A new three-day exhibition of work by the Canadian/British artist Andrew Salgado will unveil his latest body of work, ‘Nature Boy’, developed as something of an accident: the works were created as an originally unrelated collection of paintings that began to take on a life of their own.
Any artist’s practice, really – should be an amorphous entity. It is constantly evolving – Andrew Salgado
The small body of work is eponymously titled after Nat King Cole’s ‘Nature Boy’ where the narrator speaks of meeting a mysterious visitor who tells him about love. Salgado was insistent that the show itself – like the ‘accidental’ paintings – should feel transient and temporary, as such, the show will open on a Friday afternoon and close on Sunday evening. Salgado, who typically plays with spectacle and presentation, (including releasing 500 live butterflies at one opening, or installing an artificial beach with 8mm projection of the ocean in another), promises another exciting experience for those in attendance. The show features nine paintings and three works on paper, including his first-ever non-representational works.
The large-scale, gestural paintings of Andrew Salgado explore concepts relating to the destruction and reconstruction of identity – a process that he views as re-considering the conventions of figurative painting through a pursuit toward abstraction. Salgado questions the nature of identity and even the act of painting itself as something monstrous, allegorical, or symbolic. Incorporating Classical archetypes alongside a wildly inventive approach to his chosen media, Salgado’s work de es categorisation. Recent works include collage, mixed-media, and even hand-dyed and hand-stitched linen and canvas. ”I am interested in how my paintings operate independently from their literal, figurative foundation, and how they might deconstruct through colour choices, reduction of forms, and triumph of materiality to become something altogether otherworldly.
“ANDREW SALGADO (b. 1982, Regina, Canada) lives and works in London, England. He graduated with an MA in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Art and Design in 2009, and a BFA from University of BC, Vancouver, in 2005. Forthcoming solo exhibitions include: ‘How to Build a Boat’, Angell Gallery, Toronto (October 2018). Selected previous solo exhibitions include: ‘Dirty Linen & The Nihilist’s Alphabet, Christopher Moller Gallery, Cape Town (2018), ‘A Room with a View of the Ocean’, Lauba Art House, Zagreb (2017); ‘TEN’, Gallery of the Canadian High Commission, London (2017); and ‘The Fool Makes a Joke at Midnight’, Thierry Goldberg, New York (2016). Salgado was the subject of the 2015 documentary ‘Storytelling’ and was featured in the 2014 publication ‘100 Painters of Tomorrow’ (Thames & Hudson). He has been featured widely in the press, including GQ, The Evening Standard, The Independent, Artsy, and Metro. Salgado’s solo showings with BEERS London include ‘Storytelling’, London (2014); and ‘The Snake’, London (2016). He curated the group show ‘The Fantasy of
Representation’ at BEERS London in 2015, and was part of the group exhibitions ’75 Works on Paper’ (2017); ‘O Canada!’ (2017); and ’35 Works on Paper’ (2016).
‘NATURE BOY’ Andrew Salgado 01/06/2018 – 03/06/2018 Beers London 1 Baldwin Street, London, EC1V 9NU
Read Artlyst’s Interview With Andrew Salgado