Brett Graham
TRYON ST 7 – 9 Tryon Street, SW3 3LG www.tryonst.co.uk
The former British Museum curator Anna Harnden will launch a new contemporary commercial gallery just a stone’s throw from the Saatchi Gallery in West London. Opening on 3rd October 2013, Tryon St Gallery aims to bring together artists from different artistic and cultural backgrounds in order to create new dialogues concerning heritage and the contemporary.
The inaugural exhibition Heritage Reinvented will include works by Tom Hunter, the first photographer to have ever exhibited at London’s National Gallery, along side Maori sculptor Brett Graham, Pakistani painter Ali Kazim, Ecuadorian artist Oscar Santillan and Korean sculptor Meekyoung Shin.
Harnden said:
‘Curating historic and contemporary material for museums made me realise that talking to artists about their works provides a valuable insight denied to historians’
Working with artists from across the world Heritage Reinvented explores how artists draw from their cultural past to speak to the present. Each with their own critical standpoint the exhibiting artists are united by their material transformations of their particular heritage traditions.
British artist Tom Hunter was the first photographer ever to have an exhibition at the National Gallery, London. His renowned photographic works transform the compositions, subject matter, technical effects and symbolism of European and American masterpiece paintings to create works that engage with subject matters that resonate with a 21st century audience.
Brett Graham is of Maori and European descent, creating works that address socio-political issues across the dichotomy of his duel heritage. Utilising traditional Maori carving designs and iconography, he applies these patterns to unconventional contemporary forms made from stainless steel, wood and stone. His inclusion inHeritage Reinvented will be his first London exhibition. Graham’s conceptual explorations of the profound effects of European colonialism and the response of indigenous peoples across Oceania, distil the complexities of history and cultural identity to create compelling and subtle artistic statements.
Ecuadorian artist Oscar Santillan’s work has previously drawn exclusively on his Latin American heritage. In his more recent video, sculpture, installation and photography however he explores the breadth and plurality of cultural heritage across the world, finding commonalities and unifying motifs that have a profound universal significance. He will create a new work for Heritage Reinvented which will be his first London exhibition.
Korean artist Meekyoung Shin draws on and transforms ceramic and sculptural masterpieces from East Asian cultural traditions. Buddhists venerate sacred sculptures, making offerings of water in order to cleanse their minds and ultimately attain purity. Meekyoung Shin has meticulously re-created these sacred figures from soap, placing them in public toilets providing all with the opportunity to physically cleanse themselves whilst eroding the serene, previously immutable image of perfection and harmony.
Pakistani artist Ali Kazim trained as a miniature painter in Lahore, continuing an artistic tradition which flowered as the result of a nexus of Persian and South Asian influences from the 16th century onwards. Mughal period and style miniature portraits were declarations of official rank, wealth and status. Kazim’s self portraits transcend this traditional role to present internalising, meditative images.
