Two exhibitions at Gimpel Fils Gallery, London

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Rosalind Ormiston reports on two London shows

Now on at Gimpel Fils Gallery, 30 Davies Street, London W1, until 14 January 2012, are two exhibitions, rich in diversity and art form. The first is a display of outstanding paintings by the French artist Guy de Lussigny (1929-2001), showing 23 works of art in Lussigny: squares – black, white, blue and red, exhibited on the ground floor. In a separate display onthe lower ground floor is Latest Works, an exciting exhibition of new work by the young British artist Robert Currie. The Gallery has chosen six sculptures, created from nylon monofilament and acrylics, to form his first solo exhibition at Gimpel Fils in London.

The painter Guy de Lussigny was born in 1929 in Cambrai, in northern France. He started painting in 1950, working in the visual aesthetic of Piet Mondrian, Kasimir Malevich and Auguste Herbin, deconstructing colour and shape in a formalist manner. The painted line and use of a square format were Lussigny’s reference. Other contemporaries informed his style too, notably the Italian Futurist Gino Severini, whom he met in 1955, and August Herbin whom he met in 1956, in addition to his friendship with the Italian painter Antonio Calderara. Lussigny’s first solo exhibition took place in 1960 at Galerie Colette Allendy in Paris. Later works by Lussigny, dated from 1982-2001, are on display at Gimpel Fils.

Robert Currie (b. 1976), launched his intended career as an artist with an Arts Foundation course at the Isle of Man College, Isle of Man, in 1994–5, completing his arts education in London with an MA in Communication and Art Design at Royal College of Art, from 1998–2000. Since 2000 he has exhibited his drawings, sculptures and installations worldwide.

On his practice methodology, Currie states that he is ‘intentionally utilising external factors in his work’, to allow the material, ‘to reflect, diffract, and absorb light...resulting in disorientation, weightlessness, and elusiveness’.  The assembly of his sculptures using nylon filament and acrylics is intriguing in its complexity. It warrants time spent studying each work and its meticulous, intricate construction. Today Robert Currie is much in demand and his work is sought after by collectors. In 2011 he exhibited at Galerie Gimpel et Müller, Paris; Arte Fiera, Bologna; New York Pulse, Metropolitan Pavilion; the International Art Fair, Hong Kong; with a solo show at Kudlek van der Grinten Galerie, Cologne, Germany; as well as here in London at Gimpel Fils.