Michael Stubbs - Virus Drawings
23 May - 27 June 2009
Private View: Thursday 21st May, 6 - 9 pm

Rod Barton is proud to present the first ever body of works on paper by established British artist Michael Stubbs.

Stubbs is well known for his paintings that are constructed by combining poured, abstract configurations of transparent varnishes and opaque household paints with graphic stencils. The repeated pouring, in conjunction with the pop signs, form a physical process of sensual flat-on-flat layering that reveals multiple perspectives and optical depths.

Displayed at this exhibition are a number of framed paper works which are hung singularly, in groups, and in pairs. Stubbs has transferred his painting technique onto paper using vibrant inks and bold, stick-on graphic signs. Though relaxed with the number of initial pours and enjoying the quality of the substrate, he mixes, drips and teases the inks into position then finishes with the application of solid, abstracted vinyls which optically interact with the grounds.

Virus Drawings’, the title of the show, continues Stubbs’s fascination with contemporary painting’s physical connection to materials and their manipulation with the flattened, non-physical space of digital media.

Michael Stubbs was born in West Sussex in 1961. He completed his Fine Art PhD at Goldsmiths in 2003, MA Fine Art Goldsmiths, 1990, and his BA(Hons) Fine Art, Bath Academy of Art, 1987. His recent solo exhibitions include: Baro Cruz Gallery, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2007; Hollenbach Gallery, Stuttgart, Germany, 2006; Marella Contemporary Art, Milan, Italy, 2005. Group exhibitions include: ‘Superstratum’, Koraalberg Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium, 2008; ‘Hypersurface: Painting in a Virtual World’, OVADA Gallery, Oxford, UK (both of which he curated); ‘John Moores 24 & 25’: Liverpool Biennale, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK, 2006 & 2008; ‘New Abstract Painting: Painting Abstract Now’, Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, 2003

Rod Barton was initially set up as Rod Barton Invites in 2007 as small project based gallery inviting artists and curators to exhibit and present their work. Early 2009 saw the gallery relocate to a new space on Paget Street, housed in a large converted Georgian coach house in between Clerkenwell and Islington.

MICHAEL STUBBS
Installation views at Rod Barton, London.