Press Information
John Frankland’s new commission made specially for Matt’s Gallery will be his first major installation since You Can't Touch This in 1993, at the Hales Gallery.

Frankland will install a sculpted surface in the gallery, similar to a wall. Richly coloured and with the appearance of solidity, the object is in fact intensely fragile, its surface constructed from stretched polythene. The sculpture, which can only essentially be experienced as a surface, is ambiguous, referring to the internal architecture of a building, the language of painting and the physcial experience of the cinema.

John Frankland has recently received considerable attention through his inclusion in Young British Artists IV at the Saatchi Gallery, 1995 and his selection for the British Art Show Four, which tours Britain throughout 1996.

The new commission offers an opportunity to see a new work by the artist which will confirm his status as one of the most interesting sculptors working in Britain today.

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Biography
Born Rochdale, Lancashire 1961, Lives and works in London. Studied 1979 Rochdale College of Art (Foundation) 1980/3 Goldsmiths College (BA Hons) Selected Solo Exhibitions 2006 Peer, Peer Gallery, London 2005 Brown Works, Matt's Gallery, London 2001 Untitled Boulder, Compton Verney House Trust, Warwick 2000 Untitled (Disaster), Project Art Centre, Dublin 1999 BACKSPACE Matt’s Gallery, London; You Can’t Touch This, Arnolfini, Bristol 1998 Lokaal 01, Antwerp 1997 Nothing Matters, Royal Festival Hall, London 1996 what you lookin’ at?, Matt’s Gallery, London 1994 Untitled (shed), Hales Gallery, London 1993 You Can’t Touch This, Hales Gallery, London Group Exhibitions 2007 A Proposal, De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea; Art Futures, Contemporary Art Society at Bloomberg Space, London; Relationships, York Art Gallery, Yorkshire 2006 Designer DIY, curated by FAT, distributed by Volume Magazine, Amsterdam 2004 Off the Beaten Track, Arts Council Collection, Longside Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park; Full Bloom, The Harley Gallery, Worksop 2003 In Good Form, Arts Council Collection, Longside Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park 2002 Art and Mountains, The Alpine Club, London 2001 Multiplication, British Council Touring Show to: The National Gallery of Bucharest and touring: Romania, Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Turkey, to 2005 2000 Point of View, Part One, Richard Salmon Gallery, London; Multiple showcase, Camden Arts Centre, London; Tabley, Tabley House, Cheshire, curated by Mike Stanley 1999 Signs of Life, Melbourne International Biennial, Australia, curated by Juliana Engberg; Anarchitecture, De Appel, Amsterdam; ninenineninetynine, Anthony Wilkinson Gallery, London; Manufacturers, The Paper Bag Factory, London 1998 Martin Creed, Ceal Floyer, John Frankland, Delfina, London; Close Echoes, Gallery of the City of Prague, Prague, Czech Republic, Curated by Olga Mala, Wolfgang Denk & Karel Srp; New Art from Britain, Kunstraum Innsbruck, Austria 1997 Belladonna, ICA, London; Pictura Britannica, curated by Bernice Murphy, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; & touring to Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide & Te Papa, Wellington New Zealand 1996/7 Plastic, Arnolfini, Bristol 1996 Two Seconds Nine Months, Bankside Lofts, London; Roadworks, curated by FAT, London 1995 Tell Everyone, Greene Naftali Gallery, New York; To Whom It May Concern, Anna Bornholt Gallery, London; Konrad Lorenz’s Duck, Ex Lanficio Bona, Turin; Young British Artists IV, Saatchi Gallery, London 1995 The British Art Show 4 organised by National Touring Exhibitions at the Hayward Gallery; & touring to Manchester, Edinburgh & Cardiff (1996) 1994 Tight, The Tannery, London Bridge Extension, Bonington Gallery, Nottingham Trent University 1992 Whitechapel Open at Spitalfields Market, London 1991 Open Studio Show, Victor House, London; Ersatz, group show of installations at Martello Street, London 1987 London Fields Artists (Open studio show) Collections Private collections in London and Sweden; Arts Council Collection, Hayward Gallery, London; The British Council Collection, London; Saatchi Collection, London; You Can’t Touch This was permanently installed at the Saatchi Gallery, London, 1995-7 Awards 2002 The Arts Foundation Award for Sculpture Teaching 2002 Lecturer, MA Sculpture, Royal College of Arts 1998 - 2001 Head of Sculpture, City & Guilds of London School of Art (BA and MA courses) 1995-8 University of Portsmouth BA Course; Visiting Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University MA Course; Slade School of Art MA Course; Winchester School of Art BA Sculpture; University of Brighton; University of Wales, Cardiff BA and MA Courses; Byam Shaw School of Art, London BA Sculpture; Reading University BA Fine Art; Goldsmiths College, London MA Course; Nene College, Northampton BA Fine Art; Central St Martins College of Art and Design, London MA Course; Fine Art, Royal Academy, London; Ruskin School, Oxford University BA Sculpture; University of Central England BA Fine Art