Sabine moritz

Garrett Bradley presented by Lisson Gallery

Still from Garrett Bradley, A.K.A, 2019. Courtesy the artist and Lisson Gallery

Garrett Bradley will present her film A.K.A in London for the first time, as a solo presentation at Lisson Gallery’s Frieze London booth. Bradley works across narrative, documentary and experimental modes of filmmaking to address themes such as race, class, familial relationships, social justice and cultural histories in the United States. Adopting archival material alongside newly shot footage, Bradley’s films exist simultaneously in the past, present and future, not only disrupting our perception of time, but also breaking down our preconceived ideas about objectivity, perspective and truth-telling. These narratives unfold naturally in both feature-length and short form, rather than being forced into a singular definition or perspective, and consequently reveal the characters’ multifaceted individual and collective stories.

Выставки (выборка)

• 2021: Милосердие , Галерея Пилар Корриас, Лондон
• 2020: Passages (групповая выставка с Робертом Адамсом), Galerie Thomas Zander, Кельн; Lagune , Galerie Felix Ringel, Дюссельдорф; Записи в журнале , Heni Publishing, Лондон
• 2019: совершенно неизвестно , Галерея Мариан Гудман, Париж; Звезды и гранит , Кунстхалле Росток , Росток
• 2018: Живопись и графика , Галерея Пилар Корриас, Лондон; Eden , König Galerie, Берлин
• 2017: Эпоха террора (групповая выставка), Имперский военный музей , Лондон; Новая территория , Кунстхалле Бремерхафен , Бремерхафен
• 2016: Цветы, маски, черепа , Galerie Haas AG, Цюрих; Рассвет , Галерея Мариан Гудман, Париж
• 2015: Вертолет (презентация книги), Heni Publishing, Лондон; «Морской король» (презентация книги), Serpentine Gallery , Лондон; Корабли и вода , Галерея Феликса Рингеля, Дюссельдорф; Урожай , Галерея Пилар Корриас, Лондон
• 2014: Дом , Галерея Пилар Корриас, Лондон; Картины и рисунки 1991–2013, Фон дер Хейдт Кунстхалле, Вупперталь-Бармен
• 2013: Limbo 2013 , Галерея Мариан Гудман, Париж; Свободный просмотр / Адам Янковский и художники из его класса живописи в HfG Offenbach (групповая выставка), Nassauischer Kunstverein , Висбаден; Бетон и пыль , Foundation de 11 Lijnen, Ауденбург, Бельгия
• 2012: Международная премия Фабер-Кастеля в области рисунка 2012 (групповая выставка), Новый музей — Штатль. Музей искусства и дизайна, Нюрнберг; Картинки , Галерея Феликса Рингеля, Дюссельдорф; Йена-Дюссельдорф , арт-рум goldensquare, лондон
• 2011: Лобеда , Kunsthaus sans titre, Потсдам; Йена-Дюссельдорф (презентация книги), книжный магазин Walther König , Кельн; Лилии и предметы , арт-рум goldensquare, лондон
• 2010: Лобеда (презентация книги), книжный магазин Walther König , Берлин / Кельн; The Good, The Bad & the Ugly (групповая выставка), Cultuurcentrum Mechelen, Мехелен, Бельгия
• 2006: Лимбо. Картины 2005 года , Галерея Эндрю Маммери, Лондон

Issy Wood presented by Carlos/Ishikawa

Issy Wood, Trilemma, 2021. Courtesy the artist and Carlos/Ishikawa

Painter Issy Wood turns subjects like Joan Rivers or an ornate silver tureen into dusty, sad relics of fading luxury. Her works are populated by an absurdist menagerie of subject matter that seems desultory, but is distinctly the artist’s own. Wood uses auction catalogues and a collection of items bequeathed to her by her maternal grandmother as source materials in some of her work, which includes painting and installation, as well as writing. Her searingly sardonic tone comes through in her titles, like Kettle (By which I mean you die in a fire) (2018). Wood, who calls herself a “medieval millennial” in reference to her classical style, envisions a dark world in which women have been battered by consumerism, heritage is turned into a transaction, and humour is as trenchant as a pair of gold teeth.

literature

• deeply unaware , Marian Goodman Galerie, Paris, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne, 2019, ISBN 978-0-944219-45-4 .
• Neuland , Kunsthalle, Bremerhaven, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne, 2017, ISBN 978-3-96098-215-9 .
• Dawn / Storm , Marian Goodman Galerie, Paris, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne, 2016, ISBN 978-3-96098-038-4 .
• Recollections / Memoirs , Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne, 2016, ISBN 978-3-86335-899-0 .
• Flowers, masks, skulls , Galerie Haas AG, Zurich, 2016.
• Ships and water , Felix Ringel Gallery, Düsseldorf, 2015, ISBN 978-3-00-049828-2 .
• Sea King , Heni Publishing, London, 2015, ISBN 978-0-9930103-0-9 .
• Helicopter. Heni Publishing, London, 2014, ISBN 978-0-9930103-0-9 .
• Lobeda-Ost 1981 (Edition of 100), Nieves, Zurich, 2014.
• Pictures and drawings 1991–2013 , Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne, 2014, ISBN 978-3-86335-531-9 .
• Concrete and Dust , Foundation de 11 Lijnen, Oudenberg (Belgium), 2014, ISBN 978-90-79881-28-4 .
• Limbo 2013. Marian Goodman Gallery, New York (Paris), 2013, ISBN 978-0-944219-21-8 .
• Faber Castell International Drawing Award 2012, Verlag für Moderne Kunst, Nuremberg 2012, ISBN 978-3-86984-365-0 .
• Lilies and Objects. Heni Publishing, London, 2011, ISBN 978-0-9564041-6-9 .
• Jena Düsseldorf. Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne, 2011, ISBN 978-3-86335-033-8 .
• Lobeda. Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne, 2010, ISBN 978-3-86560-734-8 .
• Roses. Heni Publishing, London, 2010, ISBN 978-0-9564041-2-1 .
• Limbo: Paintings from 2005. Andrew Mummery Gallery, London, 2006.

What’s a Rich Text element?

The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.

Static and dynamic content editing

A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!

How to customize formatting for each rich text

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the «When inside of» nested selector system.

‍

jhgjhgjhgjhg

Act

The group of works Lobeda was created during her studies since 1991 . It comprises more than 150 drawings in pencil and charcoal about the Jena prefabricated building satellite town Neulobeda , where Sabine Moritz lived from 1973 to 1981. The works are drawn from memory and show the everyday environment, i.e. H. Apartment, school and prefabricated housing estate from a child’s perspective. Hans Ulrich Obrist , curator of the Serpentine Gallery , discovered the series in 2009 in the artist’s studio and a first part was published in 2010 by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König . Moritz supplemented the series with further, partly colored (oil) works until 2004 until she was a student at the Düsseldorf Academy. She visited the Jena prefabricated housing estate again and took photographs as an aid. The drawings were shown in 2011 at the Kunsthaus Sans Titre in Potsdam and were part of the Concrete and Dust 2013/14 exhibitions of the Foundation de 11 Lijnen in Oudenburg, Belgium and 2017 in the Neuland exhibition at the Bremerhaven Kunsthalle . The second book JENA Düsseldorf appeared in 2011 with an interview by Hans Ulrich Obrist.

In 2004 Moritz began a new group of works based on press photographs of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Together with the flower still lifes that are continuously being created, they were shown in the 2006 Limbo exhibition at the Andrew Mummery Gallery in London. The Limbo catalog was published for the exhibition .

This was followed from 2009 onwards by several paintings about the German attack on the Soviet Union during World War II, which emphasize the special role of women in times of war. In 2013 she presented the Marian Goodman gallery in Paris and in 2014 they were part of the exhibition at the Von der Heydt-Kunsthalle in Wuppertal. In 2014 and 2015 she also pursued historical issues in the exhibitions Home and Harvest at the London gallery Pilar Corrias. First in Home she showed a complex of works on the death of Peter Fechtner on the Berlin Wall during the Cold War , then in Harvest Scenes of a Ukrainian Harvest, painted after 1947 photographs by Robert Capa . Parallel to thematic groups of works, Moritz works on series of motifs with charcoal, oil pastel and pastel colors on paper. Her work with roses, lilies, huts and helicopters has been summarized in several publications. The volume Roses (2010) is bracketed by two poems; the first by Adam Zagajewski and finally “The Sick Rose” by William Blake . In the illustrations, the artist uses a mixture of charcoal, pastel colors and oil pastels. In Lilies and Objects (2011) the focus is on depictions of flowers. The combination with drawings of various objects such as sculptures and artifacts was suggested by the artist herself. In addition, the motif of the helicopter was published in the books Helicopter (2014) and Sea King (2015).

Abstract works have also been created since 2015. They were shown for the first time alongside figurative works in 2016 in the Dust exhibition at the Marian Goodman gallery in Paris, and in 2017 they complemented the Neuland overview show at the Kunsthalle Bremerhaven.

Sabine Moritz as a model

Gerhard Richter has used his wife in many paintings. Two paintings – Reader (CR: 799-1 und 804) and Small Bather (CR: 815-1) from 1994 – depict her, although she remains anonymous through the non-descriptive titles. Both these paintings were made from a photographic original just as Richter has created throughout his artistic career. They also both allude to famous paintings: Reader draws influences from Jan Vermeer’s Woman in Blue Reading a Letter (1663/64) and Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s A Young Girl Reading (c. 1776). The Small Bather theme has an iconic predecessor in Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres’ painting with the same title.

In 1995 Richter painted a series, which depict his wife with their eldest son Moritz as an infant known under the title S. with Child (CR: 827-1 bis 827-8). These works can closely be associated with the Madonna with Child topos.

действовать

Группа работ Лобеда создается с 1991 года во время учебы . Он включает более 150 рисунков карандашом и углем о городе-спутнике из сборных домов Йены Нойлобеда , где Сабина Мориц жила с 1973 по 1981 год. Работы нарисованы по памяти и отображают повседневную среду, т.е. ЧАС. Квартиры, школы и панельные дома глазами ребенка. Ханс Ульрих Обрист , куратор галереи Serpentine , обнаружил серию в 2009 году в мастерской художника, а первая часть была опубликована в 2010 году Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König . Мориц дополняла серию другими, частично окрашенными (маслом) работами до 2004 года, пока не стала студенткой Дюссельдорфской академии. Она снова посетила сборный жилой комплекс в Йене и в качестве помощи сделала фотографии. Рисунки были представлены в 2011 году на Кунстхаус Sans титр в Потсдаме и были частью бетона и пыли 2013/14 выставки Фонда де 11 Lijnen в Oudenburg, Бельгии и 2017 в Neuland выставке в в Бремерхафен Кунстхалле . Вторая книга « Джена Дюссельдорф» вышла в 2011 году с интервью Ханса Ульриха Обриста. В 2004 году Мориц начал новую группу работ, основанную на фотографиях из прессы войн в Афганистане и Ираке. Вместе с постоянно создаваемыми цветочными натюрмортами они были показаны на выставке Limbo 2006 года в галерее Andrew Mummery в Лондоне. К выставке издан каталог Limbo .

За этим последовало, начиная с 2009 года, несколько картин о нападении Германии на Советский Союз во время Второй мировой войны, в которых подчеркивается особая роль женщин во время войны. В 2013 году он представил галерею Мариан Гудман в Париже, а в 2014 году был частью выставки в Von der Heydt-Kunsthalle в Вуппертале. В 2014 и 2015 годах она также занималась историческими проблемами на выставках Home and Harvest в лондонской галерее Pilar Corrias. Во- первых , в дома она показала комплекс работ по смерти Петра Fechtner на Берлинской стены во время холодной войны , а затем в Harvest Сцены украинского жатвы, окрашенными после 1947 фоторабот Роберта Капы . Параллельно с тематическими группами работ Мориц работает над сериями мотивов углем, масляной пастелью и пастельными красками на бумаге. Ее работы с розами, лилиями, хижинами и вертолетами были обобщены в нескольких публикациях. Том Розы (2010) заключен в скобки двумя стихотворениями; первая Адама Загаевского и, наконец, «Больная роза» Уильяма Блейка . В иллюстрациях художник использует смесь угля, пастельных тонов и масляной пастели

В « Лилии и предметы» (2011) основное внимание уделяется иллюстрациям цветов. Сочетание с рисунками различных предметов, таких как скульптуры и артефакты, предложила сама художница

Мотив вертолета был также опубликован в книгах Helicopter (2014) и Sea King (2015).

Абстрактные работы также создаются с 2015 года. Впервые они были показаны вместе с фигуративными работами в 2016 году на выставке Dust в галерее Marian Goodman в Париже, а в 2017 году дополнили обзорную выставку Neuland в Kunsthalle Bremerhaven.

images and text

Image courtesy Mary Ramsden and Pilar Corrias

Image courtesy Mary Ramsden and Pilar Corrias

Image courtesy Mary Ramsden and Pilar Corrias

Image courtesy Mary Ramsden and Pilar Corrias

Image courtesy Mary Ramsden and Pilar Corrias

 Images courtesy Mary Ramsden and Pilar Corrias

Exercise as an activity that aims to improve physical, technical or mental performance is not immediately associated with the practice of painting. It is foremost repetitive – mindlessly so – and despite Duchamp’s well-known phrase “stupid as a painter,” painters do not like to think of themselves as stupid. Nevertheless exercise also demands a deeper understanding of the activity requiring improvement and here lies the question behind the exhibition: what can be exercised in painting? What must be determined before embarking on a future exercise programme?

The exhibition “exercises” brings together two artists, Jenny Forster (b. 1979, Germany) and Mary Ramsden (b. 1984, Harrogate, England) precisely because they take these questions as a starting point for their practice. Both painters produce their abstract compositions analytically, breaking down painting to its constituent components before exercising them separately. For the exhibition Mary Ramsden shows a series of smaller works on panel together with one small canvas. These consist of as little as one or two black marks, some partially erased, hovering above a sweep of off-white glossy paint. Her work’s characteristic tension between doing and undoing is created through the slightest of shifts in intensity or scale. In contrast, Jenny Forster works with a much wider range of elements. Her three large paper pieces include multi-coloured ink swirls, dramatic cuts and smudges of pastel. Unlike Ramsden, Forster also engages with painting’s capacity for illusion, treating the traditional perspective of her sources as yet another element in need of potential exercise. She does however share Ramsden’s concern with the processes of doing and undoing, often wiping or cutting away painted elements to reveal the ground underneath. Ramsden might cut out and paste a single black piece of paper; Forster carves up and recombines large parts of her work. If the ink swirls and watercolour drips of Forster’s pieces seem almost accidental this collage technique lends the work control. The need for control is also present in Ramsden practice, but here it is more apparent in the repetition of certain elements and gestures.

Magdalena Wisniowska 2017

at Whitechapel Gallery

‍

From February 6th to May 10th

Since painting was pronounced dead in the 1980s, a new generation of artists has been revitalising the expressive potential of figuration. Charging their vibrant canvases with a social and political undertow, they echo the words of Philip Guston: ‘I got sick and tired of all that Purity. I wanted to tell stories’. The exhibition brings together 40 canvases created over the last 20 years, with offerings from 10 painters: Michael Armitage, Cecily Brown, Nicole Eisenman, Sanya Kantarovsky, Tala Madani, Ryan Mosley, Christina Quarles, Daniel Richter, Dana Schutz and Tschabalala Self.

‍

Tschabalala Self, Koco at the Bodega, 2017. Courtesy of Pilar Corrias

‍

‍

Most Memorable Paintings:

Margot Bergman. Corbett vs. Dempsey (ABMB)

Katherine Bradford. Adams Ollman (NADA)

Mark Bradford. Hauser & Wirth (ABMB)

Robert Colescott. Blum & Poe (ABMB)

Mary Corse. Lehmann Maupin (ABMB)

Holly Coulis. Cherry and Martin (ABMB)

Keltie Ferris. Moran Bondaroff (NADA)

Beverly Fishman. Kavi Gupta Gallery (ABMB)

Jared French. Michael Rosenfeld Gallery (ABMB)

Jackie Gendel. Thomas Erben Gallery (ABMB)

Goutam Ghosh. Standard (Oslo) (ABMB)

Laeh Glenn. Altman Siegel (ABMB)

Philip Guston. Hauser & Wirth (ABMB)

Heidi Hahn. Jack Hanley Gallery (NADA)

Daniel Heidkamp. LOYAL (NADA)

Loie Hollowell. Pace (ABMB)

Marc Horowitz. Johannes Vogt (UNTITLED)

Ridley Howard. Marinaro (NADA)

Shara Hughes. Rachel Uffner Gallery (NADA)

Ellsworth Kelly. Levy Gorvy (ABMB)

David Korty. Derek Eller Gallery (NADA)

Michael Krebber. Greene Naftali (ABMB)

Judith Linhares. Anglim Gilbert Gallery (UNTITLED)

Tala Madani. Pilar Corrias (ABMB)

Agnes Martin. Mary Boone Gallery (ABMB)

Eddie Martinez. Mitchell-Innes & Nash (ABMB)

Andrew Masullo. Nicelle Beauchene Gallery (NADA)

Ryan McLaughlin. Dan Gunn (NADA)

Allison Miller. The Pit (NADA)

Donald Moffett. Anthony Meier Fine Arts (ABMB)

Alice Neel. Xavier Hufkens (ABMB)

Oliver Osbourne. Moran Bondaroff (NADA)

Daniel Richter. Regen Projects (ABMB)

Julia Rommel. Standard (Oslo) (ABMB)

Dana Schutz. Petzel (ABMB)

Amy Sherald. Monique Meloche (UNTITLED)

Devan Shimoyama. Samuel Freeman (PULSE)

Emily Mae Smith. Contemporary Fine Arts (ABMB)

Jansson Stegner. Nino Mier Gallery (NADA)

Torey Thornton. Essex Street (ABMB)

George Tooker. Michael Rosenfeld Gallery (ABMB)

Richard Tuttle. Van Doren Waxter (ABMB)

Joe Wardwell. Lamontagne Gallery (UNTITLED)

Andy Warhol. (ABMB)

John Wesley. David Kordansky Gallery (ABMB)

Most Memorable Sculpture:

Kelly Akashi. Ghebaly Gallery (NADA)

Leilah Babirye. Gordon Robichaux (NADA)

Lee Bontecou. Michael Rosenfeld Gallery (ABMB)

Louise Bourgeois. Hauser & Wirth (ABMB)

Theaster Gates. Michael Gray Gallery (ABMB)

Rachel Harrison. Greene Naftali (ABMB)

Evan Holloway. Xavier Hufkens (ABMB)

Wolfgang Laib. Alfonso Artiaco (ABMB)

Paul McCarthy. Hauser & Wirth (ABMB)

Bruce Nauman. Hauser & Wirth (ABMB)

Pace Sculpture Install. Pace (ABMB)

Ugo Rondinone. Galerie Eva Presnhuber (ABMB)

Thomas Schutte. Peter Freeman, Inc. (ABMB)

Arlene Shechet. Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects (ABMB)

Jessica Stockholder. Galerie nacht St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwalder (ABMB)

Do Ho Suh. Lehmann Maupin (ABMB)

Ricky Swallow. David Kordansky Gallery (ABMB)

Tony Tasset. Kavi Gupta (ABMB)

Oscar Tuazon. Luhring Augustine (ABMB)

Johannes VanDerbeek. Marinaro (NADA)

Brenna Youngblood. Honor Fraser (ABMB)

Most Memorable Works on Paper:

Huma Bhabba. Stephen Friedman Gallery (ABMB)

Sasch Braunig. Foxy Production (ABMB)

William Cordova. Sikkema Jenkins & Co. (ABMB)

Marsha Cottrell. Anthony Meier Fine Arts (ABMB)

Jay DeFeo. galerie frank elbaz (ABMB)

Jessica Dickinson. James Fuentes (NADA)

Roni Horn. Hauser & Wirth (ABMB)

Ellen Lesperance. Adams and Ollman (NADA)

Brice Marden. Matthew Marks (ABMB)

Emil Nolde. Galerie Thomas (ABMB)

Toyin Ojih Odutola. Jack Shainman Gallery (ABMB)

Bill Traylor. Hirschl & Adler Modern (ABMB)

Terry Winters. ULAE (ABMB)

Karl Wirsum. Corbett vs. Dempsey (ABMB)

Eric Yahnker. The Hole (UNTITLED)

donna haunca at skjhdkjs

What’s a Rich Text element?

The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.

Static and dynamic content editing

A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!

How to customize formatting for each rich text

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the «When inside of» nested selector system.

‍

jhgjhgjhgjhg

Individual evidence

1. Ulrike Knöfel: Images of women. In: Der Spiegel , issue 4/2017 of January 21, 2017, pp. 118–121, here p. 121.
2. ↑
3. Dietmar Elger: Gerhard Richter, painter. Dumont, Cologne 2002, ISBN 3-8321-5848-0 , p. 360.
4. Lobeda . Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-86560-734-8 .
5. ↑ foreword & interview by Hans Ulrich Obrist: Sabine Moritz. JENA Düsseldorf . Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne 2011, ISBN 978-3-86335-033-8 , p.176 .
6. Preface by Hans Ulrich Obrist, an introduction by Matt Price and an essay by Chris Dercon: Sabine Moritz. Concrete and Dust . Ed .: Foundation De 11 Lijnen. Oudenberg 2014, ISBN 978-90-79881-28-4 .
7. ↑ Steffen Haug & Kai Kähler: Sabine Moritz. New territory . Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne 2017, ISBN 978-3-96098-215-9 .
8. Andrew Mummery Gallery (Ed.): Sabine Moritz. Limbo . London 2006.
9. Sabine Moritz. Memories / memoirs . Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne 2016, ISBN 978-3-86335-899-0 .
10. Roses . 2010, Heni Publishing, London ISBN 978-0-9564041-2-1 .
11. Adam Zagajewski, Hans Ulrich Obrist: Sabine Moritz. Helicopter . Heni Publishing, London 2014, ISBN 978-0-9930103-0-9 .
12. Joe Hage (Ed.): Sabine Moritz. Sea King . HENI Publishing, London 2015, ISBN 978-0-9930103-8-5 .
13. Dietmar Elger: Gerhard Richter, painter. Dumont, Cologne 2002, ISBN 3-8321-5848-0 , p. 363 f.

personal data
SURNAME	Moritz, Sabine
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Moritz-Richter, Sabine
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German painter, draftsman and graphic artist
DATE OF BIRTH	1969
PLACE OF BIRTH	Quedlinburg

at Robilant + Voena

‍

From February 18th to April 16th

Ettore Spalletti, was and still is revered in Italy and celebrated abroad as the ‘painter of light’. This exhibition is dedicated to Spalletti’s choice and use of simple forms methodically covered with his signature palette of gentle blues, greys and pinks. Instead of eliminating expressivity they evoke a serene, soothing and calm construction, like a Tiepoloesque sky or a Piero della Francesca background.

From left, on walls: Paesaggio 8, 2016; Il colore e l’Oro, Eco Rossoazzurro, 2016; Eco, Grigio, 2016. On floor: Movimento Trattenuto, 2001. Photography: Matteo Piazza

‍

‍

After feeling increasingly isolated during the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, London-based artist Mary Ramsden began creating visual homages to her loved ones

October 28, 2021TextMartha Alexander

“I sometimes find the writing that sits alongside art can alienate the viewer rather than encourage and stimulate thought,” says London-based painter Mary Ramsden. “I wanted to draw people into the conversation rather than leaving them out in the cold.”

The artist is talking about Blunt Instrument, a book of her recent paintings featuring texts by nine female writers – including Daisy Lafarge and Rebecca Watson – which launches later this month. The featured art was made during the UK lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, as a response to her feelings of isolation. Ramsden painted those she missed as if they were right there with her, and commissioned writers to respond to themes of reverence, friendship and connection. Blunt Instrument is essentially the story of how the pandemic created a bond between a cast of writers, brought together by a solitary painter.

Ramsden, who studied at Royal Academy Schools in London and is represented by Pilar Corrias (London) and Wentrup (Berlin), has spent her career using paint almost exclusively. In Blunt Instrument, she leans into a range of materials, including wood and metal, which introduce a more sculptural quality. Each piece was created with the intention of capturing the essence of their namesakes – the friends she missed so dearly – though Ramsden is not comfortable with them being labelled abstract portraits.  “It feels a bit off for me to call them totally abstract,” she explains. “It felt for me that if the spirit or attitude of a person had a colour or visible materiality, then these would be representational.”

Ramsden spent two lockdowns in central London and another in rural North Yorkshire. In between studio time, she was reading voraciously – poetry, essays, fiction – and became increasingly preoccupied with making connections with those whose words she read. “I fired up exchanges with writers who were grappling with concerns close to my own. As these conversations developed and became more dynamic, I felt it was important to find a way to house these dialogues side by side,” she says. “So, I invited each writer to construct a piece of writing off the back of our chats.”

All of the writers in Blunt Instrument are women, which is ostensibly a coincidence, but one Ramsden has ruminated on since the book went to print. Empathy, she believes, might be at the heart of it. After all, it is empathy that is buried deep in her work and gives her the ability to embody or imitate another, to try to understand them from the inside out. “I find empathy a fascinating human emotion that can be both essential and problematic,” she says. “It may be a huge generalisation, but I find women can be wrought with overly-empathetic tendencies. So it felt somehow apt that the writers were female voices.”

The featured writing ranges from notes, to short poems, to long passages of fiction. In particular, she cites Daisy Hildyard’s words on shamanic behaviours as “a very rich parallel to my process and the solitary – but also, at times, performative – activity in the studio”. Similarly, Ramsden says that the poetry submitted by both Rebecca Tamás and Genevieve Stevens echoed the abbreviated language used in her own work. There are also notes that Chloe Aridjis wrote while working on her novel Sea Monsters that Ramsden especially likes for their “perpetual state of flux”.

Far from wielding puppet master control over the writers, Ramsden was happy to let them have a long leash, because she felt confident that she had chosen them for a valid reason in the first place. “But I enjoyed the surprise of what turned out,” she says. And not knowing quite what to expect is one of the most alluring things about Blunt Instrument. Add to this the fact that it’s limited edition, and that you have to request a copy rather than just buy one from Amazon, makes it all the more special: a work of art in and of itself.

Blunt Instrument, launching 30 October 2021, will have a limited run of 50 copies. All are signed and numbered by the artist, and designed and produced by Book Works London. Copies can be purchased by contacting Mary Ramsden through her official website.

Most Memorable Photographs:

Julius Von Bismarck. Sies + Hoke (ABMB)  

Talia Chetrit. Kaufmann Repetto (ABMB)

William Christenberry. David Lusk Gallery (PULSE)

Sarah Cwynar. Foxy Production (ABMB)

Shannon Ebner. Sadie Coles (ABMB)

John Houck. Marianne Boesky Gallery (ABMB)

Peter Hujar. Pace/McGill (ABMB)

Alfredo Jaar. Lia Rumma (ABMB)

Barbara Kasten. Bortolami (ABMB)

Gordon Parks. Rhona Hoffman Gallery (ABMB)

Liliana Porter. Luciana Brito Galeria (ABMB)

Mohau Modisakeng. Galerie Ron Mandos (UNTITLED)

Zanelle Muholi. Yancey Richardson (UNTITLED)

Eileen Quinlan. Miguel Abreu (ABMB)

David Benjamin Sherry. Moran Bondaroff (NADA)

Pieter Schoolwerth. Miguel Abreu Gallery (ABMB)

Stephen Shore. Edwyn Houk Gallery (ABMB)

Rodrigo Valenzuela. Galerie Lisa Kandlhofer (UNTITLED)

Carrie Mae Weems. Jack Shainman Gallery (ABMB)