  
Stephen Farthing RA Paintings: The Fourth
Wall
23 May – 4 July
2010
The Fourth Wall exhibition
details
Royal West of England Academy, Queen’s Road, Clifton, Bristol BS8 1PX.
0117 973 5129 www.rwa.org.uk
(FYI media only: Private View Saturday 22 May 2010
2-5pm)
Public opening: 23 May – 4 July
2010
Monday – Saturday
10am-5pm
Sunday
2-5pm
Admission: £4, concessions £2.50, children free. Free admission day:
12
June
Associated
events:
26 May 6.30pm – Lecture by Stephen Farthing about The Fourth Wall
exhibition and his career. Tickets £8, £5
concessions.
29 May, 5 June, 12 June 2pm – exhibition tours , free with admission
fee.
1 July 10am – mixed-media painting workshop in response to The Fourth
Wall. Places
£20
A RARE retrospective of a major international artist comes to the Royal West of
England Academy, Bristol this
summer.
More
information
A RARE retrospective of a major international artist comes to the Royal West of
England Academy, Bristol this
summer.
New York and London-based artist Stephen Farthing RA reinvents the world through
his large-scale contemporary paintings, 1982–2009, in ‘The Fourth
Wall’.
Stephen’s inspiration comes from both reality – as experienced
through travel and news reports – and fantasy, through classic novels and
the work of other
artists.
His latest paintings, ‘The Back Story’ series, nod to the exhibition
name. Using the work of famous artists such as Pollock, Stephen looks on the
painting in its gallery location, peering through the wall and the written
description of the
work.
A main part of ‘The Fourth Wall’ is the 2007 ‘Bling’
series, where Stephen explores the fantasised world of 16th century court
portraiture. “The figure and the sitter’s likeness were secondary to
the trappings of the sitter’s royal or aristocratic standing,”
Stephen muses. “The greatest communication is in the understanding and
rendering of the costume – whether 16th century bling or the current
gear.” Paintings such as ‘Bling! Henry’ dazzle with precious
gems and settings.
A recurrent theme in Stephen’s work is room interiors, which he uses to
great effect, whether in capturing his own state of mind or commenting on world
events. ‘Things to Look at in Bed’ is a reaction to the upheaval
caused by the birth of his daughter. ‘Gaddafi’s Tent, Seen as’
is inspired by a Herald Tribune photograph and the visual ambiguity within it
created by the evidence of both culture and war in Gaddafi’s canvas
headquarters.
‘Turnerian Topography’ - one of ten waterfall paintings first
exhibited in Japan in a specially designed space – was created after
visiting the source of Turner’s own alpine waterfall paintings. ‘The
Knowledge’ are a series of cityscapes, ambitious exercises in wide-space
drawing, in which he created his “own abbreviated version of the
City.” The group title refers to the test which London cab drivers
take.
Stephen Farthing studied at St Martin’s School of Art (1969-73) and the
Royal College of Art (1973-76), where he went on to teach. From 1990 he was
Ruskin Master at the Ruskin School of Fine Art, University of Oxford until 2000.
He was elected Royal Academician in 1998 and was made Executive Director of the
New York Academy of Art in 2000. In 2004, Stephen was appointed as the Rootstein
Hopkins Research Chair of Drawing at the University of Arts London.
Stephen represented Britain at the Sao Paulo Biennale in 1989 and has exhibited
all over the world. His work is held in numerous public collections. His recent
commissions include murals for Aston Villa Football Club and Cleveland Browns
Football Stadium USA. A catalogue for the exhibition includes an essay by Randy
Lerner, the art collector and Aston Villa
owner.
The Fourth Wall is open 23 May - 4 July 2010 at the Royal West of England
Academy, open seven days a week. Associated events include a lecture by the
artist on 26 May, exhibition tours each Saturday 29 May – 12 June at 2pm,
and a painting workshop on 1 July. For more details call 0117 973 5129 or visit
www.rwa.org.uk.
Editor’s
notes
High resolution downloadable images of a selection of the paintings are
available at www.flickr.com/photos/rwapress/sets/ solely for use with
media reports of this exhibition.To download high res pictures, please click on
the image you require, then click ‘All sizes’ then click on
‘Original’, then
‘Download’.
This press release copyright of RWA and used solely to
promote this exhibition. For more information or to interview artists, please
contact Louisa Davison on 0117 973 5129 (or 01672 811 515) press.office@rwa.org.uk.
The Royal West of England Academy (RWA) is one of only five Royal academies of
art in the UK. It is a registered charity which has been self-supporting for
over 150 years and possesses an outstanding Grade II* listed building, galleries
and permanent fine art collection. The RWA has HM Queen Elizabeth II as its
patron.
The RWA is an established venue for the fine arts and embraces an artistic
awareness of the widest nature. The exhibition programme provides a showcase for
one-person and mixed exhibitions in a variety of media, which attract large
numbers of visitors nation-wide.
The Academy is situated in the academic heart of Bristol at the Clifton
Triangle, where Queens Road meets Whiteladies Road, opposite Habitat and the
Victoria
Rooms.
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