Chris Gollon: LOVE series

About

Gollon has long been recognized as a very innovative painter of human relationships and interaction. His recent major public commissions have shown his original take on old themes. In a major commission for the Church of England he used his own son as the model for Jesus in the highly acclaimed series of Fourteen Stations of the Cross recently blessed by Richard Chartres, Bishop of London, and permanently installed in the historic grade-one listed, Sir John Soane-designed Church of St John on Bethnal Green, next to the Museum of Childhood.
Chris Gollon (born 1953, London) has enjoyed many solo museum exhibitions in the UK, public commissions and museum acquisitions including the British Museum. He has exhibited at Art Chicago and also with Yoko Ono, David Bowie and Gavin Turk in ROOT, a crossover exhibition of contemporary music and art created by Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, at Chisenhale Gallery, London. His work is attracting increasing acclaim in the national press, specialist arts press and Alan Yentob௿½s BBC1 programme Imagine. A new book, Chris Gollon: Humanity in Art by art historian Tamsin Pickeral (Hyde & Hughes) and endorsed by international author Bill Bryson OBE, was published in 2010. Chris Gollon was both First Artist in Residence and Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Study (2009), Durham University, and has accepted an invitation to return as Artist in Residence at St Mary's College in summer 2011. The producers of the Hollywood film series The Twlight Saga have just approached Chris Gollon to use one of his paintings as an integral part of the story in the forthcoming film Twilight: Breaking Dawn. For latest news, please visit the artist's official information website: www.chrisgollon.com.
In this new exhibition, Gollon engages with the theme of LOVE in all its forms. He breathes life and emotion depth into his stylized figures, and uses great colour juxtaposed with gold or infinite matt blacks. His dynamic use of printmakers' rollers and scratching-in techniques bring movement and rhythm to the images, and a magical atmosphere. Gollon depicts LOVE between sisters as in Sisters of Mercy; love between friends (however different) in The Two Friends (II) and also lust in The Success of the Major. Gollon also tackles unrequited love and spiritual love in The Contemplation of the Magdalene where Mary Magdalene changes from courtesan to disciple. Gollon shows us all aspects of Love including the gentleness of love fulfilled in Love (II), and the exhibition features a painting entitled Rembrandt's Mother showing the love of a parent in unique Gollonesque fashion.

'Chris Gollon's work is wonderfully provocative and inspiring...' Bill Bryson OBE