Keith Coventry

 

Coventry is known for his paintings and sculptures which manipulate the legacies of Modernism in order to address the conditions of contemporary urban life. Many of the art historical references that Coventry deploys are defined by the utopian ideals of Modernism. Coventry plays with these beliefs and shows them to be misconceived; the gulf between belief and reality stimulating a series of powerful and troubling undercurrents in his work.


Coventry’s ongoing series of ‘White Abstracts’ encapsulate the artist’s approach to history, culture and society. The series takes archetypal scenes of British society Horseguards, cucumber sandwiches and the Royal Family – and renders them as white monochromes, as if they have been drained of potency and symbolic value. [Haunch of Venison]

 

featured in

—The Royal Republic, 15 May 2009