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The Blue Mask
ALMA ZEVI, London
5 - 26 November 2021
The Blue Mask brings together a new neon piece with
six large-scale abstract paintings by
Christopher P. Green. This selection, all on display for
the first time, reveals Green’s myriad
of interests in music, nature and the unpredictability of
time.
The title of the exhibition, The Blue Mask, refers
to Lou Reed’s iconic 1982 album, which
Green began re-listening to when he moved out of London in
2018, setting up a studio near
Penzance in Cornwall. The imagery of the album is
evocative of this change of scenery with
its vast expanses of sea and sky. Yet the influence of
Green’s new territory on his practice
also marks a conceptual departure from the more ubiquitous
landscape painters that Cornwall
has played host to.
The centrepiece of the exhibition is Riparo
(2021), a neon scaled-up doodle of a smiling crab.
Green started experimenting with neon during his 2018
exhibition Vitreous Humour at ALMA
ZEVI Venice, where a drawing of a flying figure, Mosca
Volante, was transformed into a neon
sculpture. This new piece, Riparo, continues this
investigation, where Green translates
pseudo-naive drawings into complex installations which
appear to float in space. Crabs are
recurring subjects in Green’s work; he began drawing these
in the corners or margins of waste
paper ten years ago. Native to the Cornish coast, the
crustaceans can also be interpreted
autobiographically; lone nomads, they dance from side to
side rather than moving forwards in
linear fashion, finding this sidelong gait more efficient
when moving along the shoreline.
Portraying a symbol of independence, they carry their own
homes and are highly adaptable
creatures, adjusting to different environments and
climates. The translation of the Italian word
Riparo is ‘place of shelter.’
Adapting and reinterpreting artworks from past series is a
core characteristic of Green’s practice.
The six paintings on display, all made in 2021, are an
extension of Green’s 2009 series titled
Between Together and Afar (BT&A). As the
artist says, ‘I am interested in the notion of time
and
gestation. The content of the painting emerges only with
time’.
This body of work explores the notion of time and
repetition through the use of cyclical processes
of experimentation and production. The colour of the
circles is determined by combining the colour
of the central ground with that of the sides. The circles
are then connected by thin graphite lines,
forming a net across the canvas. The graphite lines make
themselves visible only under specific
conditions: in some cases, they only appear when viewed
from a certain angle. This rigorous
approach to conceptual abstraction recalls the work of
artists such as Kasimir Malevich, Agnes
Martin and Yayoi Kusama; the latter of which’s Infinity
Net series first appeared within Kusama’s
practice in 1959. In revisiting the BT&A
series, Green continues to apply finite and self-imposed
rules to his work, often with surprising and unexpected
consequences. As the artist says:
'The BT&A paintings are like a trawling net: some
things are caught and brought to the surface,
while others escape only to be picked up later. All the
while the crabs stay low, watching, waiting
for the coast to clear.' Christopher P. Green, 2021
Christopher
P. Green
The Blue Mask installation view
Christopher P. Green
Riparo, neon, 40 x 60 cm (approx.), 2021
Christopher
P. Green
The Blue Mask installation view
Christopher
P. Green
The Blue Mask installation view
Christopher
P. Green
One climbing (SC_11), pen on grid paper, 21 x 15 cm
(unframed), 2019
Christopher P. Green
The Blue Mask installation view
Christopher
P. Green
The Blue Mask installation view
Christopher
P. Green
BT&A (Pink #3) - CPG in Venice, acrylic and
graphite on birch and pine panel, 112 x 70 x 4.2 cm, 2021
Christopher P. Green
Detail of BT&A
(Pink #3) - CPG in Venice, acrylic and graphite on
birch and pine panel, 112 x 70 x 4.2 cm, 2021
Christopher P. Green
BT&A (Blue #4) - Way out West, acrylic and graphite
on birch and pine panel, 112 x 70 x 4.2 cm, 2021
Christopher P. Green
Detail of BT&A (Blue #4) - Way out West, acrylic and
graphite on birch and pine panel, 112 x 70 x 4.2 cm, 2021
Christopher P. Green
BT&A (Orange #2) - Keep movinon, acrylic and graphite
on birch and pine panel, 112 x 70 x 4.2 cm, 2021
Christopher P. Green
Detail of BT&A (Orange #2) - Keep movinon, acrylic
and graphite on birch and pine panel, 112 x 70 x 4.2 cm, 2021
Christopher P. Green
BT&A (Purple #3) - In ‘n’ up the hills o’er Gulval,
acrylic and graphite on birch and pine panel, 112 x 70 x 4.2 cm,
2021
Christopher P. Green
Detail of BT&A (Purple #3) - In ‘n’ up the hills o’er
Gulval, acrylic and graphite on birch and pine panel, 112
x 70 x 4.2 cm, 2021
Christopher P. Green
The Blue Mask installation view
Christopher
P. Green
The Blue Mask installation view
Christopher P. Green
BT&A (White #3) - Gwul tronkys, acrylic and graphite
on birch and pine panel, 112 x 70 x 4.2 cm, 2021
Christopher P. Green
Detail of BT&A (White #3) - Gwul tronkys, acrylic
and graphite on birch and pine panel, 112 x 70 x 4.2 cm, 2021
Christopher P. Green
Detail of BT&A (White #3) - Gwul tronkys, acrylic
and graphite on birch and pine panel, 112 x 70 x 4.2 cm, 2021
Christopher P. Green
BT&A (Brown #3) - Long distance memory, acrylic and
graphite on birch and pine panel, 112 x 70 x 4.2 cm, 2021
Christopher P. Green
Detail of BT&A (Brown #3) - Long distance memory,
acrylic and graphite on birch and pine panel, 112 x 70 x 4.2 cm,
2021
All photos courtesy ALMA ZEVI