Goldsmiths - University of London

Professor Gerard Hemsworth

The concerns that are central to the work are that the normative values within visual language are subject to fracture by the potential of the mind to transform images. The work is not only informed by the dialogue between the image in culture - the politics of representation - and the image in art, but also by a psychological dimension which implicates the viewer in the work, which questions the assumptions of art as a model of intelligibility.The current practice explores ideas in contemporary painting and the re-contextualization of utopian ideals of modernism in relation to popular culture and its signifiers, consequently, reasserting a reflexive relationship between art and its audience.

“In order for contemporary art to avoid losing its criticality and being consumed and assimilated, it must undermine and question the rules of engagement and the way they are positioned within our culture.

Consequently, in order to transcend art’s orthodoxy, the artist needs to find ways to destabilise its familiarity and to capitalise on the preconceptions and assumptions that are brought to their work. If it is not to become complicit within its own culture, contemporary art has to remain outside the expected rules of engagement”

Presentations and exhibitions

Recent solo exhibitions

2007 Galeria Luis Serpa Projectos, Lisbon
2005 Galeria Brito Cimino, São Paulo
2002 Thomas Cohn Galeria, São Paulo
2001 Thomas Rehbein Galerie, Koln

Recent group exhibitions

2007 Doubleuse, The Nunnery, London

2006 Salon Connexions, Contemporary Art Projects, London
John Moores, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
Sweetness & Light, Marksman Gallery, Reading

2005 T he Bestiary, Jill George Gallery, London
Death is Part of the Process ?, Void, Derry
The Final Floor Show, Objectif _Exhibitions, Antwerp

2004 Versão Brasileira, Galeria Brito Cimino, São Paulo
Centro Brasileiro Britãnico, São Paulo
Cinderella, Trailer, London
New Prints, Eyestorm, London

2003 Small is Beautiful: War and Peace, Flowers Central, London
Godzilla, Trailer, London
Painting Per Se, Galeria Andre Millan, São Paulo
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London
Chockerfuckingblocked, Jeffrey Charles Gallery, London

2002 Once Again, John Hansard Gallery, Southampton
60 Seconds to What?, Jeffrey Charles Gallery, London
John Moores, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London
Close Reading 2, objectif [...], Antwerp
London Underground, Taipei Fine Art Museum, Taiwan
Sidewinder, CIMA Gallery, Kolkata; India Habitat Centre, New Delhi; Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, Mumbai

2001 Intimacy, Oriel Mostyn Gallery, Llandudno; Lowry, Salford; Russell-Cotes Museum, Bournemouth
Small is Beautiful: Still Life, Flowers East, London
Open Plan: The Marathon, Alphadelta Gallery / Artio Gallery, Athens
London Underground, Sungkok Art Museum, Seoul
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London
Insider Trading, Mandeville Hotel, London
Live in Your Head, Museu do Chiado, Lisbon
Conception Conceptual Documents 1968-72, Norwich Gallery, Norwich

Recent curated exhibitions

2007 Distinction, Galerie Michael Janssen, Koln
(William Anskis, Martin Flectcher-Systems House, Shaan Syed)

2004 Paper Democracy, Centro Brasileiro Britãnico, São Paulo
(Peter Blake, Victor Burgin, Anthony Caro, Patrick Caulfield, Nigel Cooke, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Tony Cragg, Michael Craig-Martin, Peter Doig, Richard Hamilton, Siobhan Hapaska, Damien Hirst, Gary Hume, Bruce McLean, Brendan Neiland, Julian Opie, Eduardo Paolozzi, Simon Patterson, Gavin Turk, Gillian Wearing, Catherine Yass)

2003 Painting Per Se, Galeria Andra Millan, Sao Paulo; Galeria Oscar Cruz, Rio de Janeiro
(Machiko Edmondson, Jane Harris, Brad Lochore, Claudia Marchetti, Michael Stubbs)

Painting as a Foreign Language, Centro Brasileiro Britanico, Sao Paulo
(Lis Arnold, Sybilla Berger, Glenn Brown, John Chilver, Peter Davies, Machiko Edmondson, Jane Harris, Richard Kirwan, Simon Linke, Brad Lochore, Claudia Marchetti, Alain Miller, Paul Morrison, Kathleen Mullaniff, Michael Raedecker, Perry Roberts, DJ Simpson, Bob+Roberta Smith, Michael Stubbs, Dan Sturgis, David Thorpe, Mark Wallinger, Clare Woods)

2002 Sidewinder, CIMA Gallery, Kolkata; India Habitat Centre, New Delhi; Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, Mumbai
(Jogen Chowdhury, Atul Dodiya, Subodh Gupta, Suhashini Kejriwal, Bharati Kher, David Mabb, Kabir Mohanty, Michael Raedecker, Ravinder Reddy, Jemima Stelhi, Bob and Reberta Smith, Mark
Wallinger)

Recent catalogue, solo exhibitions

Gerard Hemsworth: Mushrooms in the Rain
Essays Andrew Renton and Suhail Malik
Published by Galeria Brito Cimino, São Paulo, 2005
ISBN 85-99470-01-9

Gerard Hemsworth
Essay by Suhail Malik
Published by Galeria Thomas Cohn, 2002

Gerard Hemsworth: Never mind, why ?
Essay by Suhail Malik
Published by Thomas Rehbein Galerie, Koln, 2001

Recent catalogue, curated exhibitions

Paper Democracy
Introduction by Gerard Hemsworth, Essay by Suhail Malik
Published by Edificio Cultura Inglesa, São Paulo, 2004
ISBN 85-98735-01-9

Painting Per Se
Text by Gerard Hemsworth and Suhail Malik
Published by Andre Millan, São Paulo, 2003
ISBN 85-88116-12-X

Painting as a Foreign Language
Introduction Gerard Hemsworth, Essay by Suhail Malik
Published by Edificio Cultura Inglesa,São Paulo, 2004
ISBN 85-88116-07-3

Sidewinder
Introduction Gerard Hemsworth. Essays by Suhail Malik, Peter Nagy, Alka Pande, Renate Dohmen,
R. Siva Kumar, Ranjit Hoskote, Moco Keptnency, Steve Edwards, Aveek Sen, Louisa Buck, David Brown,
John Slyce, Lewis Biggs.
Published by CIMA Gallery Pvt. Ltd, Kolkata, 2002
ISBN 81-87977-01-9