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A solo exhibition of established British artist Edwin Burdis. For the gallery’s second exhibition in its new Basel space, ’AutoLaque’ brings together new works in paint with sound and performance in a unique and extravagant fusion, quintessential of Burdis’ practice.
The future, home and the environment (with a large helping of humour) are recurring themes in Burdis’ practice: negotiating the serious through the absurd. Depicting various forms and characters as heterogeneous organs and machines, he draws from his homeland island Britain, its inhabitants and an imaginary world full of absurdity, recklessness and delusions of grandeur.
Burdis’ works depict this Britain through various themes – housing, health, water and food production – and in this new body of work he questions our ongoing relationship with cars and their supposed status as a symbol of choice and freedom. As an auto-repair company might replace, layer and ‘pimp’ these objects of desire, Burdis creates his forms with a bold mix of acrylic, gloss, spray paint and car body filler on wood panels and three-dimensional forms.
This new body of work sits within a recent series of works described loosely as ‘Magpie Operas’, in which live and pre-recorded sound is presented within two- and three-dimensional painted installations. The script and recordings have evolved concurrently to the painted works with the opera acting as a link between the striking and surreal imagery and his rich sound vocabulary.
The exhibition will coincide with Art Basel 2016, with an opening performance on Tuesday 14 June at 8.30pm. Apero and afterparty at Bar Brut, Vogesenplatz.
Edwin Burdis (b. 1974, Newcastle, UK) has significantly contributed to the London art scene for over a decade and is currently based between London and Wales. Collaborating with numerous artists, writers and musicians, including: Melissa Appleton, Rosemary Butcher, Bonnie Camplin, Steven Claydon, Mark Leckey, Kieron Livingstone and Heather Phillipson, and performing in a number of bands (DonAteller, Longmeg, Man Like Me and Jack too Jack) in America, Asia, Europe and Africa.
Burdis has had solo exhibitions and presentations at galleries and institutions internationally including: Zabludowicz Collection, London, UK; Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh, Scotland; Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge, UK; MK Gallery, Milton Keynes, UK; Arnolfini, Bristol, UK; VITRINE, London, UK; Hayward Gallery, London, UK; BROADWAY 1602, New York, USA; Max Wigram Gallery, London, UK; and Haus De Kunst, Munich, Germany.
His work has been presented in group exhibitions and performance programmes at galleries, institutions and museums internationally, including: ICA, London, UK; TATE Modern and TATE Britain, London, UK; g|39, Cardiff, Wales; Jerwood Visual Arts, London, UK; Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK; South London Gallery, London, UK; Focal Point Gallery, Southend UK; Modern Art Oxford, Oxford, UK; New Art Gallery, Walsall, UK; MK Gallery, Milton Keynes, UK; Arnolfini, Bristol, UK; Skanes Kunstforening, Malmo, Sweden; Gavin Brown Enterprise, New York, USA; and he was included in Tom Morton’s curated exhibition ‘Recent British Painting’ at Grimm Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands in 2012.
He received an Arts Council England bursary to produce his feature length operatic film work ‘Light Green and Dark Grey (A Personal View)’ (2014); was commissioned as part of VITRINE’s SCULPTURE AT programme to create the public sculpture ‘Brad Pitts Bruised Bits’ (2015); a residency at Primary, Nottingham, UK (2014); and a major commission and residency at Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh (2015) culminating in the solo exhibition ‘The Thickening’ and further outdoor works. Most recently, Edwin Burdis received an Creative Wales Award (2016/2017), took part in the Edinburgh Art Festival with a performance and interview based at The Number Shop (Edinburgh) and has drawings included in the fourth edition of Mould Map.
VITRINE promotes a new model of exhibition-making. Exhibitions are viewable 24/7 through the glass from the public square. Internal viewing room is open by appointment, info@vitrinegallery.com.
