Susannah Baker-Smith, Daniel Mirer, Mick Williamson, Antoni + Alison and Matthew Murray.
This exhibition showcases a selection of new and previously unseen work by five of our contemporary photographers: Susannah Baker-Smith, Daniel Mirer, Mick Williamson, Antoni + Alison and Matthew Murray.
Giving us a 'sneak preview' of new and exciting bodies of work, work in progress and previously unseen pieces from more familiar, older series.
Here we celebrate the diversity of Gallery Vassie's contemporary photographers and will be exhibiting some of their previously unseen pieces alongside new work.
Mick Williamson
British photographer Mick Williamson has been photographing for almost 5 decades documenting his periphery vision using black and white photography in his trademark style. Williamson rarely looks through the viewfinder when taking his photographs and so seldom knows what he will discover until he is hand-printing in the darkroom.
This ongoing autobiographical body of work is titled 'The PhotoDiaries of Mick Williamson'. We will be showing images from this series that have never before been exhibited.
Williamson has been creating, teaching and exhibiting photography since the early 1970s, in India, The USA, Korea, The Netherlands, Australia & The UK.
Matthew Murray
Birmingham-based British photographer Matthew Murray's most recent series of powerful and dramatic landscapes 'Saddleworth Moor', is now almost complete. To celebrate this we will be showcasing a selection of images from this series in a new smaller format. This will be a preview of a solo exhibition and Gallery Vassie Editions’ first publication ‘Saddleworth Moor’ which will be shown and published next year.
These sublime landscapes have been captured over the past four years, encapsulating each season, weather and cloud pattern, rain, sunshine, snow and the sense of the bitter cold of that emotive landscape.
Murray has exhibited widely including China, France, The UK and The Netherlands. His work is included in many key private collections and in the permanent collections of institutions including: MOMA, New York, The Tate, London, The Victoria & Albert Museum, London and The British Library.
Daniel Mirer
The 'ArchitorSpace' Series by American photographer Daniel Mirer pays homage to the grandeur of architecture, incorporating a monumental and colourful look at modern buildings. These images which have been taken at locations worldwide seem to have an eerie emptiness and vastness of scale in common. Each of Mirer's images are punctuated with highlights of vibrant colour.
The photographs in this exhibition are a lavish display of architectural images, which are sensitive and intelligent observations of the world that they document.
Mirer has exhibited internationally and his work is represented in many key collections, including: Universiteitsbibliotheek Leiden, NL; Southeast Museum of Photography, Florida; Dallas Museum of Art, Texas; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Dallas Contemporary Art Museum; Philadelphia Museum of Art and Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts, USA.
Antoni + Alison
London-based duo Antoni + Alison (Antoni Burakowski and Alison Roberts-Jopp) are famed internationally for their photography and also for their fashion design - their label will be celebrating its 30th anniversary next year. Here we are showing a selection of unseen photography from their earlier series'.
Their work has an appealing mischievous sensibility that doesn’t relate to fashion, but is based on their own autobiographical exploration of ideas and experiences.
“We like the idea of making something ridiculous, clowning with it, by depicting banal things… a banana is as funny as a sausage, they are immediately recognisable things… Bottecelli’s Venus is a stunning image, but we have always hated Venus herself in this image, so we have obscured her with a banana” — Antoni + Alison, 2006
Their work is included in the permanent collection of Prints and Drawings at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (V&A) and also exists as a ‘Living Archive’ at the V&A too, The Huis Marseille, Institute for Photography, Amsterdam and the Citibank Collection, London. They have also exhibited as far afield as the Museum Fur Kundsthandwerk Stockholm, Sweden and The Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and The Huis Marseille, Amsterdam, NL.
Susannah Baker-Smith
British artist Susannah Baker-Smith grew up in both Wales and Amsterdam. In this previously unexhibited body of work which was created during her worldwide travels, Baker-Smith examines the idea of place, especially the way that our experience of the new is affected by our memories of the past. Creating works which are painterly both in look and feel.
Her obsessive sharp eye for detail and colour is perhaps her trademark, displaying subtlety alongside vividness, effortlessly. Here we will be showing her lesser known 'Botanics' series, which feels as if Baker-Smith is repainting nature, stripping it bare for our pleasure.
Baker-Smith's work is included in many key private collections and has recently been acquired by Universiteitsbibliotheek Leiden, The Netherlands.