Merlin Carpenter at Simon Lee Gallery London, November 2019

a show by Merlin Carpenter at Simon Lee Gallery, London

22 November 2019 - 18 January 2020

Merlin Carpenter

Merlin Carpenter Simon Lee Gallery is proud to present an exhibition of new paintings by Merlin Carpenter. The show considers the hand-painted object’s capacity to engage with and complicate the language and history of the readymade.

Merlin Carpenter’s work grapples with the potential relationship between painting and the readymade; and the possibility of collapsing the ideas that distinguish these practices. Since the 1990s the readymade object has been an integral line of inquiry in Carpenter’s work; and in more recent years he has presented a number of readymade works that hang flat on the wall like a painting. Carpenter’s new hyperrealistic paintings push the boundaries of painting into the discourse of the readymade in another way: the five works are so highly finished that they appear like a product, delivered from elsewhere. In this stark new presentation, Carpenter encourages the audience to both critique the authenticity of the paintings and simultaneously accept the role of the artist's hand.

artworks

Untitled, 2019. Acrylic on Linen, 180 x 250 cm.

Art Prep: Draw Cara Delevingne and Kate Moss, 2019. Acrylic on Linen, 180 x 250 cm.

Art Prep: Draw Kate Moss and Cara Delevingne, 2019. Acrylic on Linen, 180 x 250 cm.

J.G. Ballard, Drives an Allard, Goes For a Walk With His Pet Mallard, 2019. Acrylic on Linen, 180 x 250 cm.

This Is What Happens When You Collaborate With Nazis: Professor Martin Heidegger Trying To Escape By Bike From The Approaching U.S. Army, Spring 1945, 2019. Acrylic on Linen, 240 x 190 cm.

those were the paintings, keep on going downwards for the installation views

installation views

reviews: Art Observed, Texte zur Kunst, and Evening Standard