Tate Liverpool
6 April – 24 June 2001
This exhibition brings together eight critically acclaimed contemporary painters from North America, Brazil, Britain and Germany whose work, although diverse and highly individual, shares common concerns in extending the art historical language of abstraction and figuration. They do this by engaging with other media, technology and urban life, which brings new influences to bear upon the practice of painting. This dialogue gives these artists’ work the quality of hybridity. The hybrid painting is one that develops and reinterprets given historical boundaries by reflecting contemporary attitudes to the organisation and generation of visual experiences, as well as particular national and urban cultures.
The exhibiting artists are: Franz Ackermann, Inka Essenhigh, Fabian Marcaccio, Beatriz Milhazes, Sarah Morris, Monique Prieto, Fiona Rae and David Reed.
Many of the works on display make reference to new technologies such as digital imaging and sampling as well as film, urban architecture, comics and graphic design. These references are combined with art historical elements, including allusions to Pop Art, Abstract Expressionism and Surrealism. Each artist employs these diverse styles in unique ways to show that tradition is always open to imaginative interpretations. The exhibition allows the viewer to explore the range of sources that painting can make use of in extending its language and re-engaging with everyday life.
To complement the exhibition, a one-day conference at the gallery is scheduled for Saturday 16 June 10:00am – 5:00pm. A collaboration between Tate Liverpool and Liverpool University, this conference will explore the relationship between the exhibited work and the modernist tradition. The speakers will also consider the impact of new technologies and different urban cultures on contemporary painting practice. Speakers include Simon Wallis (curator of Hybrids), Fabian Marcaccio (exhibiting Hybrids artist) and David Batchelor (artist, writer and critic). The conference will be chaired by Professor Griselda Pollock of Leeds University. Tickets cost £30, £15 concessions. Price includes lunch. Please contact Sam Brewer on 0151 702 7451 for more information or to book.
Hybrids is on show at Tate Liverpool from 6 April to 24 June 2001. The gallery is open Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00am – 5:50pm, closed Mondays and Good Friday. For recorded information, please telephone 0151 702 7402 or visit our website at www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/. A major catalogue will accompany the Hybrids exhibition with essays by Simon Wallis and David Ryan. Catalogues will be available from the gallery shop or from our website.