KEVIN MALLOY
The Arc of Reading

The title of Kevin Malloy's exhibition 'The Arc of Reading' sound enigmatic for a painter who is primarily concerned with communicating through images. Painting is a medium of image and texture, not words but our appreciation of it is informed through words which articulate responses and emotions to ourselves. Painting is the medium but words are often the framework of understanding. Malloy's images in this exhibition are books and chairs, objects we use on a daily basis to access words.

Although American by birth, Malloy moved to the UK in the 70s to study art as he felt it important to experience the European tradition first-hand, receiving a grounding in drawing from the figure and motif. The books are sitting open infront of the artist as he paints. They then become not only a source of information through words but an object itself. Chairs take the process further handing in his studio at various angles, the utilitarian function of the object disappearing and the now unfamiliar shapes transformed into spatial concerns.

In Malloy's paintings he asks questions of the medium, not expecting answers but rather searching for processes upon which to base further investigation. The curved paintings begin with the unique construction of the stretchers, a complex process whereby the support virtually becomes a sculpture. In the artist's words:

"Constructing something is the first step and when you make a curved stretcher you are already creating a space".

The space is both analytical and architectural. The painting of the image itself and the textures further enchance the ideas and bring the totality to metaphysical plane. Like Loic Le Groumellec's menhirs or Sol Lewitt's wall drawings, these images of books and chairs are not the creation of a style but a creative armature.

EXHIBITIONS

KEVIN MALLOY
The Arc of Reading
paintings
18 October - 11 November 2000

Exhibition features:

« back to previous page

Please note, works in previous exhibitions may no longer be available, please visit our stockroom for available works