Justin Mortimer, Untitled, 2019. Courtesy Parafin

From July 19 to September 21, 2019, Parafin in London will present an exhibition of new work by Justin Mortimer, his third with the gallery.

The artist’s new “Breed” paintings build on the “Hoax” series exhibited at the Armory Show in New York last year. In his current work, Mortimer reimagines the genres of still life and flower imagery with fluidly abstract backgrounds.

Two New Elements in Justin Mortimer’s Recent Paintings

Two new elements are present in the artist’s new work. These paintings are significantly larger and combine spray painting with Mortimer’s characteristic brushwork.

By enlarging his compositions, the artist produces an extraordinary visual dissonance. Natural objects, flowers, leaves and vases appear several times their actual size. By using fine spray paint in his works, Mortimer disrupts unfocused areas and clearly depicted foreground images. The illusion of reality splinters as the image’s marks, brushstrokes and clouds of fine paint are illuminated.

Fascination With the Way Technology Mediates Visual Information

The way that technology mediates visual information is an area of strong interest for the artist. His new paintings with imperfections remind viewers that his subjects, translated from photographs, are several steps removed from reality. Mortimer’s current work navigates the tension between realistic paintings, illusions and physical objects.

By calling his new paintings “Breed,” Mortimer references the plants depicted and their specific characteristics, along with the proliferation and replication of natural forms as well as images.

About the Artist

Justin Mortimer (b.1970) lives and works in London. Recent solo exhibitions include The Factory, London (2017), Djanogly Art Gallery, University of Nottingham (2015), Parafin, London (2015, 2017), Future Perfect, Singapore (2015) and Haunch of Venison, London (2012).

Recent group exhibitions include “A Man Is A Man To Another Man: Eder, Gerboc, Mortimer, Szucs, AJG South Bohemian Gallery, Czech Republic (2018), “Diamonds in The Rough,” Ferenczy Muzeumi Centrum, Hungary (2018), “The New Frontiers of Painting, Fondazione Stelline,” Milan (2017), “Disruptive Imagination,” Gallery of Fine Arts, Ostrava (2017), “Blow Up: Painting, Photography and Reality,” Parafin, London, (2015), “The Nude in the XX and XXI Centuries,” S|2, London (2015), “How to Tell The Future from the Past,” Haunch of Venison, New York (2013), “Nightfall,” MODEM Centre for Modern and Contemporary Arts, Debrecen, Hungary (2012) and the 2011 Prague Biennial.

Justin Mortimer has been awarded several prestigious awards including the EAST Award (2004), NatWest Art Prize (1996) and the BP National Portrait Award (1991). His work has been included in a number of important recent surveys of contemporary painting, including Landscape Painting Now (2019), The Anomie Review of Contemporary British Painting (2018), A Brush With The Real: Figurative Painting Today (2014) and Vitamin P2: New Perspectives in Painting (2011). Mortimer’s work is in numerous private and public collections internationally.

 

 

By Andrea Hammer

Andrea Karen Hammer is the founder, director and owner of Artsphoria Publishing, Media Group & Shop (https://www.artsphoria.org): Artsphoria International Magazine (https://www.artsphoria.com); Artsphoria Movie Reviews & Film Forum (https://www.artsphoria.us); Artsphoria: Arts, Business & Technology Center (https://www.artsphoria.biz); Artsphoria Event Advertising & Reporting (https://www.artsphoria.info); Artsphoria: Food for the Soul (https://artsphoria.live); Artsphoria Animation & Imagination World (https://www.artsphoria.net) and Artsphoria Shop (https://www.artsphoriashop.com). She is a freelance writer who has published articles in international publications.

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