Tim Braden, Ultramarine, 2015. Acrylic on canvas. Courtesy the aritst and Bruce Haines Mayfair, Lodnon
TIM BRADEN
ULTRAMARINE
9 – 30 October 2015
Bruce Haines Mayfair, London
Bruce Haines Mayfair opens its West End gallery with a new body of work by the British artist Tim Braden. Entitled Ultramarine, the exhibition is comprised of several large and medium- scale still lifes executed in acrylic and oil, presented alongside a hand-knotted abstract wool rug laid on the floor in the centre of the gallery.
At first sight, the assembled works seem unconnected, a random mise-en-scène – a portrait of the Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx; a stack of artist monographs piled one on top of another; an interior of a villa, a blush red chaise longue. Yet what the viewer is witnessing, in fact, is a snapshot of Braden’s artistic practice, what he describes as ‘weaving through connections between seemingly disparate ideas’, a process by which he can absorb and explore through painting anything from art history to interior design, to gardening and architecture.
In its scope, Ultramarine (2015), the largest canvas in the exhibition, describes the breadth of his influences. It shows a patchwork of book covers, among them the eponymous Ultramarine, a novel by American writer Malcolm Lowry and its cover by Raoul Dufy. Braden has said that the books he paints are significant to his work, and included here are a children’s story book, works on design and architecture, as well as artists’ monographs. The viewer is left to consider why these have been selected, and what influence they might have on the painting depicting them.
The rug, Mis Amigas Las Flores (2015), shows Braden’s playful combination of reference and material, as well as his ongoing interest in deconstructing the abstract/figuration paradigm. For the rug is not a self-contained work, but a detail of one of his paintings, pulling together his love of decorative arts, craft and design, decoration and function.
About Tim Braden:
Tim Braden (b. 1975, Perth, UK) received his MA from Ruskin School of Fine Art at Oxford University and attended Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. He has exhibited widely, including at Baibakov Art Projects, Moscow; Gemeente Museum, The Hague; Hamburger Bahnhof at Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin; Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo; Museum Van Loon, Amsterdam; and Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. He completed site-specific projects in Iceland in 2006 and for the Goethe Institute in New York in 2009. His work is included in several public collections, among them the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; Nederlandse Bank, Amsterdam; Pembroke College, Oxford; Walsall Museum and Art Gallery, UK; and Zabludowicz Collection, London.
About Bruce Haines Mayfair:
Bruce Haines launches his eponymous gallery in Mayfair in October 2015, after running his gallery Ancient & Modern in East London since 2009. Bruce Haines Mayfair specialises in contemporary art, representing around twenty artists and one estate, including works by early to mid 20th century artists who have influenced the gallery programme. Bruce Haines regularly exhibits at Frieze London and New York, Liste Basel, Art Cologne, and Armory New York. Haines spent 15 years in the public sector, five of which at Camden Arts Centre and he curated the Wales pavilion at Venice Biennial in 2009 with John Cale. Bruce Haines Mayfair exhibits at this year’s Frieze Art Fair with a two-man show featuring work by Tim Braden and Des Hughes.
Bruce Haines Mayfair
33 Saint George Street
W1S 2FL London
T: +44 (0) 7989413387
E: gallery@brucehaines.com
brucehaines.com
Opening hours
Monday – Friday: 11.00 – 17.00
Tim Braden, Roberto, 2015. Oil on canvas. Courtesy the aritst and Bruce Haines Mayfair, Lodnon
Tim Braden, Locomotive, 2015. Oil on board. Courtesy the aritst and Bruce Haines Mayfair, Lodnon
Tim Braden, Sang de tigre, 2015. Acrylic on canvas. Courtesy the aritst and Bruce Haines Mayfair, Lodnon
Tim Braden, Abstract 201, 2015. Acrylic on unprimed canvas. Courtesy the aritst and Bruce Haines Mayfair, Lodnon
Tim Braden, Mis Amigas Las Flores, 2015. Hand knotted wool rug made in Nepal in collaboration with the Rug Company. Courtesy the aritst and Bruce Haines Mayfair, Lodnon