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
