This exhibition took place at our previous [closed] Mayfair, London location.
Victoria Miro is delighted to present an exhibition of new work by Celia Paul. Since her first solo exhibition at Victoria Miro in 2014, there has been an increased focus on self-portraiture and seascapes. For this exhibition, examples from both bodies of work offer touchstones for thoughts about time, transience,
Paul has produced a large number of evocative self-portraits over the course of her career. In these new works, she sits with her hands in her lap rather than with brush in hand, as if she were one of her own
Titled after the month in which they were commenced, the self-portraits are suffused with echoes and resonances of passing time, which in turn points to the poignancy and essential melancholy of the medium. Yet, there’s a
Paul’s art stems from a deep connection with
A shared characteristic with the self-portraits is that each wave has its own distinct character of form,
The exhibition coincides with the launch of the publication Desdemona for Celia by Hilton, conceived by Paul and the acclaimed writer and critic Hilton Als, published by Victoria Miro (£35.00)
This publication follows their collaboration at Gallery Met, New York on the occasion of the Metropolitan Opera’s 2015 production of Othello. The book features Paul’s paintings and drawings alongside a nuanced selection of photographs as well as texts by Paul and Als. The works were shown at Gallery Met in part to evoke the enigmatic literary figure of Desdemona. While Paul does not work explicitly from literary sources, the human desires and failings Desdemona’s story
Paul has had recent major solo exhibitions including Desdemona for Celia by Hilton at Gallery Met, New York (2015-16); Gwen John and Celia Paul: Painters in Parallel, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester (2012-13); The Grave’s Art Gallery, Sheffield (2005); Abbot Hall, Kendal (2004). She has also participated in group exhibitions including Forces in Nature curated by Hilton Als at Victoria Miro (2015); Self-Consciousness curated by Peter Doig and Hilton Als at VeneKlasen/Werner gallery, Berlin (2010); The School of London: Bacon to Bevan at Musée Maillol, Paris (1998) and British Figurative Painting of the 20th Century at The Israel Museum, Jerusalem (1992). Her work is in the collections of institutions including Abbot Hall, Kendal; British Museum, London; Carlsberg Foundation, Copenhagen; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Frissiras Museum, Athens; Metropolitan Museum, New York; National Portrait Gallery, London; Herzog Ulrich Gallery, Brunswick, Germany; Ruth Borchard Collection; Murray Edwards College, Cambridge; Saatchi Collection, London; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; and the Yale Center for British Art, Connecticut.
Press release courtesy Mayfair, London.
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The gallery is temporarily closed until further notice.
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