Alison Turnbull, Sea the Stars (in progress), oil and acrylic on canvas
Alison Turnbull, Sea the Stars (detail), oil and acrylic on canvas
Alison Turnbull, Sea the Stars (detail), oil and acrylic on canvas
Press Information
Observatory is Alison Turnbull's second exhibition at Matt’s Gallery
and marks a new direction in her work. She has created a number of related
paintings, originally inspired by plans of Thomas Jefferson’s observatory.
Collector, researcher and observer, Turnbull works with nature, but without
literal illustration. Using specialist star charts as the genesis of her new
work she shows the margins and transitional spaces of a human world. Plans
and charts are already at one remove from their original source and Turnbull
further distances her work from the subject through the act of painting. In
this way new versions emerge that could not be depicted through media such
as photography. By reconsidering existing structures she questions how we define
things visually.
Turnbull’s approach has the quality of quiet and precise engagement.
She begins her paintings with a set of internal parameters, or visual references,
and as they develop she exerts pressure on these rules and the pictorial starts
to take precedence.
Some paintings, such as
Moon-viewing Platform, draw directly on the language of chart and plan; others
are more abstract, but all are informed by close attention to colour and picture
surface. Turnbull’s control of texture and composition emphasizes each
work’s distance and depth. The canvas is sanded smooth and Turnbull applies
finely detailed layers of painted shapes and dots that vary with subtle changes
in the pressure of the brush on the canvas. With considerable skill and sensitivity
she adjusts each painting’s structure; areas are built up by thickening
the surface while others are pared right down. What emerges is a number of
abstracted sites, each one a place where different dialogues might occur.
Turnbull’s drawings, created on pages from her extensive personal collection
of exercise books and graph papers, both bought and donated, appear as notations
contained by the graphic lines of the paper. The titles refer to the locations
where each paper was purchased, conferring a sense of moving through familiar
places. The drawings will be shown in an elongated vitrine running across the
centre of the gallery space.
A publication to support the exhibition, Observatory, with an essay
by Ed Krcma, published by Matt's Gallery, will be available free to visitors.
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Born Bogotá, Colombia, Lives and works in London Studied 1978–1981 Bath Academy of Art, Corsham; 1977–1978 West Surrey College of Art and Design; 1975–1977 Academia Arjona, Madrid Solo Exhibitions 2005 Black Borders, Galería Magda Bellotti, Madrid; World in a Chamber, Said Business School, University of Oxford; ArtSway, The New Forest, Hampshire 2003 Hospital, Matt’s Gallery, London 2001 Houses into Flats, Museum of Modern Art Oxford 2000 Houses into Flats, Milton Keynes Gallery and Cube, Manchester; Mobile Home, London 1997 Gallery A, London 1990 Anne Berthoud Gallery, London 1989 Anne Berthoud Gallery, London Group Exhibitions 2010 Re: Public, Chelsea Futurespace, London; On the Edge of the World, Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh 2009 Pattern Recognition, The City Art Gallery, Leicester; Between the Lines - British Contemporary Drawing, Trinity Fine Art, London 2008 Darwin’s Canopy, Natural History Museum, London 2006 Responding to Rome, Estorick Collection, London; Jerwood Drawing Prize, Jerwood Space, London and tour 2005 Building Capacity, Storey Gallery, Lancaster; Cube Retrospective 1998–2004, Cube, Manchester 2004 Open Secret, Imperial War Museum, London 2003 Turpentine, Studio Voltaire, London 2002 British School at Rome 2001 Jerwood Drawing Prize, Prince of Wales Trust, London 2000 Versailles,Trinity Gardens, London; Glasgow Print Studio, Glasgow 1998 Whitechapel Open, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London 1997 Norddeutsche Landesbank, International Hanover Fair, Hanover; Blueprint, Glasgow Print Studio, Glasgow 1994 New Voices, Centre d’Art Santa Monica, Barcelona and tour to Bilbao and Madrid 1993 New Voices: New Works for the British Council Collection, Centre de Conferences Albert Borschette, Brussels and tour; East, Norwich Art Gallery, Norfolk Institute of Art and Design; Multum in Parvo, Wingfield College, Suffolk; John Moores Liverpool 18, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool 1992 Bruise: Painting for the 90’s, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham and Cornerhouse, Manchester 1992 Whitechapel Open, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London 1991 Broadgate Art Project, London 1990 Whitechapel Open, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London 1989 Whitechapel Open, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London Artist's Books 2006 Black Borders, Piece of Paper Press, London 2005 The Family Beds, University of Oxford 2002 Spring Snow – A Translation, Book Works, London Projects and Commissions 2010 Salon Cabinet Particulier The Russian Club, London 2008-10 Time and Tide DLR Art, Transport for London 2008 Vitis vinifera L. One Vine Street, The Crown Estate, London 2007 E3 4RR Matt’s Gallery Print Portfolio2004 Moorfields Eye Hospital, London 2003 360º, Clifford Chance HQ, London 1999 Moon, Milton Keynes Theatre, Milton Keynes 1998 Little Japanese Paintings, Contemporary Art Society, The Ark, London 1997 Shell Research and Technology Centre, Chester 1996 9–15 Bellgrove Street, Glasgow 1995 Speech, Language and Hearing Centre, Christopher Place, London 1994 Peckham Square, London 1991 Pool Painting, Burrell’s Wharf, London 1989 Lintel and Upright, Newport, Rhode Island Awards 2009 Gulbenkian Galápagos Artists Programme 2005 Artist in Residence, ArtSway, New Forest, Hampshire 2003 Arts and Humanities Research Board; Delmas Foundation, New York 2002 Rome Scholarship in the Fine Arts 1999 Abbey Council, London 1997 RSA Art for Architecture, London 1995 RSA Art for Architecture, London 1991 Pollock–Krasner Foundation, New York 1988 Greater London Arts Association Collections Arthur Andersen, London; Arts Council of England; The British Council; Deutsche Bank AG, London; Government Art Collection, London; Imperial War Museum, London; Seagrams, London
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Bibliography
Publications 2010 Alison Turnbull, Observatory,
text by Ed Krcma, Matt’s Gallery, London 2008 Vitis
vinifera L.,
text by Paul Bonaventura, Matt’s Gallery, London 2005 World
in a Chamber, text by Philip Hoare, University
of Oxford 2003 Alison Turnbull,
Hospital, Matt’s
Gallery, London 2000 Alison Turnbull: Houses
into Flats, texts by Briony Fer and Dejan Dudjic, Milton Keynes Gallery Selected
articles and group exhibition catalogues 2010 On
the Edge of the World,
[exhibition catalogue] edited by John Daniel and Sarah Gillett ed., The British
Council, London 2009 Between
the Lines – British Contemporary Drawing, [exhibition catalogue] texts
by Jeremy Cooper and Catherine
Lampert, Trinity Fine Art, London 2008 Critics
Choice, Andrew Mead, Architects’ Journal, London, 11.09.08; Transformations
by Sunand Prasad, Black Dog Publishing, London 2007 Moorfields
Eye Hospital by Nicola Jackson, Wordsearch, London; Jerwood Drawing
Prize 2007, [exhibition catalogue]
Wimbledon School of Art, London 2006 Responding
to Rome [exhibition catalogue], Estorick Collection, London 2005
The Family Beds by Alison Turnbull, Colin Martin, Hortus no.75; Families
Reunited, John Bohannon, Oxford Today, Vol.18, No.1; Moonlandings by Michael
Stanley in Re views: Artists and Public Space, Black
Dog
Publishing, London; Alison Turnbull, Jessica Lack, The Guardian,
24 September; The Artistic Garden, Hampshire Life, October; Alison
Turnbull
at
ArtSway,
Andrew Mead, Architects’ Journal, 27.10.05 London; Alison Turnbull,
Laura
McLean-Ferris, an Magazine, November; Collecting the Whole World in a Chamber,
[exhibition guide], text by Philip Hoare, Said Business School, University of
Oxford;
Looking at Plants and Places, Alison Turnbull, Botanic Garden News,Oxford,
Spring;
The Eden Project, Philip Hoare, The Guardian, 16 April;
A Different Kind of Eden, Philip Hoare, Botanic Garden News, Oxford,
Summer
2004
Schnipsel, Alison Turnbull, Soda, Zurich, November
2003
Just the Tonic, Adrian Forty, Building Design, London, 25 April;
Alison Turnbull, Matt’s Gallery, Martin Herbert, Time Out, London,
30 April;
Alison Turnbull: Hospital, Jane Neal, Contemporary, June
2001
Kataryna Kozyra, Alison Turnbull, Robert Clark, The Guardian, London,
3 February;
A Life in Architecture, Andrew Mead, Architects Journal, October;
Alison Turnbull, Emma Safe, Art Press, Paris, April
2000
Alison Turnbull, Layla Curtis, Richard Wright, Paul Usherwood, Art
Monthly, September;
The Big Show, John Russell-Taylor, The Times, London, 9 September;
Pretexts for Painting, Andrew Cross, Architects Journal, September;
Best Exhibitions Nationwide, Amber Cowan, The Times, 30 September;
Alison Turnbull, Mobile Home, Martin Herbert, Time Out, 25 October;
Castles in the Air, Hugh Pearman, Blueprint, London November
1999
Art at Milton Keynes, Hugh Stoddart, Public Art Journal, London, March;
Reading a Mysterious Scientific Drawing, Kyoichi Tsuzuki, an an, Tokyo,
March
1997
Alison Turnbull at Gallery A, Mel Gooding, London;
Alison Turnbull, Sue Hubbard, Time Out, London, 29 October
1996
9-15 Bellgrove Street, Visual Arts Projects, Glasgow (with contributions
from
Lucy Byatt, Gerry Grams, Rob Joiner, Julia Radcliffe and Dejan Sudjic);
Celebration of City Spaces, Keith Bruce, The Glasgow Herald, 7 September;
Where Things Meet…light, colour, corner, edge, Alison Turnbull, Architects
Journal, London, October
1995
New Voices works for a complex age, [exhibition catalogue] text
by Adrian Searle, The British Council, London;
Glass Rooms, RIBA Journal, London, November
1993
East, [exhibition catalogue], Norwich Gallery;
Pleasant Surprises off the Beaten Track, Tim Hilton, The Independent
on Sunday, London, 18 July;
East the artists west the public, John McEwan, The Sunday Telegraph,
London, 8 August;
East, Paul Usherwood, Art Monthly, London, September
1992
Bruise: Paintings for the 90’s Angela Kingston, Ikon Gallery catalogue,
Birmingham;
Bruise, Robert Graham, The Guardian, Manchester edition, 8 July;
Bruise, Mark Sladen, Frieze, London, September/October;
New Voices New Works for the British Council Collection, [exhibition
catalogue], text by Gill Hedley, The British Council, London
1990
Alison Turnbull, Sarah Kent, Time Out, London, 9 May;
Alison Turnbull’s Paintings, William Feaver, The Observer, London,
13 May
1989
Alison Turnbull, Tim Hilton, The Guardian, London, 15 March;
Alison Turnbull, Robert Macdonald, Time Out, London 29 March
Whitechapel Open, William Feaver, The Observer, London, 8 October
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