'Incarnation, Mary & Women from the Bible' new paintings by Chris Gollon

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PLEASE NOTE THIS EXHIBITION IS IN GUILDFORD CATHEDRAL (Cathedral opening hours are displayed here, they are not those of our London gallery, which is open only by appointment). IAP Fine Art is delighted to be curating this major solo exhibition of paintings by Chris Gollon. Opened by award-winning novelist Sara Maitland, the exhibition is accompanied by a full-colour catalogue (price £10), with texts by Sara Maitland and art historian Tamsin Pickeral. The catalogue is available from the cathedral shop or our online shop.
Taking as his theme 'Incarnation, Mary & Women from The Bible', Gollon has enjoyed revisiting religious subject matter since completing his highly-acclaimed Fourteen Stations of the Cross now permanently installed in the grade-one listed Church of St John on Bethnal Green, designed by Sir John Soane. In this exhibition, which coincides with a major regional pilgrimage of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham and the Cathedral's reflections in lectures and study on Mary, women and the Bible, Gollon is revisiting traditional religious iconography such as the Pieta which is one half of a diptych; but he is also trying to pose questions that to him have been unanswered in the Bible such as what happened to Job's wife. He has also been working on a collaborative painting of Noah's Wife with the children of Queen Eleanor's Primary School, Guildford to enjoy speculating on what it must have been like to be on Noah's Ark. Focusing on the stories of both the named and unnamed women in the Bible, the exhibition will contain paintings inspired by both Old & New Testaments, including paintings on paper and canvas and some of the largest works the artist has ever painted.
Chris Gollon is an established name in British painting. He exhibited with Bill Viola, Tracey Emin and Craigie Aitchison in the exhibition Images of Christ for the Third Millennium in St Paul's Cathedral, London (1994). From 2000 ' 2008 he painted a major series of religious works Fourteen Stations of the Cross, which were blessed by Richard Chartres, Bishop of London, and are now permanently installed in the grade-one listed Church of St John on Bethnal Green, designed by Sir John Soane and located next to the Museum of Childhood in east London. Chris Gollon has works in several major public collections including the British Museum. He has enjoyed many solo shows, 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 was featured on Alan Yentob's BBC1 programme Imagine. Sara Maitland's book Stations of the Cross (Bloomsbury, London & New York 2009) was inspired by and features Gollon's Stations of the Cross. The latest book on the artist's life and work Chris Gollon: Humanity in Art by art historian Tamsin Pickeral, and endorsed by 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 accepted an invitation to return as Artist in Residence at St Mary's College in 2011. In 2012, The Art of Chris Gollon application for iPads was launched in association with Liquitex, in which the artist reveals his creative and technical secrets. Chris Gollon is currently working on a 40ft (12m) long painting, which is a collaborative work with Grammy nominated Chinese classical musician Yi Yao. To follow the artist's exhibitions and projects, visit his official information website: www.chrisgollon.com. Chris Gollon lives and works in Surrey, and is represented by IAP Fine Art, London.