CROSS SECTION/03
Jessie Brennan, Benjamin Bridges, Terry Greene
16 January - 14 February 2015
Cross Section/03 is the third instalment in a series of group exhibitions presenting new work by artists affiliated with dalla Rosa. Jessie Brennan, Benjamin Bridges, and Terry Greene explore surfaces through drawing, sculpture and painting, layering over found materials and images. Peeling back or accumulating strata modifies the narrative of the works, setting them within a time frame.
Jessie Brennan's practice explores the representation of places through processes of drawing and dialogue, informed by their social histories and changing contexts. In the series Study for Progress (II – IV) she imagines the planned demolition of the iconic Robin Hood Gardens estate with drawings that delicately depict the crumpling of the building's image. The fine graphite lines contrast with her sculpture A Brutal Story, which carries all the abrasions of bashed and rusty metal symbolic, perhaps, of the political weight and struggle under which the building will eventually collapse.
Benjamin Bridges’ recent work has focused on variation of textures and layers of paint, verging towards abstract compositions. Geometry is still in the equation, joined by a few carefully placed brush strokes and fluid lines framing the paintings. Looking at his new work the notion of a muted narrative lingers, encouraged by playful titles.
Terry Greene study of colour planes - some vigorously bright paired with outlines and geometric constructions - gives his paintings solidity and determination. Scraping back paint to the edges and revealing hidden traces of previous layers is carefully balanced and has become a distinctive element of Greene’s practice.
About the Artists
After studying Fine Art at Cardiff School of Art & Design, Jessie Brennan was awarded an MA in Printmaking at the Royal College of Art. Her work has been extensively shown in the UK and Europe, in 2014 she was part of Progress at The Foundling Museum (London), which included her commissioned project A Fall of Ordinariness and Light. In 2012 Brennan was Contemporary Talents Winner (Drawing Category), François Schneider Foundation (France), and she has also received the Artist’s International Development Fund, Arts Council England (2013), Second Prize, Jerwood Drawing Prize (2011) and Leverhulme Trust Bursary (2006).
Benjamin Bridges started showing while studying Fine Art Painting at Wimbledon, and had two solo exhibitions at ARTTRA (Amsterdam) in 2010 and 2013. He took part in group shows at dalla Rosa, where he had his first London solo exhibition Pythagoras Adrift (2014). Bridges was shortlisted for the 2009 Prunella Clough Painting Prize, and took part in the Royal Academy Summer Show (2008, 2012, 2014) and the 2013 Threadneedle Prize.
Terry Greene lives and works in Yorkshire, he uses found paper, card, and newspapers to experiment alongside his paintings on canvas. His work has been shown around the UK and in USA, Cross Section/03 is his second exhibition at dalla Rosa after Infinity : One (2014). So far this year he will be curating and taking part in two more exhibitions in London.