ROBERT LOGAN
I am an artist living and working in London. I received an MA Fine Art from Central Saint Martins in 2008 and have since been exhibiting frequently in the UK and Europe. My practice has developed through my interest in phenomenology, perception, and psychoanalysis in relation to my work production, and how it is viewed. I produce works which are part improvised using techniques similar to frottage: a practice made famous by surrealist artists which relies on our subconscious desire to visually connect fragments and mentally categorise or analogise what we see. The resulting works have a similar feeling to hand coloured black and white photographs. They are made firstly by working in monochrome with charcoal on paper or canvas, which is then varnished and over-painted in simple washes of colour. As such they are hard to classify as either drawing or painting. The works are highly detailed in places and make references to photography (through cropping, having “out of focus” areas and the manner in which they are coloured) which would suggest a representational practice. However it is impossible to identify a subject matter beyond it being something un-nameable or abstract, questioning what it would look like to represent something you couldn’t recognise, and exploring the idea of representation as a fantasy. Despite the fact the images are unidentifiable, the viewer will make unconscious analogies. Various parts may seem as if they belong together, forming a whole, and through this possible narratives can develop (such as forms seemingly struggling to climb over each other). There is an overall organic, edoscopic feel which might lead to ideas of internal organs or disease. Often the more gestural areas of mark application may create a sense of violence and the unusual use of colour might evoke old horror movie posters. Although the works are not intended to have a single clear meaning, I see the themes as embodiment, body politics, abjection, techno paranoia and apocalypse.
Selected exhibitions:ASBESTOS CURTAIN
Galleries Goldstein at Goodhood- inaugural show
London
STANDING ON THE FRONTIER
Madame Lillie's Gallery
London
THE GREENPEACE HEATHROW CONTEST- shortlisted
Bargehouse Gallery
London
Beast
Standpoint Gallery
London
Vienna/ London
WUK Projektraum, Vienna, Austria
London
C4RD Moot: 4 days Long
Centre for Recent Drawing
London
Platform (curator)
Empire Gallery
London
A Crash Course in Phantasy
Empire Gallery
London
Transimulation
The Elephant Rooms
London
Exquisite Decay
Château d'Alba
Ardèche
France
The MA Show
Atkinson Gallery
Somerset
The Minuco Art Show
Coningsby Gallery
London
Lust and Luxuria
Whitechapel Art Gallery
London
MA Degree Show
Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design
London
This Constant Cracking of the Surface
Bargehouse, Oxo Tower
London
Awards:
2010 Lansons Artist in Residence
2008 Cecil Collins Memorial Award Winner
2008 DLA Piper (shortlisted)
2007 Final Year Award Central Saint Martins
Publications:
Sep 2008 "Less Common More Sense"
March 2010 "Don't Panic Magazine"
June 2010 "Glass Magazine"