Max Gimson
Max Gimson
Black-Fire Place, 2018
Oil on canvas
135 x 145 cm
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About this Work
Black-Fire Place uses the fireplace as a narrative vessel, and as an allusion to the process of painting. The flames and smoke growing out of a chimney are used as a metaphor, suggesting the organic forming of thoughts. With their prominent placing in the centre of the painting, on the cusp of enveloping the whole room, these create a strong image. The work is a memory of Gimson’s family home fireplace in Bath. Yet, rather than handling the imagery with specificity, the artist represented a dream-like reality, evoking a space that holds a psychological charge, ordered by the subconscious more than by a physical environment. The site of a fireplace also holds an interesting political weight — the collision of the communal and of capital. The fire, indeed, is something that humans have grouped around for thousands of years, and yet an ornate fireplace will only be present in expensive residences.
About Max Gimson
Similar to staring into a fire and conjuring hallucinations from one’s own imagination, Gimson develops form, narrative and structure in his work through a physical and incidental painting process. A swell of loose entities and half formed ideas begin to fall into place and constellate by chance. His paintings use the fireplace as an antiquated vessel or threshold, the locus from which smoke and fire depart, and with it an obfuscation of half-memories, dreams and echoes of subconscious imagery. Like cupping smoke in one's hands and then looking inside to see it dissipate into the atmosphere, the images consist of momentary revelations within passages of painterly gesture - internal logic always teetering between figurative description and abstraction.
Education
2017-2019 Painting MA, Royal College of Art
2009-2012 Fine Art Painting BA, Brighton University
2008-2009 Foundation Fine Art & Design, City of Bath College
Residencies
Organhaus, Chongqing, China (awarded Gasworks funding)
Prizes & Awards
2020
Gilchrist-Fisher Award, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London
FBA Futures 2020, Mall Galleries, London
2019
Travers-Smith Award, London
“Exceptional” Graduate Art Award, Collyer Bristow Gallery, London
Saatchi Online “Rising Stars” 2019
2017
Long-listed for “Griffin Art Prize 2017”
2013
"100 Painters of Tomorrow" Thames & Hudson, Kurt Beers' Publication (shortlisted in last 400)
2012
"Through Tomorrow's Eyes" BEEP, Wales' International Contemporary Painting Prize, Swansea (shortlisted)
Zeitgeist Arts Projects, "Zeitgeist Open Exhibition", Bond House, London (selected for "Discernible" show)
Solo Shows
2017
Wild Muffins {The Lancing Shed II}", The Glorious Art House, Exeter
"The Lancing Shed", Gallery Lock-In, Brighton
2016
Max Gimson & Anne Kellens", Galerie d'YS, Brussels
2015
""With Friends For The Making Of Memories..." By Max Gimson", Terminus House, Brighton
""It Was My Birthday, Friends. Happy Birthday." By Max Gimson", Terminus House, Brighton
"Max Gimson", Neue Froth Kunsthalle, Brighton
"New Animals", Brighton Media Centre, Brighton
2014
Max Gimson (Work Programme 44), Community Arts Centre, Brighton
2013
“Susan" Neue Froth Kunsthalle, Brighton
2012
”Max Gimson Represented by Mungles Corpsus" Mingles Calypsus, Brighton
"Occupant Number 8, Max Gimson" Grey Area Gallery, Brighton
Group Shows
2019
“SHOW”, Royal College of Art Degree Show, Battersea, London
“Hide-And-Seek”, The Fitzrovia Gallery, London
“Abracadabra”, Assembly House, Leeds
“Crossroad”, Hoxton 253 Project Space, London
“Meshes of The Afternoon”, Courtyard Gallery 1, Royal College of Art, London
“COLLEGE”, House of Vans, London
2018
“The Ghosts Are in The House”, Chopping Block Gallery, London
“Work in Progress”, Royal College of Art, London
2017
"Painting[Now]", Studio One Gallery, Wandsworth, London
2015
"Throw Yourself in Next Time and Rid Us of Your Stupidity." By Max Gimson With Films by Lydia Cohen, Chris
King, MAMA, Figs in Wigs, Luke Nash, Heidi Smith", Terminus House, Brighton
2014
"From Here and There". Elysium Gallery, Swansea & Clara Hatton Gallery, Colorado
"An American In Paris", Now and Again Gallery, Brighton
"Max Gimson & Alex Bowen (Work Programme 48)", Community Arts Centre, Brighton
"Things You Don't Do, Things You Do Do", Bath Spa University, Bath
"Apollinaire LXVII", Neue Froth Kunsthalle, Brighton
2013
"Sluice Art Fair" with Neue Froth Kunsthalle, Bermondsey, London
"Mingles Calypsus/ Mungles Corpus", Neue Froth Kunsthalle, Brighton
"'Now You See It, Now You Don't' Curated by Karl Bielik", Terrace Studios and Gallery, London
"Art on Paper", Galerie d'YS, Brussels, Belgium
"WORK PROGRAMME DELUXE", Community Arts Centre, Brighton
"Speak, Clown! **** Part Four" FOLD gallery, London
"Discernible" Zeitgeist Arts Projects, Bond House, London
"Work Program IV Max Gimson & Sophie Dickson", Community Art Centre, Brighton
"'****' Part Two", Neue Froth Kunsthalle, Brighton
2012
"Playing in Pools", Organhaus, Chongqing, China
"BA(Hons) Degree Show", Brighton University
"Konst" Blank Gallery, Brighton
"Call for Paintings", Grey Area Gallery, Brighton
"Contra-Invention", Marburae Art Gallery, Macclesfield
2011
"Heptalogy", Brighton Media Centre, Brighton
"Grammar, Nonsense and Imagination" 2nd year show, Grand Parade Gallery, Brighton University
2010
"Drinky Arty Clubby", Grey Area Gallery, Brighton
"An Exchange", Blank Gallery, Brighton