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NEIL GALL: The Great Constructor,

March 24 - April 30, 2010

NEIL GALL: The Great Constructor

Past exhibition
  • Overview
  • INSTALLATION SHOTS
  • Artist
  • Overview

    David Nolan Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of "The Great Constructor," the first solo exhibition in the United States of the British artist, Neil Gall (b. 1967, Aberdeen). Gall specializes in the magical transformation of the everyday, turning the ordinary into the extraordinary through a complex process of assemblage, photography, collage, painting, and drawing.

    The title of the show is a tribute to Ferdinand Léger's "Les Constructeurs" (1951), a painting that reveals Léger's preoccupation with the mechanical and geometrical aspect in the human environment. Gall shares in Léger's enthusiasm, finding beauty in manufactured products and found objects such as wire baskets, cardboard packaging, paper towel tubes, plastic toys, and colorful ribbons. He invests the unmonumental objects in his work with the uncanny, with an otherworldliness that elevates them to a level of sophistication on par with modernist abstraction and figuration. Gall defamiliarizes the banal objects in his paintings by fragmenting them, generating a kaleidoscopic effect that dazzles the eye. The exquisite detail and precision of his technique are seen most clearly in his "S & M sculpture paintings," originating from models made of ping pong balls bound in colorful tape. The luscious surfaces and voluptuous volumes of these staged still life paintings bring to mind the Surrealist "doll" project of the German artist, Hans Bellmer. Gall states: "In our very un-magical world, making illogical artworks or paintings is a totally mad thing to do. I do believe there is a hint of real madness in creativity."

    Neil Gall received his BA in painting at Gray's School of Art and then attended Slade School of Art in London in 1991. He has received numerous awards including the Abby Major Award in 1993 from The British School at Rome, the Jerwood Painting Prize in 1999 and was the artist in residence at Durham Cathedral in 1993. Gall's work has been featured in numerous museum exhibitions and has been the subject of several monographs including Shelf Life (2007) from Black Dog Publishing.

  • INSTALLATION SHOTS

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    • Neil Gall Atom Head, 2010 colored pencil on paper 26 1/2 x 36 1/2 inches 67.3 x 92.9 cm
      Neil Gall
      Atom Head, 2010
      colored pencil on paper
      26 1/2 x 36 1/2 inches
      67.3 x 92.9 cm
    • Neil Gall The Unity of Life and Death, 2010 oil on linen 25 5/8 x 23 5/8 in 65 x 60 cm
      Neil Gall
      The Unity of Life and Death, 2010
      oil on linen
      25 5/8 x 23 5/8 in
      65 x 60 cm
    • Neil Gall Encounter With Matter, 2010 oil on linen 26 x 35 inches 66 x 89 cm
      Neil Gall
      Encounter With Matter, 2010
      oil on linen
      26 x 35 inches
      66 x 89 cm
    • Neil Gall Farewell, Farewell, 2009 oil on linen 41 3/8 x 30 1/8 in (105 x 76.5 cm)
      Neil Gall
      Farewell, Farewell, 2009
      oil on linen
      41 3/8 x 30 1/8 in (105 x 76.5 cm)
    • Neil Gall Figure Squatting, 2010 oil on linen 28 x 23 1/4 inches 71 x 59 cm
      Neil Gall
      Figure Squatting, 2010
      oil on linen
      28 x 23 1/4 inches
      71 x 59 cm
    • Neil Gall Guardian of the Threshold, 2009 oil on linen 41 x 31 1/4 inches 104 x 79.3 cm
      Neil Gall
      Guardian of the Threshold, 2009
      oil on linen
      41 x 31 1/4 inches
      104 x 79.3 cm
    • Neil Gall Helmet, 2010 colored pencil on paper 26 1/2 x 27 1/4 inches 67.3 x 69.3 cm
      Neil Gall
      Helmet, 2010
      colored pencil on paper
      26 1/2 x 27 1/4 inches
      67.3 x 69.3 cm
    • Neil Gall Nostalgia for Space, 2009-10 oil on linen 26 x 23 1/2 inches 66 x 59.5 cm
      Neil Gall
      Nostalgia for Space, 2009-10
      oil on linen
      26 x 23 1/2 inches
      66 x 59.5 cm
    • Neil Gall Unable to Separate Their Own Identities, 2008 acrylic on cast resin 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches 11.4 x 11.4 x 8.9 cm
      Neil Gall
      Unable to Separate Their Own Identities, 2008
      acrylic on cast resin
      4 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches
      11.4 x 11.4 x 8.9 cm
    • Neil Gall The False Mirror, 2009 oil on linen 39 1/8 x 32 1/2 inches 99.5 x 82.5 cm
      Neil Gall
      The False Mirror, 2009
      oil on linen
      39 1/8 x 32 1/2 inches
      99.5 x 82.5 cm
    • Neil Gall The Great Constructor, 2009-10 oil on linen 48 x 31 1/8 inches 122 x 79 cm
      Neil Gall
      The Great Constructor, 2009-10
      oil on linen
      48 x 31 1/8 inches
      122 x 79 cm
    • Neil Gall This Heat, 2009 oil on linen 41 x 39 3/8 in 104 x 100 cm
      Neil Gall
      This Heat, 2009
      oil on linen
      41 x 39 3/8 in
      104 x 100 cm
    • Neil Gall Lunar Human Spectral, 2009 graphite on paper 15 3/8 x 15 inches 39 x 38 cm
      Neil Gall
      Lunar Human Spectral, 2009
      graphite on paper
      15 3/8 x 15 inches
      39 x 38 cm
    • Neil Gall Blind, 2010 graphite on paper 15 1/16 x 12 11/16 in (38.3 x 32.2 cm)
      Neil Gall
      Blind, 2010
      graphite on paper
      15 1/16 x 12 11/16 in (38.3 x 32.2 cm)
    • Neil Gall Separate Identities, 2009 graphite on paper 15 x 12 5/8 inches 38.2 x 32 cm
      Neil Gall
      Separate Identities, 2009
      graphite on paper
      15 x 12 5/8 inches
      38.2 x 32 cm
    • Neil Gall Stal, 2010 graphite on paper 12 5/8 x 11 inches 32.1 x 27.9 cm
      Neil Gall
      Stal, 2010
      graphite on paper
      12 5/8 x 11 inches
      32.1 x 27.9 cm
    • Neil Gall We Know What You've Seen, 2009 graphite on paper 15 x 12 5/8 in (38.1 x 32.1 cm)
      Neil Gall
      We Know What You've Seen, 2009
      graphite on paper
      15 x 12 5/8 in (38.1 x 32.1 cm)
  • Artist
    • NEIL GALL

      NEIL GALL

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