Radical Residency® IV
Ana Barriga, Charles Laib Bitton, Luke Chiswell, Alexia Laferté Coutu, Juls Gabs, Luca Grimaldi, Sooim Jeong, Anna Lytridou, Daniel Solomons, Karen Thomas
Working studio dates: 1 – 27 October 2019
Exhibition dates: 31 October – 16 November 2019
Private View: Wednesday, 30 October, 6-9pm
Unit 1 Gallery | Workshop is again hosting artists for the fourth instalment of the Radical Residency®, the exciting and dynamic initiative that welcomes 10 artists from all over the world to work side by side in a large communal studio for one month and to exhibit the results of this intense experience. The public is encouraged to visit the working studios during opening hours and see the artists at work. The Radical Residency® culminates in a group exhibition featuring works created on the premises. During this exciting time visitors will be able to witness 12 artists working on site, including founder Stacie McCormick and current Solo Resident Shinuk Suh.
The 10 places have been awarded to a multi-disciplined group of artists from 9 different countries: Ana Barriga (Spain), Charles Laib Bitton (Belgium/Germany), Luke Chiswell (Australia), Alexia Laferté Coutu (Canada), Juls Gabs (Spain/UK), Luca Grimaldi (Italy/Germany), Sooim Jeong (South Korea/UK), Anna Lytridou (Cyprus/UK), Daniel Solomons (Spain/UK) and Karen Thomas (UK/France).
Ana Barriga (Spain, 1984) uses humor, play and irony to allow unpredictable situations. She completed a Masters in Idea and Production from the University of Seville in 2015. Selected exhibitions include De Animales a Dioses, Centro Andalúz de Arte Contemporáneo, Seville, Spain (2019); Charleston, Lambada y Perreo, Galería BIRIMBAO, Seville, Spain (2018), Ni Trono Ni Reina, Galería Yusto Giner, Málaga, Spain (2017), Universes, Imola, Italy (2018); MACO, México (2018) and ARCO, Madrid, Spain (2018). Barriga has received numerous prizes. Most recent include Void projects, Miami (2018); Generaciones, Fundación Montemadrid, Casa Encendida, Madrid (2018); XIX Certamen Nacional de Pintura (2018); DKV Prize, Feria de Estampa, Galería T0, Madrid (2017). She lives and works in Madrid, SP.
Charles Laib Bitton (Belgium, 1985) believes that a reality is a product of a certain time in history, a variable subject to change along with modifications to culture and its values. He sees the role of an artist as to channel a proposal, crafted from an independent critical place, into objects, and expose these to others. He is currently studying under Thomas Scheibitz at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, after studying under Erwin Bohatsch at Akademie der Bildenenden Künste in Vienna, Austria and at Chelsea College of Art and Design in London. He has been artist in residence at Van Gogh Huis Museum in Zundert, NL in 2019, as well as the Hafnarborg Museum in Iceland in 2018 and Kala Art Institute in California, US in 2017. He is living and working in Düsseldorf, DE.
Luke Chiswell (Australia, 1987) works in a variety of media including painting, sculpture and screen printing, where word and language serve as a foundation. Influenced by dyslexia, synesthesia, skateboarding and nature, the artist’s work has a gestural vocabulary in which words and marks are infused with energy, meaning and mismeaning. Text moves from legible to abstract structure for an intuitive response to mark making. The use of scale and crop are crucial and sayings of interest never fully completed while works take note of time and place of creation. Selected exhibitions and residencies include Unicef Next Generation 2018, Los Angeles, Red Gate Gallery, Beijing, China, 2017, Borrow Tomorrow at Nishi Gallery ACT Australia, 2017, Made In Australia, Glas Berlin Gallery, Berlin, Germany, 2017, Maderas Village, Nicaragua, Central America, 2016, Welding Now, Tappan Collective, Los Angeles, 2016, To Young To Win To Old To Lose, TT Gallery, Sydney Australia, 2015, Untitled, Bondi Pavilion Gallery, Sydney, Australia, 2010. He lives and works in Australia.
Alexia Laferté Coutu (Canada, 1990) recently completed a Master in Fine Arts at Univerté du Québec à Montréal (Montréal, Canada), after studying sculpture at Bauhaus Universität (Weimar, Germany) and obtaining a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Concordia University (Montréal, Canada). Implicating a back-and-forth between sculptural interventions in urban spaces and curated exposition installations, her work is inhabited by the principles of transfer, reanimation and correspondence. Her works were presented in Montreal and in Germany (Projet Pangée, Galerie de l’UQAM, Espace Cercle Carré, Die Other Music Academy). In 2018, she was awarded the Jean-Marc-Eustache Fellowship in Visual Arts and was nominated this year for the Plein Sud prize for emergent artists. She lives and works in Montreal, QC.
Juls Gabs (Spain, 1989) is an artist working with sculpture, tech-art, sound, textile and installation. In 2015 she graduated with a BA(Hons) in Fine Arts and Media from Universidad Francisco de Vitoria (Madrid, Spain) and exhibited her final project at Museo del Traje, Madrid in the same year. Recently she exhibited at Exhibition Space Miguel Hernandez (2018) and Culture House Navacerrada (2018) in Madrid. She is Co-Founder of Tech-Sound Performer group VANILLATRON, which was shortlisted for Music Hackspace in Somerset House, London in 2018. They were invited to The SLADE School of Fine Art and Goldsmiths, University of London as part of Performance Exchange in2017 and 2018. Juls won the Mayte Spinola Price for Revelation Artist in January 2019 and her work The human vision of the Formal-Aesthetic Struggle of the elements in a fearful space was awarded in 2014 for ‘Indagación de Nuevos Espacios Creativos’. Juls Gabs has kindly been supported by the Government of the Balearic Islands (Conselleria de Presidència, Cultura i Igualtat).
Luca Grimaldi (Italy, 1985) interacts with and appropriates recognisable images found in advertising, stock images, clickbait and online culture in order to mentally process and guide myself through this visual abundance. It allows him to be a consumer and a maker of images at the same time. After finishing his Diploma in Fine Arts at School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, Boston, he worked and lived in New York before moving to Berlin. He finished his MFA Painting at the Frank Mohr Instituut in Groningen, NL, before moving back to Germany where he lives and works at the moment. Recent exhibitions include Back to Mohr, Artphy, Onstwedde, Netherlands, 2019, The Useless Land, Fondazione Lajone Art, Quattordio (TO), Italy, 2018, Qualcosa del Genere, Exdoganagalleria, Rome, Italy, 2018 and To Be Frank, Westwerk, Hamburg, Germany, 2018.
Sooim Jeong (South Korea, 1983) gathers scattered memories and recomposes them into images on the canvas. She relocates past memories into current ‘non-special’ places around her that she walks past. Sooim completed her MA in Fine Art at Chelsea College of Arts in 2010 and a BA in Fine Art at Kookmin University, Seoul in 2007. She has exhibited widely including Phoenix Gallery, in Exeter (2017), SÍM Gallery in Reykjavík (2017), Highlanes Gallery in Drogheda (2016), Block 336 in London (2016), Interview Room 11 in Edinburgh (2014) and recently a solo exhibition at Trade Gallery in Nottingham (2018). Her work has been included in public and private collections worldwide. She has been shortlisted for the Exeter Contemporary Open in 2017 and The Marmite Prize for Painting in 2016.
Anna Lytridou (Cyprus, 1986) lives and works in London. She graduated from Athens School of Fine Arts in 2009 and Central Saint Martins, London in 2011. Her practice is inspired by her personal experiences with the physical environment; the works are an expression of her immersion within the world, taking inspiration from her travels across varied landscapes from urban to rural. She regularly exhibits in UK and Cyprus and has represented Cyprus in International Art exhibitions in South Korea and Egypt. Recent Exhibitions include Drawing Biennal, Drawing Room, London, UK in 2019, Material, Pada, Lisbon, PT in 2018 and Recreational Grounds, Wendover House Car Park, London, UK in 2018.
Daniel Solomons (Spain, 1977) works within a minimalist plastic aesthetic with parameters of volume, matter, texture and colour. His pieces usually establish an intense dialogue with space and light, creating a relationship that facilitates a visual and mental commitment to objects. Daniel studied Graphic Arts at the East London Advanced Technology College and he carried his studies in Research and Artistic Production in Málaga where he was Founding Director of a Contemporary Culture Space.In 2005, he represented Spain in a project financed by the European Union in Rome and Basilicata. He has shown his work in many cities including London, New York, Rome, Chicago, Miami, Madrid, Valencia, Sevilla and Malaga amongst others. Selected exhibitions include Centre Israel, Madrid, Yusto-Giner Gallery, Málaga, Factoria de las Artes Madrid, Gallery Caja China, Sevilla, Museum of the city, Madrid, IVAM, Valencia, Nieves Fernández Gallery, Art Chicago, Pulse Miami and ARCO. Recently he has become a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors. Daniel is currently living in London.
Karen Thomas (United Kingdom, 1963) is acclaimed for her pop-culture figures and loosely dynamic painting style. While her infamous superhero collections reconstruct well-known characters identities with wild expressionism, her postcard collectibles transpose celebrities into small, but utterly enigmatic portraits. In doing so, Karen Thomas has created a distinguished style, recognisable for its thick and vivacious brushstrokes. She has shown both individually and in group exhibitions at The Other Art Fair (London, Brooklyn, Los Angeles, Chicago), Art Below (London, New Orleans, Los Angeles). Her work has also been included in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, featured on the culture show and identified by Rebecca Wilson, Chief Curator at Saatchi Art as a ‘must see’ artist.