Fireeye Meltdown
October 11th - December 17th 2011
Michael Stubbs
Hot Steppa 2011
Household paint and tinted floor varnish on MDF.
122 x 305 cm
48 x 120.1 in
Exhibition Information
“Painting is at an interesting crossroads in relation to digital culture and the media - I try to reflect this through the painting’s chaotic visual spaces.” (Michael Stubbs).
Working at the interface of abstraction and pop, Michael Stubbs combines pouring techniques with hard-edged lines and stencils to force a collision of styles and create a challenging new visual language.
The paintings are made on the floor. Stubbs pours household eggshell, gloss paints and tinted floor varnishes over ready-made adhesive stencils, peels these off when dry and repeats the process again and again to develop both an optical and material layering effect. The flatness of the repeated surfaces is the focus, with a heady mix of opaque and transparent planes giving contrastingly delicate and bold passages.
The layering is part of the fracturing process, the breaking up, or ‘exploding’ of a recognizable image, a response, says Stubbs, to broadcast and internet images of violence and confusion that seems to fill our world. Amorphous shapes intrude into Stubbs’ picture plane, fragmenting the surface: it is as though the physicality of the painting is coming up against the pixilation of the digital image. Yet there is an overriding seductiveness in these works: the perfection of the finish and the boldness of the palette alleviate the chaos of the visual explosion. This is picture making being interrogated in a serious, sensual and often irreverent way.
For further information and images please contact Theresa Simon & Partners theresa@theresasimon.com / pauline@theresasimon.com +44 (0) 207 734 4800
Glenn Brown, Keith Tyson and Michael Stubbs in conversation
Tuesday 11 October, 5 - 6.30pm
Laurent Delaye Gallery, 11 Savile Row, London W1S 3PG
With the influx of art and artists into London for Frieze week, three leading contemporary artists analyse and discuss their work in relation to contemporary painting. The talk takes place in an exhibition of work by Michael Stubbs at Laurent Delaye and is in association with ArtReview's Drinktank Thinktank, a series of artistic conversations in various locations.
Michael Stubbs was born in West Sussex in 1961. He completed his Fine Art PhD at Goldsmiths in 2003, MA Fine Art Goldsmiths, 1990, and his BA (Hons) Fine Art, Bath Academy of Art, 1987.
His recent solo exhibitions include: Laurent Delaye Gallery, London, UK, 2010; ‘Virus Prints’, Laurent Delaye Gallery, London, UK; ‘Virus Drawings’, Rod Barton Gallery, London, UK, 2009; Baro Cruz Gallery, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2007; Hollenbach Gallery, Stuttgart, Germany, 2006; Marella Contemporary Art, Milan, Italy, 2005.
