Melanie Counsell Matt's Gallery, 1995 (installation view)
Melanie Counsell Matt's Gallery, 1995 (installation view)
Melanie Counsell Matt's Gallery, 1995 (installation view)
Press Information
The original height of the gallery has been lowered. A false ceiling of dense
industrial fibreboards reduces the height by almost a third. The ceiling stretches
from the entrance towards the series of windows which run along the rear wall
of the gallery. The structure does not meet the windows. Leaving a part of the
original ceiling visible and unaltered, a narrow border exists between the windows
and the depth of the structure is revealed. This face of the structure parallel
to the windows is faced with black Perspex. The exterior place is both absorbed
and reflected. The two concrete pillars which inhabit the gallery have been
sandblasted.
Biography
Born Cardiff 1964, Lives and works in London Studied
1986-1988 MA Fine Art, Slade School of Fine Art, London; 1983-1986 BA (hons)
Fine Art, South Glamorgan Institute of Higher Education Solo
Exhibitions 2002 Galerie Jennifer Flay, Paris, France 1999
Galerie Jennifer Flay, Paris, France 1998 Film
Screenings, Matt’s Gallery, London; The Pit, Toronto, organised by
Gregory Salzman 1996 Galerie Jennifer Flay,
Paris, London 1995 Matt’s Gallery, London
1993 Coronet Cinema, Mile End, London, organised
by Artangel; Usine Fremaux, Amiens; Ephemeral State Commission, Minstere de
la Culture, France 1992 Galerie Jennifer Flay,
Paris, France; Centrale Electrique, Bourges, organised by F.R.A.C. Centre 1989
Tooting Bec Psychiatric Hospital, London; Matt’s Gallery, London Group
Exhibitions 2002 Geometers, curated by Simon Morrissey, Nylon,
London2001 Century City: Art and Culture
in the Modern Metropolis, Tate Modern, London; MEGAHERTZ, attitudes,
Geneva; Dead-Wall Reverie, Five Years, London 2000
la répétition, la tête dans les nuages, Villa Arson,
Nice 1999 Fourth Wall, National Theatre,
organised by Public Art Development Trust; Word enough to save a life, Word
enough to take a life, Clare College Mission Church, London, curated by
Simon Morrissey; TRACE, Liverpool Biennial of Contemporary Art, curated
by Anthony Bond; BACKSPACE, Matt’s Gallery, London 1998
Glissments Progressifs, Le Creux de L’Enfer, Theirs 1995
High Rise, Space Explorations at 110 Euston Rd, London 1992
Sydney Biennale, Australia 1991 White Bones,
Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff, Canada 1990
British Art Show, Glasgow, Leeds, London T.S.W.A; Installation at B.R.S
Factory Derry, Ireland; Seven Obsessions, Whitechapel Art Gallery,
London 1988 Six Artists Three Shows,
Anthony Reynolds Gallery, London Screenings 1999
Screenings of films with lecture by Patricia Falguieres, CAPC Musee d’art
contemporain de Bordeaux 1998 Screenings of
films at Matt’s Gallery to launch two publications Catalogue & Annette,
commissioned and published by Matt’s Gallery, and Artangel, London 1996
CCA TV -The Meaning of Life Parts 1&2, CCA, Glasgow
Bibliography
Selected Publications 2001 Century City:
Art and Culture in the Modern Metropolis, Tate Modern; Action we’re
filming La répétition, la tête dans les nuages,
Villa Arson, Nice; Édition de attitudes - le journal (no.1),
attitudes, Geneva; 1999 Melanie Counsell,
Drinking Fountain, Toronto 1998 The Pit, The Gallery of York University;
TRACE, Liverpool Biennial of Contemporary Art, curated by Anthony Bond
1998 Annette (a bookwork) and Catalogue
(a survey of past work), Matt’s Gallery, London and Artangel; London
Glissments Progressifs, Le Creux de L’Enfer, Theirs 1997
Space Explorations 1991 T.S.W.A. New Works for
Different Places. James Lingwood (ed.); White Bones, Banff: Walter
Phillips 1990 The British Art Show 1990,
London: Hayward Gallery; Bennett, Oliver Veiled Stories: Sophie Calle and
Melanie Counsell; Performance 62 (Nov 1990) Selected
Bibliography 2000 Elizabeth Lebovici, Melanie Counsell, <<Tetu>>
Summer; Paul Ardenne, Melanie Counsell, artpress, No. 254, February;
1999 David Burrows, Word Enough to Save
a life/Word Enough to Take a Life, Simon Morley, Word Enough to Save
a life/Word Enough to Take a Life, Contemporary Visual Arts, August Art
Monthly No. 228, July/August 1998 Elisabeth
Lebovici, Boire L’art a La Fontaine, Liberation, 23 July; Sue Hubbard,
Cheapness means Forgiveness, Contemporary Visual Arts, Issue 19; Cathy
Courtney, Melanie Counsell, Annette, Art Monthly, No.217, June; Sotiris
Kyriacou, Melanie Counsell, Films and Publications, Contemporary Visual
Arts, Issue 19; David Green, Minimal Interventions, Contemporary Visual
Arts, Issue 17 1997 David Barrett, High
Rise, Art Monthly, May 1995 Clifford Myerson,
Decline of the Viewer, Untitled, Summer; Sotiris Kyriacou, Melanie
Counsell, Matt’s Gallery, Art Monthly March; Miren Jaio, Melanie Counsell,
Matt’s Gallery, Lapiz, April 1993 Helen
Sloan, Evaporation in the Dark, Creative Camera, June/July; Caroline
Smith, History’s Collapse, Women’s Art, May/June; Michael Corris, Artangel
Trust, Artforum, October; Michael Archer, O Camera O Mores, Art
Monthly, May 1992 Eric Troncy, London Calling:
Intimacy and Chaos in Contemporary British Art, Flash Art, Summer; Manuel
Jover, Melanie Counsell, Beaux Arts, Mai; Benjamin Weil, Melanie
Counsell, Flash Art, Summer; Larisa Dryansky, Melanie Counsell,
Art Press, March; Armelle Leturcq, Counsell, Kanal, No 2, Avril/Mai
1991 T.S.W.A. Four Cities Project, Melanie
Counsell, Circa, January - February; Michael Archer, T.S.W.A.,
Artscribe, January - February 1990 Kate Bush,
Melanie Counsell: Matt’s Gallery, Artscribe, March - April; Laurie
Peake, Seven Obsessions, Women's Art Magazine, December; Fiona Barber,
T.S.W.A., Women's Art Magazine, December; Jonathan Watkins, British
Art Show, Art International, Winter; Marjorie Allthorpe-Guyton, Seven
Obsessions: Whitechapel, Artforum, November; Bruce Bernardr British
Art Show, The Independent Magazine, 20 June; James Hall, Seven Obsessions,
The Sunday Correspondent, 26 August; Caroline Collier, British Art Show,
Women's Art Magazine, September; Andrew Renton, Blitz, February1989
Mark Currah, Melanie Counsell: Matt’s Gallery, City Limits, 3
November