‘Penumbra’ @ Claas Reiss
Behind an unassuming external façade lies Claas Reiss gallery, newly opened and dedicated to developing a high quality, international programme, predominantly focusing on painting by rising artists. Located north of Fitzrovia and to the east of Regent’s Park, Class Reiss lies just outside the generic hub of art galleries in London, situated in a more relaxed, refreshingly informal setting. The gallery spans two floors, yet they are wholly separate. Whilst the upper ground level fits the more generic gallery description: showcasing an artist/artists work exhibition style, the lower level is dedicated to the ‘Projektraum London’ programme, an initiative enabling ‘new voices’ to curate and show work, benefitting from the infrastructure and reputation of a commercial gallery in an accessible London location.
“While James Collins’s paintings carry no specific reference to period, time, or illusion, they do point to a range of signs, symbols, and significances embedded in the apparent logic of painting”, writes Sacha Craddock in the essay accompanying Penumbra, Collins’ first solo show since graduating from the Royal College of Arts in 2017. Collins revels in the materiality of paint, layering thick impasto onto the surface so that it coagulates and clots. Emerging from intense labour over extensive periods of times, Collins’ paintings appear almost sculptural, cut out from a larger material form.
Installation view of ‘Penumbra’. Source: Claas Reiss.
Once the eye has acclimatised to the dark colour palette, subtle blues, reds and greens emerge. Lines of colour flow like arteries across the reliefs left by thick brown/ black paint, murky and tar-like in appearance. Trails and paths cross the canvas, as if one is looking at the aerial view of a terrain. The intense physicality of Collins’ works is best appreciated in person. Coupled with the large size of many of his canvases, Collins’ works demand to be touched, the smell of freshly dried paint still lingering.
James Collins, Liquid Engineers 40, 2021. Source: Claas Reiss.
James Collins, Liquid Engineers 40, 2021. Source: Claas Reiss.
Collins (b. 1992) was born and raised in Darlington, and currently resides in London. Located within County Durham and historically known for its associations with railway construction and mining, Collins’ paintings call to mind images of mines, which once populated Darlington. Liquid Engineers 27 (2019) is reminiscent of the thick smoke and debris left in the wake of mining, taking on an abstract form in paint. A muddy bleakness, palpable in the photography of Don McCullin (b. 1935), who photographed mining communities in the North East of England before their demise, is similarly present in Collins’ paintings decades later.
Whilst Collins’ paintings, so steeped in abstraction, carry no specific reference to period, time, or illusion, they do point to a range of signs and significances, embedded in the apparent logic of painting. The observer is thrown into questioning the works’ connotations and meanings, undoubtedly subjective to each individual that encounters his work: therein lies and power and beauty of Collins’ practice.
Don McCullin, Early Morning, West Hartlepool, County Durham. 1963, silver gelatin print. Source: artnet.com.
Ascending downstairs, one encounters Projektraum London. German for, literally, ‘project room’, this initiative allows artists and curators to collaborate and hold a non-commercial show in the space. Bright and spacious, creatives are given a blank canvas on which to showcase whatever they so desire. The inaugural show featured Sara Rossi, an Italian painter currently residing in Frankfurt am Main. The second installation, having opened on June 12th, features Luca Longhi, who graduated from the RCA in 2019. Longhi’s first solo show, Thermopolium, is populated by works emblematic of his fascination with urbanism and architectural history. His smaller works on paper, torn at the edges, depict decorative floral imagery, whilst his canvases and paintings on tiles take inspiration from mural paintings. Rather than being disparate pieces, the works constituting Thermopolium come together like remembered, hazy fragments - saved, delicate pieces with an air of decay. As Johanna Hardt writes, as much as the works seem autonomous, it is hard to shake the feeling that they are all part of something larger.
Studio view of Thermopolium. Source: Claas Reiss.
Studio view of Thermopolium. Source: Claas Reiss.
Penumbra, featuring James Collins, runs from 19th May until 19th June. Thermopolium is on until 24th July 2021. Claas Reiss’ next exhibition succeeding Penumbra will be Good Man Can, featuring Tenki Hiramatsu, running from 23rd June until 24th July 2021. For further information visit www.classreiss.com.
Review Editor, MADE IN BED
All images courtesy of Claas Reiss Gallery.