by Irene Godfrey
It seems to be easier for us today to imagine the thoroughgoing deterioration of the earth and of nature than the breakdown of late capitalism.
Fredric Jameson
My concerns project both back and forwards in time to embrace both topophilia (a love of place imbued with a sense of history) and ecopoetics (creative and critical engagement with the emerging set of environmental challenges now facing life on earth).
My approach to making work mirrors and parallels the topophile's way of seeing. So the work can be inspired not only by an idea or an image but also by the paint itself. Starting a painting without a preconceived endpoint brings with it the potential for a new work to be found from within the materials. The work develops mark by mark as a response to what has gone before. Paint is repeatedly erased and added creating fragmentation, pathways, depth and ambiguity.
Education
BA Fine Art, Cass School of Art, London Metropolitan University, 2012.
Grad. Cert. in Ecology and Environment, Birkbeck College, University of London, 2010.
Selected Exhibitions
Hundreds and thousands, Angus-Hughes Gallery, London, 2015
Summer Salon, Angus-Hughes Gallery, London, 2015
The Windows are Illuminated, Embassy Tea Gallery, London, 2015
Diamond Bullet, James Freeman Gallery, London, 2014
‘Scape, Espacio Gallery, London, 2013
Show Of*!, Mile End Art Pavilion, London, 2013
Strike Against Art, the Nunnery, London, 2013
20/20 Collective Exhibition, the Vyner Studio, London, 2012.
Reveal: Graduate Art Show, Guerrilla Galleries at the Daniel Libeskind Space, London, 2012.
Degree Show, Cass School of Art, 2012.
Pre-degree show, Arbeit Gallery, London, 2012.
Melt Art Fair, Mile End Art Pavilion, London, 2010.
10 Artists, Lauderdale House, London, 2010.
Drawn Together, Shoreditch, London, 2008.
Prizes/Awards
The University Vice- Chancellor's Purchase Prize, 2012.
The Owen Rowley Prize, 2012.
The Ellen Clarkson Award, 2010.
Bibliography/Publications
Qand A with Irene Godfrey
NEW MASTERS 2013, Verfhond’s List:
The History of the world in 100 objects, audio link piece, BBC Radio 4
Collections
Work is represented in the London Metropolitan University Collection and private collections within the UK.
Solastalgia:witness to change
PV Friday 23rd Sept 2016 6-9 pm
At Made in Greenwich
SE10 9SW
facebook.com/solastalgian