Simon Callery

In May, Simon Callery will move into the DOLPH space, using it as a studio from which to make new works based on the local Streatham area. Through these new paintings, Callery aims to expose all the evidence of how they are made in order to reveal the underlying concerns of his working practice. Although Callery’s work exists within a broad context of British landscape painting, his paintings challenge established conventions. His recent Flat Paintings were based on a rural archaeological excavation site in North Wales. Here in Streatham, Callery confronts the urban environment as a subject for contemporary painting. 

The artist will walk the streets and parks accompanied by a 50-metre roll of canvas on which he will mark, puncture and stain a record of where it has been. In the studio he will apply pigment, wash, cut, sew and form the canvas parts. The final character of this painting will be defined by its physical contact with the local environment. During the month-long project Callery will be talking to local community groups and residents, and collaborating with BA Painting students from UAL Wimbledon.