cyclops, Galerie Satellite, Paris 1994 The Blindings, Serpentine Gallery, London 1993 Ten Gallery, Fukuoka, Japan; La Bas, Galerie Satellite, Paris 1991 At The Lighthouse, Matt's Gallery, London 1989 Museum of Modern Art, Oxford 1988 Atrium, Neuw Gallery, Sammalung Ludwig, Aachen, Germany 1987 White Breath/Red Heart, Hordaland Kunstnercentrum, Bergen, Norway; Lair, Matt's Gallery, London 1986 On Touching And Haunting A Noble Silent Room, Leifsgade 22, Copenhagen Selected Group Exhibitions: 2010 From Floor to Sky: British Sculpture and the Studio ExperienceAmbika P3, London; Magic Show, Hayward Gallery Touring 2005 Variety Delaware Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea 2000 Small act at the Millennium 1999 Spin, British Library, London 1998 Oak Repels Lightning, Science Musuem, London 1997 A Cloudburst of Material Possessions, Purdy Hicks & Touring Selected Performance Works: 2011 SMART Project Space, Amsterdam (forthcoming); Labyrinth of Living Exhibits, Hunterian Museum, London 2010 Night & Day, Modern Art Oxford; Mr. Rapehead, ICA London; To Be Present, Amsterdam; Magicshow, Quad Derby 2009 SMART Museum Night, Amsterdam 2008 Night at the Music Hall, Rational Rec, Wiltons, London 2007 Long Breath, For ASA, Maschinehaus Essen, Germany; One must be so careful these days, Alma Enterprises, London; THE RAIL, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham; It's Just Bread, Alma Enterprises, London; Fresh Festival, South Hill Park, Bracknell; AIAV. Yamaguchi, Japan; Art Space Tetra, Fukuoka Japan 2005 Mellom himmel og ha, Performance festival, Bergen, Norway; Halle Cyclops, Handel-Festspiele, Halle (Saale) Electric Renaissance 2003 A Certain Turbulence, Reykjavik Contemporary Art Museum, Iceland; Acts of Faith & Generosity, La Bisbal, Spain 2002 London Orbital Barbican Theatre, London; Steder: more places for ever, Lillehammer, Norway; The Boulevards, Den Bosch theatre festival, Netherlands 2001 BBC/Modus Operandi, video commission; 60 1 minute performances Karlsruhl, Germany Late Harping Tour, Etruscan; OX1, Brooks University, Oxford; The Wolf and the Winter, Den Bosch, Holland 1999 ASA, Cologne; Were You There? s'Hertogenbosch 1998 Bone, Bern Performance Festival; Virus, Freiwild Festival, Halle, Germany; Stadt Gallerie, Bern, Switzerland 1997 Bergen Performace Festival, Norway; Science Museum, London; Flylkingen, Stockholm; Night of the Living Tongues, Cambridge; Cyclops, Tel Aviv, Israel; Hush, Slaughter House Gallery; Ontmoeting, s'Hertogenbosch, Holland; One Night Stands, Norwich Gallery; Madrid Performance Festival; 1996 Freiwild Festival, Halle, Germany; Clepsydra, South London Gallery, London 1995 Konsum Projekt, Baitz, Brandenburg, Germany; Hidden Cities, bus tour, Laboratory Gallery, Oxford; Revenge Of the Reforgotten Royal Albert Hall, London 1994 Samtids Museum, Oslo; Olot Festival & Girona Kulturhall, Catalonia, Spain; Serpentine Gallery, London; The Reading Room & The King's Library at the British Library and the Castle Mount; The Castle Mound Oxford, Bookworks 1993 Artifact Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel; Kityakushu Museum of Art, Japan; Ujazdowski Centre of Contemporary Art, Warsaw, Poland; Tate Gallery, London 1992 Schloss Pluschow, Mecklenburgisches Kunstlerhaus, Germany; The Melk Fabrike, s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands; Gianozzo, Berlin; 1991 Belluard-Bolwerk Festival, Fribourg, Switzerland; Museum of Living Art, Reykjavik, Iceland; Naturhistoric Museum, Bergen, Norway; Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin, Ireland 1990 Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth; Trondelec Arts Centre, Trondheim, Norway; Victoria & Albert Museum, London Commissioned Works: 2006 Monument at the site of execution in The Tower of London 2002 Presence, A commissioned work for Broadcasting House BBC 1995 Window, installed sculpture for the British Embassy, Dublin, PACA & The Government Art Collection 1994 A Conceptual Telescope For Bergen, public commissioned work for the city over five sites. Video works with Tony Grisoni (joint authorship, production and direction): 2005 The Cutting 1999 Vanished! A Video Séance 1998 Palermo

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