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Friedman Benda to unveil new work by Christopher Le Brun at PAD London 2013, followed by major exhibition in New York in September 2014
Christopher Le Brun, 2013
Photo credit: Stephen White
Friedman Benda is pleased to announce their representation of British artist Christopher Le Brun. The gallery will unveil a new series of paintings at the Pavilion of Art and Design (PAD) in London, October 16-20, 2013. Following PAD, Friedman Benda will present a major exhibition of Le Brun's work - his first in New York in ten years - at their Chelsea, NYC gallery in September 2014.
Le Brun is a key addition to the gallery's growing roster of artists and designers. Friedman Benda's origins in representing top tier international designers and artists have laid the foundation for an increasingly strong painting program. The announcement that he will be exhibit with Friedman Benda in New York, where fellow academicians Ai Weiwei and Ron Arad have also shown, is bound to generate considerable interest within the art world.
Like many of the major British painters, Le Brun's work resists easy definition and retains a striking independence, despite being associated with a wide range of artistic movements since coming to prominence in the late 1970's. His powerful affirmation of the validity of painting in a world looking towards alternative art forms has given his oeuvre an exceptional importance, recognized in acquisitions by MoMA, Tate, Art Gallery of New South Wales and Yale University, as well as dozens of major international public and private collections.
As a contemporary artist he takes his place within the tradition of Romanticism and Symbolism. The visual and tactile realm of painting is integrated by his memory and imagination within a wider field of music and classical literature. As he commented: "My work emphasises painting as an entirely independent art form, but depends for its resonance on its natural kinship with history, poetry and mythology." His current body of work highlights the semantic implications of his highly painterly stance - particularly in the richly layered and over-painted surfaces. These new works show a renewed pleasure in color and light.
Le Brun is the recipient of numerous distinctions and awards. Amongst others, he participated in the Venice Biennale in 1982 and received the prestigious John Moores Prize in 1978 and 1980. In 2010 he was made an Honorary Fellow of the University of the Arts London.
Note to press: Friedman Benda will be located at Booth B7 at PAD London, October 16 - 20
Christopher Le Brun
Born in Portsmouth and trained at the Slade and Chelsea Schools of Art in London, Christopher Le Brun appeared early on in many international group exhibitions, such as the influential Zeitgeist exhibition at the Martin- Gropius Bau, Berlin (1982), and from 1980 onward in many solo exhibitions in Britain, Europe and the United States.
Between 1990 and 2003 he served as a trustee of the Tate and subsequently of the National Gallery, a period which saw his involvement in the radical developments of Tate at Bankside, Liverpool and St. Ives as well as the master plan and re-development of the east wing of the National Gallery. He is a former trustee of the Dulwich Picture Gallery, a founding Trustee of the Prince's Drawing School and a serving Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery.
He was elected President of the Royal Academy in December 2011, the 26th President since Sir Joshua Reynolds and the youngest since Lord Leighton in 1878.
Friedman Benda
In 2007, New York dealer Barry Friedman and Swiss-born Marc Benda joined forces to create a new platform for cutting-edge creative minds, encompassing various genres and all media. Starting with a focus on the Chinese contemporary Avant-Garde and a group of international designers such as Ron Arad and Ettore Sottsass, the newly founded gallery swiftly developed a balanced roster of international designers and artists, with 7 to 8 gallery shows a year, which constantly juxtapose established and emerging artists from all over the globe.
Pavilion of Art and Design (PAD)
http://www.pad-fairs.com/london/
