↳ Exhibitions

Aaron Angell at Kunstverein Freiburg

May 1, 2018

Artist: Aaron Angell

Exhibition title: Heat-Haze Theatre

Curated by: Heinrich Dietz

Venue: Kunstverein Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

Date: March 23 – May 6, 2018

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Kunstverein Freiburg

Aaron Angell is known mainly for his ceramic sculpture. He is interested in the idiosyncrasies and the history of the medium, and its simulative and poetic qualities. He explores ceramics as a pragmatic method of image production, involving a large amount of material research and experimentation at his London studio, Troy Town Art Pottery. Angell is interested in hobbyist cultures, non-canonical histories, marginal methods of image-making, poetic thought, and utopian design. He describes the process by which he produces images in his work as ‘composting’.

Working more directly and instinctively than usual, all of the works in this exhibition were produced in the space of six weeks. In the lower gallery, six large sculptures recall fantastic biotopic architecture, engine blocks, and underground systems. They are made from thrown and assembled parts, and glazed with a series of shino glazes. In the upper gallery, Angell presents new hinterglasmalerei pictures. Working half-blind, on the reverse of the picture plane, he allows composition and colours to be only estimated, drawing parallels with the somewhat unempirical method by which his ceramics are produced.

Aaron Angell (* 1987, Kent, GB) lives in London. He studied at the Slade School of Fine Art in London.

Solo exhibitions (selection): 2018: Koppe Astner, Glasgow; 2017: GOMA, Glasgow; Rob Tufnell, London; 2016: The Death of Robin Hood, Glasgow International, Glasgow; Variations on the Chaldon Doom, Markus Lüttgen, Cologne; 2015: Grotwork, Studio Voltaire, London; 2013: Woman expecting triplets returning home from the cinema, Aaron Angell & Jack Bilbo, SWG3, Glasgow; 2012: Put John Barleycorn in the old brown jug, Croy Nielsen, Berlin; 2011: The Devil’s Arse, SPACE, London; The year of the left-hand, Focal Point Gallery, Southend-on-Sea.

Group exhibitions (selection): 2017: That continuous thing – Artists and the ceramic studio 1920 – Today, Tate Saint Ives; 2015: British Art Show 8, Leeds Art Gallery and others.; 2014: Pool, Kestner Gesellschaft, Hanover; You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows, Hollybush Gardens, London; 2013: A History of Inspiration, Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Apparatus Criticus, Künstlerhaus Stuttgart; 2011: ‘Outrageous Fortune’: Artists remake the Tarot, Hayward Touring, Focal Point Gallery, Southend-on-Sea.