Gary Webb: Eye Ball Story
Past exhibition
Installation Views
Press release
Gary Webb belongs to a generation of British sculptors coming after the prestigious artists of the New British Sculpture group of the 1980's (with Tony Cragg, Richard Deacon, Anish Kapoor ...) and the Young British Artists of the 1990's (Damien Hirst, Sarah Lucas, Rachel Whiteread ...). Webb is therefore both the heir to this golden age of British sculpture, and one of its main practitioners today. Since his studies at Goldsmiths College in London in the late 1990's, Gary Webb has become known for his hybrid sculptures combining historical, cultural and material references with great liberty. His sculptures are characterized by their unexpected and contrasting compositions, part abstract, part figurative, at once geometric and organic, combining modernist references and kitsch decorative motifs. These apparent contradictions, which coexist in an unsettling and almost humorous fashion, find their harmony in the joyous, colourful and playful aesthetic that is Gary Webb's. His sculptures are made from an amazing aggregate of modern-day artisanal and industrially-produced resources. The variety of materials used (steel, aluminium, copper, Plexiglas, plastic, glass, wood, marble, neon ...) and the care given to their assembly and finish is not unlike the production methods used with objects of contemporary design.
For the exhibition "Eye Ball Story" at the Galerie Mitterrand, Gary Webb will display an ensemble of new sculptures specially created for the occasion. Two life-size palm trees, entitled My First Drawing and My First Dream and made of multicoloured mirrors will occupy the gallery's new exhibition space, from floor to ceiling. Against this exotic, coastal backdrop, several glossy sculptures will be displayed on a bed of leaves in coloured resin.
Gary Webb was born in Dorset, Hampshire, in the UK in 1973. He currently lives and works in London. A graduate of Goldsmiths College London, his work has been the subject of several solo exhibitions, notably at Le Consortium, Dijon (2005) and deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Massachusetts, in the US (2012), or more recently at the Bloomberg Space in London (2014). He also participated in the 2011 exhibition Modern British Sculpture at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. His works are also presented in the collections of the Tate Gallery and the Arts Council of London, the S.M.A.K. in Ghent, Belgium, and in France at the Musée Départemental d'Art Contemporain in Rochechouart and at Carquefou, as part of the Fonds régional d'art contemporain (Regional Contemporary Art Fund) of the Pays de la Loire region.
For the exhibition "Eye Ball Story" at the Galerie Mitterrand, Gary Webb will display an ensemble of new sculptures specially created for the occasion. Two life-size palm trees, entitled My First Drawing and My First Dream and made of multicoloured mirrors will occupy the gallery's new exhibition space, from floor to ceiling. Against this exotic, coastal backdrop, several glossy sculptures will be displayed on a bed of leaves in coloured resin.
Gary Webb was born in Dorset, Hampshire, in the UK in 1973. He currently lives and works in London. A graduate of Goldsmiths College London, his work has been the subject of several solo exhibitions, notably at Le Consortium, Dijon (2005) and deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Massachusetts, in the US (2012), or more recently at the Bloomberg Space in London (2014). He also participated in the 2011 exhibition Modern British Sculpture at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. His works are also presented in the collections of the Tate Gallery and the Arts Council of London, the S.M.A.K. in Ghent, Belgium, and in France at the Musée Départemental d'Art Contemporain in Rochechouart and at Carquefou, as part of the Fonds régional d'art contemporain (Regional Contemporary Art Fund) of the Pays de la Loire region.