The Baltic Centre Presents Mariah Robertson's First UK Solo Exhibition

Written by John Charlton Sunday, 26 June 2011 23:31

Gateshead, UK.- The Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art presents American artist Mariah Robertson’s first solo exhibition in the UK, opening on Saturday 25th June. Highly aware of our technology-saturated world, the images Mariah Robertson creates typically have a nostalgia that, at first, seems to hark back to a slower, pre-digital era. Using photographic paper, often at a monumental scale, her darkroom experiments utilise analogue techniques now in their demise to create a synergy between chance, luck and her highly-considered methods. "Maria Robertson" will be on view at the Baltic through October 30th.

Robertson manipulates the tools and materials of the photographic process to capitalise on their inherent strengths and weaknesses. She uses photographs, photograms, colour separation, oversaturated hues and exposes objects directly onto the paper, bypassing the camera lens. An array of chemical drips and mishaps are also used to ‘paint’ the photographic surface. Collageing disparate elements onto irregularly cut photographic paper, Robertson layers them into a single composition to create what she terms an ‘impossible’ image. The elaborate compositions, lush with colour, include both representative and abstract images; recent motifs include palm fronds, male nudes and grids. However, her works are as much about the process of making as they are the interplay between different images and sources.

Her work is presented in a way that brings a sculptural presence. "8", 2011, included in the exhibition, rests in a heavy, over-sized frame that stands directly on the floor and leans against the wall. The roughly-cut glossy, metallic paper is allowed to curl inside, pressing against its limits. "9", 2011, also included, is an entire roll of photographic paper, a structure that runs across and cascades from the ceiling, unraveling around the gallery like a film-strip. The physicality brought about by these modes of display moves the work far beyond the traditions of her chosen medium. Re-writing its rules, she also preserves them, encapsulating a time and method before it disappears completely.


Mariah Robertson was born in 1975. In 1997 she was awarded a BA from University of California, Berkeley, California and gained a MFA in sculpture from Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut in 2005. Her solo exhibitions include 'I am Passions', Marvelli Gallery, NY (2009), 'Nudes, Still Lives and Landscapes', Guild & Greyshkul, New York (2007) and 'Please lie down and take a nap with me in my grave', Guild & Greyshkul, New York (2006). She has presented work in the following group shows: 'Greater New York', PS1, New York (2010), 'Out of Focus: Photography', Saatchi Gallery London (2009), 'The Company Presents: A Video Screening', Miami Beach Florida (2009) and 'Palmar: Experimental Photography', Marvelli Gallery New York (2009). 'Sonata for Executioner and Various Young Women', André Schlechtriem Contemporary, New York, NY (2008), 'FRIENDLY', CRG Gallery, New York, NY (2008). 'Where To: Artists Environ a Cab', The Lab, San Francisco (2007) and 'STUFF: International Contemporary Art from the Collection of Burt Asron', Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit (2007). 'The Truth About Susan Gescheidle The Centre of Attention', Chicago (2006) and 'Help Yourself', Helen Pitt Gallery, Vancouver (2006). Loop Video Festival, Barcelona (2005), 'Great Indoor', Walter Gallery San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco (2003). Mariah Robertson lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

Housed in a landmark industrial building on the south bank of the River Tyne in Gateshead, UK, the Baltic Centre is a major international centre for contemporary art. The Baltic itself has no permanent collection, providing instead an ever-changing calendar of exhibitions and events that give a unique and compelling insight into contemporary artistic practice. Baltic’s dynamic, diverse and international program ranges from blockbuster exhibitions to innovative new work and projects created by artists working within the local community. The notion of Baltic began in 1991 when Northern Arts (now Arts Council England North East) announced its ambition to achieve ‘major new capital facilities for the Contemporary Visual Arts in Central Tyneside’. The Baltic Flour Mill was closed in 1981. Dominic Williams of Ellis Williams Architects won an architectural competition in the mid-1990s to convert the old mill building into a centre for art. Construction began in 1998, and only the south and north facades of the original 1950s building were retained. A new structure consisting of six main floors and three mezzanines was secured between the facades which contain 3, 000 square meters of arts space (four galleries and a flexible performance space), artists' studios, cinema/lecture space, shop, a library and archive for the study of contemporary art and the Rooftop Restaurant on Level 6 (providing stunning views over the River Tyne). An additional two-story structure: The Riverside Building, was constructed to the west of the main building, providing the main entrance into BALTIC, which looks out across Baltic Square and the Gateshead Millennium Bridge. BALTIC opened to the public at midnight on Saturday 13 July 2002. The inaugural exhibition, ‘B.OPEN’, featured work by Chris Burden, Carsten Holler, Julian Opie, Jaume Plensa and Jane & Louise Wilson, and attracted over 45,000 visitors in the first week. Since then the Baltic has presented over 40 exhibitions and welcomed more than 3 million visitors. Even though BALTIC opened to the public in July 2002, the first exhibition which was seen on the site of the building was “Tarantantara” by Anish Kapoor in 1999. “Tarantantara” formed part of ‘B4B’, the Baltic’s pre-opening series of exhibitions and events. A site-specific installation by Anish Kapoor, “Tarantanrara” was commissioned specially for the site before the construction of the new building began. Over 50m long and 25m wide, the work filled the shell of the Baltic Flour Mills and was in-situ for eight weeks and seen by over 16,000 people. In 2011 the Baltic is to be the venue for the Turner Prize, this would be the first time the event has been held outside of a London or Liverpool Tate in its 25 years, a major exhibition from 21 October 2011 to 8 January 2012 will coincide with the final stages of the competition and the winning artist will be announced at a celebratory event at BALTIC in December 2011. Visit the Baltic’s website at … http://www.balticmill.com

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