Launching a gallery is a bold move during a pandemic. Grove Square Galleries a new gallery in London (New Cavendish Street) are doing just this. As part of their mission to champion a diverse group of up-and-coming artists with exceptional talent, they open on 8th October with an inaugural show of work by emerging painter Christopher Kieling.
The exhibition Sierra, showcases works by the Berlin based artist born in 1988 in Munich, Germany. and features a significant body of new paintings created during the lockdown of spring 2020.
In Kieling’s paintings flat planes of colour characterised by muted pastel tones provide the backdrop for works which explore the balance between realism and simple form.
This new body of work created during quarantine, while the world was on hold, presents a visual reduction of his surroundings, drawing on the canvas as a place to explore both real and imagined landscape.
Taking architectural details found within his own home, Kieling places the sinuous, organic figure of Sierra – his girlfriend – in multiple scenes against a backdrop of patterned, hard edges as he blurs the lines between public and private.
Christopher lives and works in Berlin and studied at London’s Central Saint Martin’s, where he gained a BA in Graphic Design.
His new paintings were created during lockdown, while the world was on hold and he drew on the circumstances we all found ourselves in during confinement; the works are a visual reduction of what was right in front of him – the architectural details in the paintings are those from his flat and the figure is his girlfriend.
The Artiscape spoke with Christopher Kieling about his work and upcoming Exhibition.
Can you describe what inspires your method as an artist?
Kieling: My latest body of work is explores the balance between realism and simple form. Flat planes of colour are carefully placed on the canvas to create the perception of depth.
Following in the footsteps of the Euston Road School of painters, I like to work with measurements to create the exact composition I have in mind.
My aim is to develop a visual language that can transform the traditional studio nude into an imaginative expanse of my own. Breaking with visual expectations and building an unexpected wall between the conventional and modern poses not only questions of style, but also of emotion.
How has your practice evolved over time?
Kieling: In general, I find it difficult to put a label on my work as it is constantly evolving.
Every barrier I hit is a motivation to learn something new, whether it be experimenting with new mediums or research other artists from different artistic fields.
It is my aim to reach the highest understanding of each medium I work with, for their individual properties and limitations, just as I strive to reach the highest understanding of my own style and method.
What work do you most enjoying doing?
Kieling: I work with a mix of acrylic and oil mediums. Acrylic paint allows me to work expressively and in thin layers, as it is quick-drying and easily altered. This enables me to sculpt my protagonists layer by layer at a high pace, which gives them a natural, fluid dynamic.
Oil serves as the contrast. I often use it straight out of the tube, applied with a spatula. The textural butteriness keeps everything in place; adding weight to balance out the composition.
Has the Covid lockdown inspired your approach to these new works in any way?
Kieling: When the lockdown came into effect in Berlin, all our summer plans were put on hold and my girlfriend and I were suddenly facing a new reality. Coming out of a long and dreary German winter, the beach studies were probably my subconscious crying out for a vacation.
After we accepted our fate and stocked up on paint and canvas for the long weeks to come, I revisited these studies and found a way to capture my new circumstances by removing my protagonist from an open environment and placing her into a confined one, one that more closely resembled my new reality.
The lockdown meant having to work with what was at my immediate disposal out of necessity. Our environment was reduced to the walls and objects in my apartment, so we (and the dog) explored ways to add complexity to my compositions.
Drawing on my knowledge of Polya’s paper on crystallography and deep diving into tile and wallpaper design, I built a system of intricate geometric patterns to add a sense of symmetry to each piece. Their infinite continuation creates an interesting juxtaposition with the spatial limitations.
What are the challenges for you in keeping creative during the Pandemic?
Kieling: Surprisingly, it was probably one of the most creative phases I’ve had in years.
Living in a city like Berlin with so many distractions, it was extremely refreshing to have everything come to a halt. I was able to harness a strange mix of energy that came from the anxiety of needing to be productive, and an uncertainty about the future, and channel that into my work.
Especially at the beginning of lockdown, when the concept of time seemed increasingly meaningless. There were no opening hours to comply with or appointments to be had. In a peculiar way the lock down felt like a comfortable, creative bubble.
What would you wish the audience to take away from this exhibition?
Kieling: I want the audience to have fun and dive into this colorful celebration of form and composition. Hopefully they can lose themselves inside the patterns and planes, the way that I did while producing them.
Maybe the Sierra series is an aesthetic representation of a moment in history, maybe it is just a reminder that even in troubling times beautiful things are being created.
What are you working on next?
Kieling: I am continuously experimenting with simplified backgrounds and looking at different representations of natural and architectural space. Recently, graphic design has also trickled into my paintings, usually in the form of graphic layouts or typography.
Currently, my subjects are dogs. By distorting scale and painting them larger than life, they gain a supernatural, almost god-like quality. To quote the great Ricky Gervais “I believe in dogs!”
Grove Square Galleries, a new London art gallery offering emerging and established collectors an avenue for exploration and discovery. The gallery’s Fitzrovia space will offer a year-round programme of on and offline dynamic talks and events which run in tandem with an artist-led exhibition programme celebrating contemporary art practice worldwide.
Grove Square Galleries launches with inaugural exhibition by Christopher Kieling: Sierra 8 October – 15th November 2020
