Nathan Coley

Gathering of Strangers © Nathan Coley at Haunch of Venison

Sculpture at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art's Dean Gallery in 2017.

Nathan Coley (born 1967 in Glasgow, Scotland, where he currently lives and works) is a contemporary British artist who was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 2007 and has held both solo and group exhibitions internationally, as well as his work being owned by both private and public collections worldwide. He studied Fine Art at Glasgow School of Art between 1985 and 1989 with the artists Christine Borland, Ross Sinclair and Douglas Gordon amongst others.

Coley is interested in the idea of 'public' space, and his practice explores the ways in which architecture becomes invested - and reinvested - with meaning. Across a range of media, Coley investigates what the built environment reveals about the people it surrounds and how the social and individual response to it is in turn culturally conditioned. Using the readymade as a means to take from and re-place in the world, Coley addresses the ritual forms we use to articulate our beliefs - from hand-held placards and erected signs to religious sanctuaries.

Nathan Coley's luminous installation entitled We Must Cultivate Our Garden, is currently exhibited outside of the Tate Modern. The words are taken from the satirical novella Candide (1759) by the French writer and philosopher Voltaire (1694-1778). Standing in the landscape, opposite the high-rise buildings in the City of London, the words seem to be urging us to act.

Moreover, Coley's most recent solo show entitled Nathan Coley: No Golden Rules, concluded in July 2023 at The Page Gallery in South Korea. The exhibition featured a selection of important works emblematic of his practice: a series of signature large-scale illuminated text works; related small-scale lightbox works, and a group of sculptures representing buildings from different faiths. The exhibition's title is taken from a phrase by the humanist playwright, critic and philosopher George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), who said that 'The Golden Rule is that there are no golden rules'.

Life and work

In 2004, Coley exhibited at The Fruitmarket Gallery Coley, the artist constructed a series of scaled down, cardboard replicas of all of the religious buildings in Edinburgh. InLamp of Sacrifice, 286 miniature sites of worship are placed in direct confrontation with one another, exploring how religious buildings are characterised by competing social ideologies.

In 2007, Coley was nominated for the Turner Prize for his exhibition at Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute, the public installation Camouflage Church, Santiago de Compostela, Spain and his contribution to the group exhibition 'Breaking Step – Displacement, Compassion and Humour in Recent British Art' at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade, Serbia. For his exhibition at Mount Stuart in 2006, Coley displayed an illuminated text, There Will Be No Miracles Here, on a scaffolding framework 6 metres (20 ft) high by 6 metres (20 ft) wide erected within the house's 18th century landscaped garden. Investigating the relationship between the rational and the spiritual, Coley's sculpture went on to be exhibited at Tate Liverpool and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, where it became part of the collection in 2010.

In 2010–2011, The Ballast Project was built for the Government Buildings Agency as a commission for the National Maritime Museum (Het Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum) in Amsterdam. This installation groups together a collection of bricks which were originally used as ballast for ships departing from the Netherlands for the West India Company during the 17th century.

In 2011, Coley exhibited at the ACCA (Australian Centre for Contemporary Art) in Melbourne. Appearances consisted of vast concrete platforms elevated off of the floor with adjoining steps. Inspired by Oscar Niemeyer's architectural designs, Coley's Landings]are characterised by a sense of theatricality which renders the viewer, or participant, aware of his or her interaction with the work.

In Memory is an installation which was created in 2011 in Edinburgh at Jupiter Artland. In Memory]consists of an enclosed, artificial graveyard on the edge of an area of Scottish woodland. By chiselling out the names on the salvaged tombstones, Coley draws our attention to the manner in which we invest architectural objects with individual meaning.

Coley's exhibition A Place Beyond Belief showed at Haunch of Venison in 2012 and included a range of photographic and sculptural work relating to the ritualised nature of protest and mourning. Included in the show was an illuminated, scaffolded text, A Place Beyond Belief, which was originally sourced from the testimony of a New Yorker describing a subway journey she made in the days following the 9/11 attacks. An edition of the work was also unveiled outside Kosova Art Gallery in Prishtina, Kosovo on the occasion of their independence from UN supervision .

Coley's solo exhibition at Parafin in 2017 included a range of sculptural works and large illuminated text works. The centrepiece of the show was a major new sculptural work called, Tate Modern on Fire (2017). While the work questions the status of the institution, as with all of Coley's work, a rich and complex ambiguity pervades. Is the fire a proposal or a warning?

In 2019, Coley returned to Parafin with a solo exhibition entitled The Future Is Inside Us, It's Not Somewhere Else. This show featured new work from Coley consisting of a series of large-scale custom-made lightboxes which combine original wallpaper from Zuber & Cie with short texts selected by the artist. The sources for the texts vary from classic American literature such as Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) and JD Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye (1951) to a contemporary CNN news report about migrants at the US/Mexico border. Puncturing the idealised landscapes with words and phrases 'borrowed from the world', Coley invites the viewer to reflect on ideas of utopia, identity and our relationship to place.

Coley has had many international solo exhibitions including those at Centro Cultural de Belem, Lisbon in 2001 and Westfalischer Kunstverein, Munster in 2000. His work was also included in Days Like These, a group exhibition at Tate Britain in 2003, and his film Jerusalem Syndrome was on view at the Cooper Gallery in Dundee in 2005.

Coley has been awarded with the Artist Award, Scottish Arts Council (2003, 1996), Henry Moore Fellowship (Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, University of Dundee (2001), Creative Scotland Award, Scottish Arts Council (2001), Scottish Cultural Enterprise, 'Scotland's Year of the Artist,' Public Art Initiative Scheme, Scottish Arts Council (2000) and the RSA, Art for Architecture Award (1997).

Exhibitions

Selected Solo Exhibitions & Projects

• 2023 No Golden Rules, The Page Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
• 2022 The World Without, The World Within, Perth, Scotland
• 2022 Burn the Village..., Tasmania, Australia

• 2022 Tentative Words Change Everything, Charleston, East Sussex
• 2022 Utopias, the Whitworth, Manchester
• 2020 From Here, Mann Island, Liverpool, commissioned by Liverpool Biennial and Culture Liverpool
• 2019 The Future Is Inside Us, Its Not Anywhere Else, Parafin Gallery, London
• 2019 The Future Is Inside Us, Its Not Anywhere Else, Parliament Hall, Edinburgh
• 2017 Palace, The Dick Institute, Kilmarnock
• 2017 For Other People and Other Works, Kunstmuseum Magdeburg, Germany
• 2017 Nathan Coley, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
• 2017 Nathan Coley, Parafin Gallery, London
• 2017 The Same for Everyone, Arhus
• 2015 You Create What You Will, New Art Centre, England
• 2015 Portraits of Dissension, House Festival, Brighton
• 2014 You Imagine What You Desire, Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh
• 2014 The Lamp of Sacrifice, 286 Places of Worship, Edinburgh, Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow
• 2014 From the People, to the People, for the People, Future Perfect, Singapore
• 2013 A Place Beyond Belief, NDSM-Werf/Neuw Dakota, Amsterdam
• 2013 Burn the Village, Feel the Warmth, The Pier Arts Centre, Orkney
• 2013 Nathan Coley, Kunstverein Freiburg, Germany
• 2012 Knowledge, Kindness and Courage, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver
• 2012 A Place Beyond Belief, Haunch of Venison, London
• 2011 Appearances, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne
• 2010 in Memory, Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh
• 2008 De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea, East Sussex, UK
• 2007 Nathan Coley, Doggerfisher Gallery, Edinburgh
• 2006 Nathan Coley, Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute, Scotland
• 2005 Jerusalem Syndrome, University of Dundee Cooper Gallery, Dundee, UK
• 2004 Nathan Coley, Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, UK
• 2003 Black Tent, Portsmouth Cathedral, Portsmouth, UK (catalogue)
• 2002 Ruskin's Road, Leidsche Rijn, Netherlands (as part of 'Super Utrecht')
• 2001 Nathan Coley and Bas Jan Ader, Vilma Gold, London, UK
• 2000 International Style, Architectural Association, London, UK
• 1999 Der Standard, Museum in Progress, Vienna, Austria
• 1998 A Public Announcement, The Changing Room, Stirling, UK (catalogue)
• 1997 Urban Sanctuary: a public artwork, Stills Gallery, Edinburgh, UK (catalogue)
• 1996 Nathan Coley, Galleri Index, Stockholm, Sweden (catalogue)
• 1992 Pure Ideas in a Wicked World, Crawford Arts Centre, St Andrews, UK (catalogue)

Selected Group Exhibitions

• 2022 Resurrection, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
• 2020 Miracles, Museum Catharijne Convent, Utrecht
• 2020 Utopias, The Whitworth, Manchester, UK
• 2019 Sculpture in the City, City of London
• 2019 The Aerodrome, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK
• 2018 Possibilities for a Non-Alienated Life, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India
• 2018 Artists who make music, Musicians who make art, Queens Park Railway Club, Glasgow
• 2018 Actions - The Image of the World can be Different, Kettle's Yard, Cambridge, UK
• 2017 Age of Terror - Art since 9/11, Imperial War Museum, London
• 2017 Totale Symbiose, Salle Marcel Baudoin, Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, France
• 2017 Behold the Man, Kunstmuseum, Magdeburg
• 2017 The Book of the World, Helsinki Contemporary, Finland
• 2017 Karin Sander: ZEIGEN. Eine Audiotour durch die Sammlung der GfZK Leipzig, Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig
• 2016 Glow, Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven
• 2016 Just Hanging Around, Center for Openness and Dialogue, Tirana, Albania
• 2016 That Which Remains, Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute, Scotland
• 2016 Daydreaming with Stanley Kubrick, Somerset House, London
• 2016 La Ville au Loin, Les Turbulences Frac Centre, Orleans
• 2015 Art Prize, The Fed Galleries, KCAD, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
• 2015 Devils in the Making: Glasgow School of Art & The Collection, Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow
• 2015 Out There, Thataway, Centre for Contemporary Art, Derry
• 2015 Contemporary Art and Architecture in Brugge, Triennale Brugge 2015
• 2014 As if, Kings Artist Run, Melbourne, Australia
• 2014 information, Paisley Museum and Art Gallery, Paisley
• 2014 Small Happiness in Times of Abundance, Art Festival Watou 2014, Belgium
• 2014 The Theatre of The World, Museo Tamayo, Mexico
• 2014 You Imagine What You Desire, 19th Biennale of Sydney
• 2013 Mom, Am I Barbarian, 13th Istanbul Biennial, Turkey
• 2013 12. Triennale Kleinplastik, Fellback, Germany
• 2013 Call of the Mall, City of Utrecht, Holland
• 2013 Homelands, The Harrington Street Arts Centre, Kolkata, India
• 2012 Daydreaming with... The Hong Kong Edition, Artistree, Taikoo Place, Hong Kong
• 2012 Miracles, Art, Science, Religion, Kunsthalle Krems, Austria
• 2012 Mixed Media, Haunch of Venison, London

• 2012 Crisis Commission, Somerset House
• 2011 Communities without Propinquities, Milton Keynes Art Gallery, London
• 2009 Mythologies, Haunch of Venison London, UK
• 2008 Tales of Time and Space, Folkestone Triennial, Folkestone, UK
• 2007 The Turner Prize, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
• 2006 Northern City (Between Light & Dark), The Lighthouse, Glasgow and Florence, Italy
• 2005 British Art Show 6, BALTIC, Gateshead, UK (catalogue)
• 2004 The Stars Are So Big, The Earth is So Small….Stay As You Are, Schipper & Krome, Berlin,
• 2003 Independence, South London Gallery, London, UK
• 2002 Recent Acquisitions, City Art Centre, Edinburgh, UK
• 2001 Audit, Casino Luxembourg, Luxemburg (catalogue)
• 2000 Jahresgaben 2000, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster
• 1999 Blue Suburban Skies, Photographers' Gallery, London, UK
• 1998 in Visible Light, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden (catalogue)
• 1996 Girls' High, Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, UK (catalogue)
• 1995 Swarm, Travelling Gallery, Edinburgh, UK (catalogue)
• 1994 New Art in Scotland, CCA, Glasgow, UK; Aberdeen Art Gallery, Aberdeen, UK (catalogue)
• 1993 Pure Fiction, Intermedia Gallery, Glasgow, UK
• 1992 Love at First Sight, The Showroom, London, UK
• 1991 Speed, Transmission Gallery, Glasgow, UK
• 1990 Fem fra Glasgow, Hordaland Kunstner Centrum, Bergen, Norway

Residencies

• 2002 Lockerbie, The Scottish Court in the Netherlands, Holland (unofficial)
• 2000 Paisley University, Chemistry Department
• 1992 Crawford Arts Centre, St Andrews

Publications

• Nathan Coley, to the Bramley Family of Frestonia, a publication documenting his public art project in London. 2015
• Nathan Coley, Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute, Scotland 2006
• Fiona Bradley, Building the Imagination by Politics of Space: Architecture, Truth and other Fictions in the work Nathan Coley by Susanne Gaensheimer
• Nathan Coley – There Will be no Miracles Here, Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh/Locus +, Newcastle upon Tyne
• Natalie Rudd, Nathan Coley, in Days Like these (Exhibition catalogue), Tate Britain. 2003
• Judith Nesbitt, On being Sane in Insane Places, in Days Like These (Exhibition catalogue), Tate Britain, 2003
• Isabel Carlos, Caci n’est pas un…, in From Work to Text. Dialogues on Practise and Criticism in Contemporary Art, Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon
• Natalie Rudd, In the City, in Fabrication (Exhibition catalogue), Cube Gallery Manchester 2002.
• Here + Now (Exhibition catalogue). Dundee Contemporary Arts 2001
• Elisabeth Price, Small Gold Medal, Bookworks, London 2001
• Magda Kardasz, Happy Outsiders (Exhibition catalogue) Zachenta Pañstwowa Galeria Szuki, Warsaw 2002
• A Maifesto for Bournville, in In the Midst of Things. Edited by Nigel Prince and Gavin Wade, August Media 2000
• A Republican Heaven on Earth. An interview with Boris Kramer, Audit Casino Luxembourg Forum d’art contemporain

See also

• PARAFIN
• Turner Prize
• British art

External links

• Nathan Coley's Official Website
• PARAFIN
• Turner Prize Profile
• The Page Gallery