KEVIN FRANCIS GRAY: MID-CAREER RETROSPECTIVE is the next Exhibition to feature at the Market Place Gallery. The Exhibition opens on Thursday 16th March – 13 April 2017 and comprises Gray’s sculptural works from the last decade with diverse materials from resin and plaster to porcelain, bronze and marble.
Born in Armagh in 1972, Gray returns to his hometown for this unique solo exhibition at the Market Place Gallery as part of the city’s annual Home of St Patrick Festival 2017 Armagh & Down.
Gray’s exhibition focuses on his career up until late 2015, showcasing his early investigations into material from resin to porcelain; from bronze to marble. This varied selection of work gives a glimpse into the range of personal inspirations Gray draws from both his life growing up in South Armagh and the wider context of living and working in East London and its surrounding neighbourhood.
This exhibition comes at a pivotal moment in his career, as Gray develops new artistic language using exclusively marble: further pushing what he sees as the possible limits of the material, as well as the opportunity to contextualise an otherwise classic material in a contemporary conversation.
Throughout the majority of his career, Gray has worked closely with the Giannoni family, among the oldest and most respected marble artisans in Pietrasanta, Tuscany. Previously known for producing replicas of seminal Vatican sculptures, the artisans are deeply rooted in tradition, and before Gray, had never extensively worked with a contemporary artist. Using sculpting techniques going back centuries (the Giannoni studio uses no machinery, despite robotic technology making advances), the artisans and Gray meticulously block out, carve and polish each work by hand, from start to finish. The painstaking manual labour and dedication to exceptional quality give the artwork rarity and offer it its due resurrection.
Kevin Francis Gray has generated bodies of work which address the complex relationship between abstraction and figuration. His work has been included in exhibitions at the Pace Gallery, New York; Pace Gallery, London; Royal Academy, London; Sudeley Castle, Winchcombe, UK; Museum of Contemporary Art of the Val de-Marne, Paris; Nieuw Dakota, Amsterdam; Palazzo Arti Napoli, Naples; Musee d’art Moderne, Saint-Etienne; ARTIUM, Centro-Museo Vasco de Arte Contemporáneo, Spain; Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel; and Art Space, New York.
Admission to the exhibition is free. For further information, bookings and to download the full programme go to www.marketplacearmagh.com. You can also follow developments on Facebook (www.facebook.com/marketplacearmagh) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/mptarmagh) for the latest information and video previews.