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Andrew Litten
Litten in 2024
Born (1970-12-13) 13 December 1970 (age 54)
Aylesbury, England
EducationSelf-taught
OccupationArtist
Known forPainting, Sculpture, Assemblage (art)
WebsiteAndrew Litten Official

Andrew Litten is a Cornwall-based English artist born in 1970 in Aylesbury, UK.[1][2][3] His paintings have been exhibited in the United Kingdom, including the Tate Modern in London,[1] China,[4][5][6][7][8] USA,[9] Germany,[10] Australia,[11] Mexico,[12] Poland[13] and Italy.[14]

Litten attended Amersham College of Art (now Amersham & Wycombe College) in his teens but found it claustrophobic and restricting so did not continue with higher art education.[15] He is a self-taught painter and sculptor.[16]

He moved to Cornwall in 2001 and chose to begin exhibiting.[17] Early success came in 2003 when his work was included in an exhibition titled 'Nudes' in New York City, (along with Jacob Epstein and Pierre-Auguste Renoir) with a review in the New York Times.[18][19][20] In 2007 Litten had his first major London exhibition with "Dog Breeder" created as an anti-art statement on the absurdity of the contemporary art world and its hierarchies.[15][21]

Recent work (since 2014) deals with humanistic themes such as social alienation, love, sensuality, fear, anger, loss, ageing, addiction, paranoia and other identity disturbance.[22][23] His dynamic and gestural figurative paintings express a strong interest in the universal complexity of everyday existence.[24]

Sudden Involuntary Chemical Withdrawal oiloncanvas 120 x 120cm 2016

Early life

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Andrew Litten "Domestic Fight" 1994

At the age of sixteen Litten began taking evening classes in life drawing, with an early interest in expressionist art.[25][26] He then attended art college as a teenager but found it "restricting and claustrophobic" so left college with the intention of finding inspiration within commonplace life.[27] From 1990 to 1999, he created figurative representations of the ordinary and the everyday that often conveyed emotive poignancy.[28] Litten's paintings and assemblages at this time often referenced song titles, including 'Stepping Out' by The Fall, 'You Always Hurt The One You Love' by The Mills Brothers and 'Kitchen Person' by The Associates.[29]

His use of wit is a striking factor in his work at this time and is manifest in his choice of materials and their appropriateness to his subjects.[28] Joseph Clarke wrote "in Litten's past work, the addition of hair, stuffed creatures, staples, screws, the scraps of paper or board that the work was made on, often created formal as well as emotional shift; important vehicles for helping the strange message within to reveal itself and go to work on the viewer".[30] Often using humble domestic or found materials (including envelopes and assembled furniture parts) the work made at this time deliberately challenged ideas of art elitism and art as commodity.[31]

Retrospective exhibitions of Litten's early work have taken place at Royal Cornwall Museum and the Australia National University.[32][33]

Litten lived in London in the 1990s and later moved to Oxford where he worked as a photographic assistant and visits to the studio of Richard Hamilton encouraged a renewed interest in painting.[34]

2000 to 2014

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Dog Breeder 2007

Litten moved to Cornwall in 2001 and began exhibiting with Dick The Dog and then Goldfish, along with other independent art spaces in Bristol.[35] His work at this time is considered to be highly emotional, subversive and haunting with subject matter that hints at both our animal impulses and spiritual yearnings.[30][36] His figurative representations often appear ambiguously expressive and indefinite in sex.[37] During these years, Litten's subject matter deals with issues of voyeurism, dysfunctional sexual attachments and behaviors.[38] Litten's visual narratives at this time are questioning and considered to defy rather than define, with a likeness to the unpunctuated texts of Jack Kerouac.[39]

Dog Breeder

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Dog Breeder (which incorporates paint with human hair) uses a subverted sexual subtext to convey a twisted anti-art statement that comments on the absurdity of the contemporary art world and its hierarchies.[40][41] The subject refers to the control of the art dealer over artists, and this is represented by the depiction of four sexualised dog-like figures that are on heat and clustering around one large dominant dog human.[42][43] Dog Breeder was first exhibited in London, Vyner Street during Frieze art week 2007 and then in Cornwall the following year where it was described as sick and depraved.[42][44]

Recent Work

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Litten's dynamic and gestural figurative paintings express interest in a wide range of humanistic themes such as love, sensuality, fear, anger, loss, addiction and personal growth.[45][46] His large scale gestural and impasto paintings are raw and emotive with introspective tensions that expose the visceral identity of the human subconscious.[47][48] In 2018 Litten's solo exhibition was developed with support by Arts Council England.[47] Litten's "Concerning the Fragile" works (2019 - 2020) deal with human fragility, beareavment and addiction intensified by the death of his wife, Emma, in 2019.[49]

Selected solo exhibitions

[edit]

2023 - Connect, JD Malat Gallery, London, UK[50][51][52]

2021 - Fragile Together, JD Malat Gallery, London, UK[53]

2020 - Concerning the Fragile, Anima Mundi, St Ives UK[54][49]

2018 - Ordinary Bodies, Ordinary Bones, Anima Mundi, St Ives, UK[55]

2018 - Archive (selected works 1990-99), Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro, UK[56][57]

2018 - Impromptu, Drill Hall Gallery, Canberra, Australia[11][58]

2016 - Need, Patrick Davies Contemporary Art, Hertfordshire, UK[59]

2014 - I Wish You Ill And Hope You Suffer As Much As I Have, Spike Island, Bristol, UK[60][61]

2013 - ID Smear, Motorcade / FlashParade, Bristol, UK[62]

2012 - Guest, L-13 Light Industrial Workshop, London[63]

2012 - ID Smear, Millennium Gallery St. Ives, UK[64]

2011 - This Is Real, Oo Gallery, New York, USA[65]

2008 - Paintings, Goldfish Fine Art, Penzance, UK[66][67]

2007 - Connect ? Goldfish Fine Art, Penzance, UK[68]

2007 - Dog Breeder, Lime Wharf Space, London[15][21]

Selected group exhibitions

[edit]

2023 - X, Newcastle Contemporary, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK[69]

2022 - Summer Exhibition, JD Malat Gallery, London, UK[70]

2022 - Vitalistic Fantasies, Elysium Gallery, Swansea, UK[71][72]

2020 - Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, The Gallery, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK[73]

2017/18 - Contemporary Masters from Britain: 80 British Painters of the 21st Century, Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts Museum, China,[4][5] Jiangsu Art Gallery, Nanjing, China,[4][6][7] Jiangsu Museum of Arts and Crafts (Artall), Nanjing, China,[4][6] Yantai Art Museum, China.[4][8]

2017 - Anything Goes, Art Bermondsey Project Space, London.[22][74]

2016 - Sixty, Lubomirov / Angus Hughes Gallery, London.[75]

2013 - This Me Of Mine, Ipswich Art School Gallery, Suffolk Museums, Ipswich, UK.[76][77][78]

2012 - Kunstfaktor, Marzia Frozen, Berlin, Germany.[10]

2012 - Accidental Genius: Art from the Anthony Petullo Collection, Milwaukee Art Museum, USA.[9]

2011 - Afternoon Tea: Works On Paper, WW Gallery at the 54th Venice Biennale, Italy.[14]

2011 - Concrete Skin, BHVU Gallery, London.[79]

2010 - No Soul For Sale / Exhibition #2, Museum of Everything at the Tate Modern, London.[1][80]

2009 - The Figure Show, Jill George Gallery, London.[81]

2008 - Mixed / No Theme, Goldfish Fine Art, Penzance, UK.[82]

2007 - Art Now Cornwall ? Goldfish fine Art, Penzance, UK.[83]

2003 - Nudes, Galerie Pelar, New York City, USA.[84]

2002 - Entry, Dick The Dog, Penzance, UK.[85]

Selected publications

[edit]

The main publications of Litten's work are: ID Smear,[86] Paintings (edited by Joseph Clarke)[67] Connect? [87] Free Range (edited by Joseph Clarke)[88] Ordinary Bodies[89] Everyday Means.[90] His artwork has been used for cover images by publishers Faber and Faber (Plays by David Farr)[91] Bloodaxe Books (Poems by Jane Griffiths)[92] and also within various art publications.[93][94] L-13 Light Industrial Workshop produced a limited edition hand printed book with Litten in 2012.[95]

Collections

[edit]

Milwaukee Art Museum, USA[1][2]

The Priseman Seabrook Collection, UK[96]

Museum of Everything Exhibition #2[80]

Falmouth Art Gallery Collection[97]

Personal Information

[edit]

Litten has lived in Fowey, Cornwall UK since 2001, he was married to Emma Neame from the four generations of the Neame family in the film business, Emma died in 2019.[49][98][99] He is a nominated member of the Newlyn Society of Artists and Contemporary British Painting group.[100]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Andrew Litten | Milwaukee Art Museum". collection.mam.org. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  2. ^ a b Andera, Margaret; Stone, Lisa, eds. (2012). Accidental genius: art from the Anthony Petullo collection (1st ed.). Milwaukee, WI: Milwaukee Art Museum. ISBN 978-3-7913-5200-8. OCLC 756180953.
  3. ^ Wade, Alex (13 April 2008). "Penzance turns regeneration into a fine art". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Exhibitions - Priseman Seabrook Collections". Priseman Seabrook Collections. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  5. ^ a b "展览-天津美术学院". www.tjarts.edu.cn. Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  6. ^ a b c "Contemporary Masters from Britain | Ehryn Torrell | Axisweb". Axisweb. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  7. ^ a b "江苏省美术馆". www.jsmsg.com. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  8. ^ a b "Yantai Art Museum, Contemporary British Masters". 27 July 2017. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  9. ^ a b "Accidental Genius | Milwaukee Art Museum". mam.org. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  10. ^ a b "Silvia Canton | peinture et art". silviacanton.it. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  11. ^ a b "Impromptu". ANU Drill Hall Gallery. 2018. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  12. ^ "Zona Maco". Artland. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  13. ^ Huiming, Jia (2017). "Contemporary Masters from Britain". World Art 世界美术. 2017/4. ISSN 1000-8683.
  14. ^ a b "Afternoon Tea at WW Gallery, Venice Biennale". WW Contemporary Art. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  15. ^ a b c "Andrew Litten | Newlyn Society of Artists". www.nsanewlyn.com. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  16. ^ "Andrew Litten". Newlyn Society Of Artists. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  17. ^ "Andrew Litten". Newlyn Society Of Artists. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  18. ^ "The Timeless Beauty Of The Human Body". New York Times. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  19. ^ "The Universal Complexity Of Everyday Existence". On Art And Aesthetics. 18 May 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  20. ^ "Andrew Litten". Cornwall Artists Index. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  21. ^ a b "Andrew Litten". ArtSlant. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  22. ^ a b Art Bermondsey (27 July 2017). "Anything Goes". Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  23. ^ "Raw Paintings By Andrew Litten". 2018. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
  24. ^ "The Universal Complexity of Everyday Existence". On Art And Aesthetics. 2018. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
  25. ^ "Andrew Litten". Cornwall Artists Index. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  26. ^ "Collection". Milwaukee Art Museum. 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  27. ^ "Everyday Means-Artists Notes". Royal Cornwall Museum. 2018. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  28. ^ a b "Everyday Means-Jane Griffiths". Royal Cornwall Museum. 2018. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  29. ^ "Archive". Royal Cornwall Museum. 2018. Archived from the original on 18 May 2018. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  30. ^ a b "Paintings". Goldfish Fine Art. 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  31. ^ "Andrew Litten". Anima Mundi. 2018. Archived from the original on 22 March 2018. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  32. ^ "Archive Selected Works 1990-99". Royal Cornwall Museum. 2018. Archived from the original on 18 May 2018. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  33. ^ "Impromptu". ANU Drill Hall Gallery. 2018. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  34. ^ ID Smear. Millennium. 2012. ISBN 978-1-905772-50-6. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  35. ^ "Collection". Milwaukee Art Museum. 2012. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  36. ^ "Andrew Litten". Artlyst. 2014. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  37. ^ "Nudes". New York Times. 2003. Archived from the original on 16 February 2013. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  38. ^ "Andrew Litten". NSA. 2008. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  39. ^ "Paintings". Art Cornwall. 2008. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  40. ^ "Andrew Litten". Anima Mundi. 2018. Archived from the original on 22 March 2018. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  41. ^ "Andrew Litten". Newlyn Society Of Artists. 2018. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  42. ^ a b "Directory". Cornwall Artists Index. 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  43. ^ "Andrew Litten Dog Breeder". Art Wall. 2013. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  44. ^ "Mixed/No Theme". Art Cornwall. 2008. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  45. ^ "Anything Goes". Bermonsdey Arts Project. 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  46. ^ "Andrew Litten". Anima Mundi. 2018. Archived from the original on 22 March 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  47. ^ a b "Ordinary Bodies Ordinary Bones". Art Rabbit. 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  48. ^ "Andrew Litten". Patrick Davies CA. 2016. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  49. ^ a b c McNay, Anna. "Andrew Litten – interview: 'I like the feeling that my work is emotionally varied and full of raw nerves'". www.studiointernational.com. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  50. ^ "Andrew Litten: Connect | 9 March - 8 April 2023". JD Malat Gallery. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  51. ^ "Andrew Litten: Connect". www.newexhibitions.com. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  52. ^ JD Malat (2023). Andrew Litten: Connect. London: JD Malat.
  53. ^ Hastings, Sophie (3 June 2021). "Fragile Together: Andrew Litten's first London solo show is worth the wait". British GQ. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  54. ^ "Exhibition - Andrew Litten 'Concerning the Fragile'". ANIMA MUNDI. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  55. ^ "Exhibition - Andrew Litten 'Ordinary Bodies, Ordinary Bones'". ANIMA MUNDI. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  56. ^ ArtFacts. "Archive (selected works 1990-99) | Exhibition". ArtFacts. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  57. ^ "Archive (selected works 1990-99) by Andrew Litten - Exhibition at Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro". ArtRabbit. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  58. ^ "Andrew Litten Public Exhibition opens at Drill Hall Gallery, Australia". ANIMA MUNDI. 1 May 2018. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  59. ^ "Exhibitions Detail". www.patrickdaviesca.com. Patrick Davies Contemporary Art. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
  60. ^ "I WISH YOU ILL AND HOPE YOU SUFFER AS MUCH AS I HAVE - Andrew Litten". oneartyminute.com (in French). 22 August 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  61. ^ "I Wish You Ill, Spike Island". Spike Island. Archived from the original on 29 September 2017. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  62. ^ "I D SMEAR". www.motorcadeflashparade.com. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  63. ^ "Guest, L13 Light Industrial Workshop". Patrick Davies Contemporary Art. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  64. ^ "ID Smear, Millenium Gallery". Abstract Artists Group. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  65. ^ "Andrew Litten". Art Facts. 2018. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  66. ^ Andrew Litten 'Paintings', 12 July 2008, retrieved 22 September 2017
  67. ^ a b Andrew Litton paintings. Penzance: Goldfish Contemporary Fine Art. 2008. ISBN 978-1-905772-17-9. OCLC 258889217.
  68. ^ "Connect ? exhibition". Art Rabit. 2007. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  69. ^ "X". Newcastle Contemporary Art. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  70. ^ "Summer Exhibition 2022 | 25 July - 3 September 2022". JD Malat Gallery. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  71. ^ "Vitalistic Fantasies | Exhibitions | MutualArt". www.elysiumgallery.com. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  72. ^ "Vitalistic Fantasies". Elysium Gallery. 4 June 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  73. ^ "Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing... | Exhibitions | MutualArt". thegallery.dmu.ac.uk. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  74. ^ "Anything Goes? | Contemporary British Painting - Art Bermondsey Project Space". Art Bermondsey Project Space. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  75. ^ "SIXTY - www.lubomirov-angus-hughes.com". www.lubomirov-angus-hughes.com. Archived from the original on 1 November 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  76. ^ "THIS ME OF MINE Goes to Ipswich". Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  77. ^ "This 'Me' of Mine: Self, Time and Context in the Digital Age | BlueInk Review". www.blueinkreview.com. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  78. ^ "ThisMeofMine". YouTube. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  79. ^ "Concrete Skin Exhibition". BHVU Gallery. 2011. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  80. ^ a b "The Museum of Everything". www.musevery.com. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  81. ^ "The Figure Show". Retrieved 4 October 2017.
  82. ^ "Art Cornwall". 2008. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
  83. ^ "Art Cornwall". 2007. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  84. ^ Harrison, Helen A. (July 2003). "New York Times, Art Review". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
  85. ^ "ArtFacts". Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  86. ^ Andrew Litten: ID smear. Millennium. St Ives. 2012. OCLC 777403150.
  87. ^ Litten, Andrew (2007). Connect?. Goldfish Fine Art. ISBN 978-1-905772-09-4.
  88. ^ Litten, Andrew (2006). [Free range]. Goldfish Contemporary Fine Art. Penzance: Goldfish Contemporary Fine Art. ISBN 978-0-9548460-8-4. OCLC 137307869.
  89. ^ Litten, Andrew (2005). Andrew Litten: Ordinary Bodies. Goldfish Contemporary Fine Art. ISBN 0-9548460-3-6.
  90. ^ Everyday Means. Royal Cornwall Museum. 2018. ISBN 978-1-5272-1994-6. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  91. ^ Farr, David (2005). Plays One. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-22898-0. OCLC 59877295.
  92. ^ Silent in Finisterre. Bloodaxe Books. 2017. ISBN 978-1-78037-356-0.
  93. ^ "International Painting Annual". Manifest Ohio. 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  94. ^ "The Musings Of Creatures Imagined In A Barren Land". Falmouth Art Gallery. 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  95. ^ "Guest". L-13 London. 2012. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  96. ^ "Priseman Seabrook Collection of 21st century British Painting". Retrieved 13 July 2016.
  97. ^ "FAMAG 2016.5 | Litten, Andrew: widow, signed and dated 1990, mixed media on board, 40 x 44cms [sic]. | The Permanent Collection | Falmouth Art Gallery". www.falmouthartgallery.com. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
  98. ^ "Christopher Neame Biography". IMDb. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  99. ^ "Gareth Neame Biography". IMDb. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  100. ^ "Andrew Litten". Newlyn Society of artists. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
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