Monday, November 17, 2014

Mike Pratt "The Meeting of Two Eyebrows" Workplace London, UK

Mike Pratt Untitled, 2014, Metal, Leather Jacket, Hair, Wax and motor, 86 x 86 x 195 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Workplace Gallery

Mike Pratt

The Meeting of Two Eyebrows

21st November 2014 - 31st January 2015

 

Workplace London

61 Conduit Street

London W1S 2GB

Friday and Saturday, 10am - 6pm

(and by appointment)

tel: +44 (0)207 434 1985

http://www.workplacegallery.co.uk

 

Workplace Gallery is pleased to announce The Meeting of Two Eyebrows the first solo exhibition of Mike Pratt at Workplace London comprising an installation of recent sculpture and painting made during the summer of 2014.

 

All of the works are loosely based around the theme of the torso, with the wax cast paintings being produced using the same mold. In total there are 5 paintings and 5 vibrating bikers. I had always wanted to work with worn out leather jackets as a material just because they hold a close relationship to painting, with a layered surface revealing actions and incidents. I wanted these objects to be presented as a portrait, emulating an experience. Their frayed hair extensions (garnished with seashells and feathers) allow a non-verbal declaration towards the quintessential outsider, describing their characteristics through materiality. The paintings are abstractions; they mimic each other's form and share a domestic dining room scale. Their nature is pointed towards romantic notions and vague uncertainties. My position whilst making these works was always to push and pull the outcomes of the process, making space to rely on intuitive remarks.

 

Mike Pratt 2014

 

Mike Pratt was born in 1987 in Seaham, North East England. He graduated from Northumbria University in 2009 where he was awarded the Paul Mason Sculpture Prize and completed a two-year postgraduate programme at De Ateliers in Amsterdam, Netherlands in 2014 where he currently lives and works. Solo exhibitions include Rubberhead/Rubbernecking B.M.W. Edinburgh, Good Mourning Bell Workplace Gateshead, Cumberland Sausage Extraspazio, Rome, and HUBBA HUBBA, Satellite, Newcastle. Group Exhibitions include Satellite Satellite Workplace London, Zamboni for the Moose Galerie Juliette Jongma, Amsterdam, Offspring de Ateliers, Amsterdam, Riff/Rift Baltic39, Newcastle upon Tyne, Right Eye, Left Eye V8 Plattform für neue Kunst, Karlsruhe, Germany, Title NewBridge Space, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Theatrical Dynamics Torrance Art Museum, Los Angeles, USA, Jesmonite on Paper Malgras Naudet, Manchester and A3 Project Space, Birmingham, BCN Collection Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, Nice Paintings Grundy Art Gallery, ROTATE Contemporary Art Society,  London, Captain of all Pleasures EMBASSY Gallery Edinburgh, SPECTRUM NewBridge Space, Newcastle upon Tyne, and Some people deserve everything they get The Royal Standard, Liverpool. Pratt is a founder member of the artists group JAMBON.

 

Workplace Gallery have presented solo booths of Pratt's work at both Art Los Angeles Contemporary and The Manchester Contemporary and included his work in gallery presentations at NADA Miami and The Armory Show New York. His work is included in private collections in the UK, Italy, and USA.

 

For information regarding available works please contact karen@workplacegallery.co.uk

 

Mike Pratt Mr D'Arcy, 2014, Wax and Resin, 102 x 87 x 19.5 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Workplace Gallery
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