• INSIGHT: WEEK 11 | ALEX URIE

    26 August - 8 September

  • INSIGHT IS A NEW ONLINE PLATFORM PRESENTED BY PIPPY HOULDSWORTH GALLERY, DEBUTING WORK BY A DIFFERENT ARTIST EACH WEEK. NEW WORK MADE DURING LOCKDOWN WILL BE HIGHLIGHTED ALONGSIDE A SHORT VIDEO PRESENTED BY THE ARTIST.

  • INSIGHT: WEEK 11 | Alex urie

  • Pippy Houldsworth Gallery is delighted to present Insight: Week 11 | Alex Urie in collaboration with PEER, where the artist's solo exhibition, Silo, is currently on view. PEER is an independent arts organisation based in London and supported by Arts Council England, Hackney Council and PEER Patrons.

  • 'Urie's paintings seem gentle at first sight but the texture of their brushwork is rough and raw. It suggests a...

    'Urie's paintings seem gentle at first sight but the texture of their brushwork is rough and raw. It suggests a passion that demands a second look.' 

    Guardian Guide, 2020

  • Alex Urie approaches the surface of each of his paintings as a permeable boundary - a point of contact where media applied from either side enter into dialogue with one another. Choosing to work with untreated canvas, linen or jute, the artist employs latex to mark out sections as porous or impenetrable. He then pours paint directly onto the painting's surface, allowing it to seep through from the reverse to the front where he continues to work before the paint dries. Found imagery and personal observation of everyday life inform the resulting abstracted compositions and introduce narrative components into a practice primarily driven by process. Urie's working method, incorporating elements of chance, disrupts perception of forms recognisable to the viewer to produce a tension between image and ground.

  • Night at the Sheraton, 2020 oil, household gloss and acrylic on canvas 190 x 140 cm, 74 3/4 x 55...

    Night at the Sheraton, 2020

    oil, household gloss and acrylic on canvas
    190 x 140 cm, 74 3/4 x 55 1/8 in

    Urie’s recent works draw on found images, including sources such as public photos posted to TripAdvisor and stills from YouTube videos. Night at the Sheraton presents a bathroom sink – possibly a tourist snapshot posting a review or capturing a memory. The scene is intimate yet quotidian, questioning the impulses behind image-making and its dissemination.

    Email gallery

  • 'Big but sensitive paintings that hint at images through wafts of abstraction'

    Jonathan Jones, Guardian - Art Weekly, 2020

  • Bathroom on the left, 2020 oil, household gloss and acrylic on canvas 195 x 170 cm, 76 3/4 x 66...

    Bathroom on the left, 2020

    oil, household gloss and acrylic on canvas
    195 x 170 cm, 76 3/4 x 66 7/8 in

     

    In Bathroom on the Left, Urie constructs a domestic interior, hinting at narrative through the shadowy figure that appears silhouetted against the door frame, possibly responding to the title's directive. Abstract shapes, graphic lines and flat planes of muted colour flatten the composition, disrupting perspective and pointing to the instability of the image.

    Email Gallery

  • 'I am interested in painting as a newly networked medium, now imbued with high-speed dissemination across digital platforms, yet still inextricably linked with the intimate touch of the maker.'

    Alex Urie, 2020

  • 'These paintings exist as unstable grounds and I am interested in how much of what we see on the surface is the by product of a working process'

     

    Listen to a short audio of Alex Urie speaking about his practice and recent body of work. 

  •  
    Alex Urie, Silo, installation view, PEER, London (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Alex Urie, Silo, installation view, PEER, London (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Alex Urie, Silo, installation view, PEER, London (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Alex Urie, Silo, installation view, PEER, London (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Alex Urie, Silo, installation view, PEER, London (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Alex Urie, Silo, installation view, PEER, London (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Alex Urie, Silo, installation view, PEER, London (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Alex Urie, Silo, installation view, PEER, London (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).

    Alex Urie, Silo, installation view, PEER, London

  • Alex Urie, Silo, is on show at PEER until 5 September 2020. 

     

    97-99 Hoxton Street, London N1 6QL

    Open Wed-Sat, 12pm-6pm

     www.peer.org

     

    Prices range betwen £1,100-4,500 ex tax. Please direct enquiries here

  • About Alex Urie

    Alex Urie (b. 1985) lives and works in London. Urie graduated from Camberwell College of Arts, University of Arts London in 2006 with a BA in Sculpture. He completed an MA Fine Art at Chelsea College of Arts, University of the Arts London in 2017, where he was awarded the Frank Bowling Scholarship Award. The artist was also selected for the Chelsea College of Art MA Studio Award. Recent exhibitions include Scrim, a solo exhibition at The Stone Space, Leytonstone (2019) and Bound at PEER (2018). 

  • Press