Philip Gurrey solos at Madder 139

Written by Fred Addington Monday, 14 February 2011 22:58

London - MADDER 139 is delighted to announce the first solo show of PULSE Prize New York 2008 winner and Glasgow School of Art graduate, Philip Gurrey.  In a series of oil paintings Gurrey concentrates on the bridge between contemporary culture and visual art and its historical precedents.  Reminiscent of a DJ, Gurrey pieces together portraits from the Enlightenment period and like a surgeon with his scalpel, sculpts a new vision.  By extracting components from a multitude of artworks; from Hennell’s photographs of reconstructive surgery to WW1 soldiers to Van Dycks, Lawrences, Reynolds and Tonks, Gurrey constructs faces that comprise the elegance of a Velazquez, with the painterly deftness of a Saville.

Some of Gurrey’s work specifically underlines certain characters; Robert Manners, (an English soldier and nobleman), Margaretha de Geer, (a wife of a wealthy merchant whom Rembrandt painted on more than one occasion) and Viscount Castlereagh, (the Foreign Secretary for a decade and later leader of the House of Commons) in their titles.  Other works reflect on and hint at key philosophical and musical works, like ‘The Fall’ by Albert Camus or ‘Lost and Found’ a jazz composition by Dave Holland, and some are simply nondescript in their titling; ‘Eye’, ‘Face’, ‘Smile’ and ‘Vanity’.  By deliberately toying with his titles Gurrey achieves a certain ‘absurd creation’; a juxtaposition of identifiable references alongside unknown quantities; provoking the spectator to reflect more personally upon the work.

Painting in an androgynous manner Gurrey concentrates on making the eyes the most highlighted part of his victims, hinting at Donne’s, Shakespeare’s and many others' affirmation that the “eyes are the windows to the soul”.  Most of the portraits glower out at the viewer in a Western Custom of total honesty, as each self seeks to be exposed.  Yet others like ‘Aperture’ are more reticent; the right eye is swollen shut, but is the left eye simply closed as the sitter does not want to reveal anything of his character?

Often dissecting his portraits in two Gurrey highlights the concept of the ‘split self’ and the notion of many different personalities in one face.  Goya is also renowned for this, most noticeably in ‘Two Old Men, 1821-23’, where Goya himself is depicted as an ageing man, confronted by a dark demon (his alto ego) whispering in his ear.  The dichotomy is further exacerbated in the ageing man’s face where the eyes are visibly different, the right eye gawking out in a challenging manner, glaring directly upon the viewer, while the left cowers evasively in the clinical, vacant shade.

Philip Gurrey was born in 1984 and lives and works in Scotland. On exhibition through 21 June, 2008.

Visit Madder 139 Gallery at : www.madder139.com/

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