Press Information
Brian Catling, THE VORRH
Book Launch at Matt’s Gallery,
Thursday 22nd November 2012, 7—9pm

Matt’s Gallery is pleased to host the London launch of Brian Catling’s long awaited epic creation The Vorrh, the first novel in an astounding new trilogy. The launch will feature a new video work by Catling, made especially for the occasion, as well as a reading from the book itself.

Spanning the 19th and 20th centuries, Catling’s fantastical epic takes inspiration from the imaginary African forest of the same name in Raymond Roussel’s Impressions of Africa. This vast biological, biblical and mythical expanse is the absorbing presence at the centre of a finely crafted, surrealist narrative, where the fortunes of an array of characters, from native hunter Tsungali and adolescent cyclops Ishmael, to photographer Eadweard Muybridge are connected through its profound ethereal core. A deep and violent mixture of soured anthropologies, impossible surgeries, breathtaking landscapes, virulent ghosts and the sad and poignant little motors of human desire.

Extraordinarily immersive and laden with sumptuous prose, the brilliance of The Vorrh will haunt all who enter it.

Brian Catling is an artist, writer and poet, whose published works include The Stumbling Block (1990) and The Blindings (1995) published by Book Works. Bobby Awl (2007) and A Court of Miracles (2009) by Etruscan Books. He is Professor of Fine Art at the Ruskin School of Drawing & Fine Art, University of Oxford and has made solo exhibition at numerous international galleries and venues including the Serpentine, the ICA, and Matt’s Gallery, London.

For further information and to read an extract from the book visit Honest Publishing.

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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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