KLOMPCHING GALLERY is delighted to open the 2009—2010 gallery season with the eagerly awaited exhibition of We English, by the British artist
Simon Roberts. There will be an opening reception with the artist on Thursday, 10
th September, 6pm—8:30pm, 2009.
Following on from the critically acclaimed Motherland series, that formed the inaugural exhibition at
Klompching Gallery in October 2007, Roberts’s We English is a visually stunning tableaux of large format photographs that explore identity, attachment to home and the relationship between people and the land.
“In 2005, I spent a year traveling across Russia to produce Motherland, a book exploring the Russians' attachment to their homeland. This attachment to place was somewhat mysterious—simultaneously profound and banal—and it led me to think about my own sense of belonging and memory, identity and place. We English became another journey, not quite as epic as that across Russia, but involving a 1993 Talbot Express Swift Capri
motorhome, my pregnant wife, our two-year-old daughter and a 5x4 large-format camera.”—Simon Roberts.
Informed by his predecessors Tony Ray-Jones, John Davies and Martin Parr, as well as the tradition of 16
th-century Dutch and Flemish landscape painting, Simon Roberts’ new body of work is an unashamedly lyrical vision of the ways in which people congregate and interact with the landscape, through the common purpose of leisure. Through his images of the English at play, we witness sunbathers lounging in
Gloucestershire,
hillwalkers miniaturized by the grand hills of the
Wasdale Valley, the somewhat curious Mad
Maldon Mud Race in Essex and the sparse quietness of surfers on the waters off the
Salcombe Sands in Devon. We English is an insightful and determined series of photographs, two years in the making, and that forms Roberts’ second significant body of work exploring notions of nationhood.
Simon Roberts has been published and exhibited widely, with his photographs represented in public and private collections, including the
Deutsche Börse Art Collection and the Wilson Centre for Photography (UK), amongst others. He is the recipient of several notable awards, including a
PDN’s 30 (2004) and the Royal Photographic Society Vic
Odden Award (2007) for achievement in the art of photography by a British photographer under 35.
We English is published by Chris Boot Ltd., forming Roberts’ second monograph. Simon Roberts will give an artist talk about We English, together with a book signing, on Friday 11
th September, 6:30pm at the
KLOMPCHING GALLERY.
Upcoming exhibitions of We English include Simon Roberts’ first solo museum exhibition at the National Media Museum (UK), March—September 2010.
For further information including interview requests, press images and prices, please contact Debra
Klomp Ching.
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