Alistair John Gordon

Nigel Halliday writes on 'An Advent candle' by Alistair John Gordon in this week's Artway visual meditation.

Gordon is artist-in-residence and Gallery Manager for Husk, a café and creative space in Limehouse in East London , that has a heart for community, contemporary art and excellent coffee. This year he began as course leader for Critical and Professional Studies, a part time postgraduate course at Leith School of Art in Edinburgh . He is co-founder and director of Morphē Arts, a mentoring charity for graduate artists. He was awarded first prize in the most recent Shoosmiths Art Prize and has been selected for several other awards including the Threadneedle Prize and at Oriel Davies Gallery, Beep 2014 and The Open West 2014. He was commissioned to mark the 180th anniversary of the London City Mission. The resultant work The feet of those was a collection of small canvases each reproducing a pair of shoes, to represent both the loving labour and the diversity of LCM’s workers. It was exhibited at the Nunnery Gallery, Bow, London (September–October, 2014). His paintings are represented by the London gallery, Bearspace, where he recently held a solo exhibition.

Gordon writes:

'Notions of authenticity and illusion lie at the heart of my artistic enquiry. I find myself looking for evidence of ‘the real thing’. I look for evidence of the artists process before and after a work is completed. Artists materials such as masking tape and paper are rendered in paint to appear as taped or pinned on a wooden surface, a practice that refers to a specific form of illusionism that proliferated in 17th century Northern Europe called quodlibet (what you will). As Jean Baudrillard wrote in The System of Objects: “We are fascinated by what has been created…because the moment of creation cannot be reproduced.”'

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Curtis Mayfield - We The People Who Are Darker Than Blue.