Christian Newby | Boredom>Mischief>Fantasy >Radicalism>Fantasy

About

This new commission responds to the building, originally built to house an astronomical telescope, with a textile architectural intervention that divides the space, accompanied by a specially produced newspaper, An Illuminated Manual for Drawing with Carpet.  

The new large-scale tapestry combines the artist’s mark-making with industrial carpet tufting to explore how questions of labour, authorship and materiality define the fine and applied arts. Made using an industrial hand-held carpet-tufting gun, Christian explores potential capacity of this machine as a mark-making tool rather than its primary function in a rote manufacturing process. By using the tufting tool’s nimbleness as an equivalent to a pencil, spray can, paintbrush, or tattoo needle, Christian questions how textile works are positioned between art and craft.  

The images found within Boredom>Mischief>Fantasy>Radicalism>Fantasy subvert typical rug and textile design motifs such as flowers, birds and shells with free-hand organic forms, pictorially contained by a large net that envelopes the whole work – alluding to our shared experience of enclosure during the Covid-19 lockdowns.  

The accompanying newspaper offers a context for the new tapestry, and includes a new essay by writer Andrew Bourne alongside drawings, writing and scores by Christian that offer in depth information on his practice and decision-making process.  

Please note that you may have to queue to enter the exhibition to adhere to social distancing measures. 

Christian Newby is an artist based in London. He graduated with an MFA from Glasgow School of Art (2009). Selected exhibitions include: Brick-Wall-Spider-Web-Post-It-Note, Beers London (2019), Yo Compro Calidad, Matadero, Madrid (2017); Tetracontameron Space Between, London (2016) and; Le Club des Sous l’Eau’ Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2016). Christian has been an artist in residence at - Academy of Visual Arts, HKBU, Artist-in-Residence, Hong Kong (2019), Matadero Madrid El Ranchito exchange with Arthouse Foundation, Lagos, Nigeria (2017) and URRA/Gasworks Residency, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2015). He is currently a PhD researcher at the Contemporary Art Research Centre, Kingston University, London. 

Collective is a centre for contemporary art in the old City Observatory, Edinburgh.