Presser- Land of Bride Exhibition

The Land of Bride

June 13 to July 12.

House des Lowe

18 Rochdale road

Todmorden UK

An exhibition by CP Gill (website www.art4z.com)

The Land of Bride

Artists statement:

I went to Todmorden High School, I worked at both the geengrocers and Butchers in Todmorden market, the Co-op, a paper round up Shore, Rochdale metal units, Walsden printing and Mons Mill. I come from an age when Norman Tebbit told the working class to get on their bikes. I pedalled to Amsterdam, Helsinki, then Moscow, Beijing, Hong Kong, Perth, Sydney, Johannesburg, Bangkok, Phnom Penh, Taipei, Singapore, Gothenburg, Shanghai, Paris, Rome, Cologne, Bali, all over.

My cultural identity I think goes back to the tribe of Bride who traversed the moors. So with the work in this exhibition I hope to explore the identity I feel as one of this Earth, the soil, the grass, the wind, the rain, magic mushrooms, it is a spiritual identity, existing outside the conforming stereotypes of labour, industry and pollution. I am looking for deeper meaning in the soul beyond superficial constructs established by media, education and politics. There is an esoteric connection, I think, that links us all. I think the ancients, whose skulls and teeth are now displayed in Todmorden library, knew things we will never know.

For my first exhibition in the UK I hope these things can express some essence of what has dripped down from that other dimension. Artists are basically mapmakers, outlining the culture they exist within. So this map I have entitled the Land of Bride.

Chris Gill Biography

2019

Chris Gill (b.1970, UK), also known by his Chinese name “Li Yunfei”, has been working in China, the UK and Africa for over 20 years. He opened his first studio in 1992 in the artists’ village of the Old Summer Palace, the center of all the emerging Chinese artists at that time. From1997 to 2013 Chris Gill was based in Shanghai where he created paintings and mixed-media works, using different kinds of materials, including oil paint, collage, and photography. Over time Chris Gill has created a visual diary of the changing societies in China, documenting and interpreting the reform process in his own style. Chris Gill’s work has a sense of magic realism, interweaving myth and reality. He also worked as a writer and journalist until he was registered blind in 2013.

Education: BA University of Newcastle u Tyne, Peoples’ University of China

MFA Manchester School of Art

Solo Exhibitions:

2019 Land of Bride House des Lowe, Todmorden UK

2015 Love W Spce Shanghai

2013   Chris Gill New Works, Shanghart Gallery, Shanghai
2012   “Chris Gill: Works on Paper”, Stage BACK Gallery, Shanghai 
2011   “The World Mind”, YARD Gallery, Shanghai 
2010   “Multi local”, M50 Creative Space, Shanghai 
2007   “City of Gold”, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai 
2006   “Be a better part of the collective consciousness”, YARD Gallery Shanghai 
1997   “China Work”, Zhu qi zhan Art Museum, Shanghai 
1995   “Works on Paper”, Beijing San Li Tun, with Red Gate gallery, Beijing  

Selected Group Exhibitions

2016,2017, Open studios, Todmorden UK

2015 Blind space Croatia
2012-2013   “Essence of Random – The Secret 7 Document Show, ‘Secret 7’ artist group, Yang Shanghai Art Space, Shanghai 
2011   “China Dream”, Red Gate Gallery, Beijing 
2011   “Lost & Found”, Stage BACK Gallery, Shanghai 
2010   “THE POINT OF ZERO -2010 Contemporary Art Exhibition”, Duo Lun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai 
2010   “Weltschmerz”, Stage BACK Gallery, Shanghai 
2009   “Intervention 3”, Wei Hai Road Studios, Shanghai 
2009   “Stolen Treasures of Modern China”, ShanghART Gallery, Beijing and Shanghai 

Recent talks and lectures
Institute for advanced studies, University of Western Australia
Fu Dan University Journalism School training for senior Chinese editors
Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents Club
Min Sheng Art Museum, Shanghai, hosted a talk with senior art world figures in China
Talks on Chinese contemporary art, for Shanghai Fine Art University, and Zhejiang
University Lecture on Chinese art and politics, Goldsmiths University art dept. UK
Cooperating Gallery: ShangART Gallery

Chris Gill’s works have been published in Stolen Treasures from Modern China (2009), Thomas Fuesser, Short Cuts, Artists in China (Skira, 2012) and many other publications.

Website: http://www.art4z.com/

Work list

1.Robot God

2. Stormy Todmorden

3.Amnesia (5 panel)

4. Tetris cloud

5.Information is safety

6. Bitcoin bells

7. Stoodley pike

8. Cloud (Chinese ink)

9.cityscape

10. Ofo