In Your Own Village 'Depot', 2009, Oil on panel, 80 x 60 cm, Courtesy the artist and Master Piper, London, Photo: 2009 Anna Arca

Justin Mortimer, 'Depot', 2009, Oil on panel, 80 x 60 cm, Courtesy the artist and Master Piper, London, Photo: 2009 Anna Arca

In Your Own Village 'Cleaners', 2009, Oil on panel, 61 x 81 cm, Courtesy the artist and Master Piper, London, Photo: 2009 Anna Arca

Justin Mortimer, 'Cleaners', 2009, Oil on panel, 61 x 81 cm, Courtesy the artist and Master Piper, London, Photo: 2009 Anna Arca

In Your Own Village 'Theme Park', 2009, Oil on panel, 80 x 60 cm, Courtesy the artist and Master Piper, London, Photo: 2009 Anna Arca

Justin Mortimer, 'Theme Park', 2009, Oil on panel, 80 x 60 cm, Courtesy the artist and Master Piper, London, Photo: 2009 Anna Arca

In Your Own Village 'Another Breed', 2010, Oil on panel, 43.5 x 43.5 cm, Courtesy the artist and Master Piper, London, Photo: 2009 Anna Arca

Justin Mortimer, 'Another Breed', 2010, Oil on panel, 43.5 x 43.5 cm, Courtesy the artist and Master Piper, London, Photo: 2009 Anna Arca

In Your Own Village 'Family Dollar', 2009, Oil on panel, 60 x 80 cm, Courtesy the artist and Master Piper, London, Photo: 2009 Anna Arca

Justin Mortimer, 'Family Dollar', 2009, Oil on panel, 60 x 80 cm, Courtesy the artist and Master Piper, London, Photo: 2009 Anna Arca

In Your Own Village 'In Your Own Village', 2009, Oil on panel, 60 x 80 cm, Courtesy the artist and Master Piper, London, Photo: 2009 Anna Arca

Justin Mortimer, 'In Your Own Village', 2009, Oil on panel, 60 x 80 cm, Courtesy the artist and Master Piper, London, Photo: 2009 Anna Arca

In Your Own Village 'Hill', 2009, Oil on panel, 61 x 81 cm, Courtesy the artist and Master Piper, London, Photo: 2009 Anna Arca

Justin Mortimer, 'Hill', 2009, Oil on panel, 61 x 81 cm, Courtesy the artist and Master Piper, London, Photo: 2009 Anna Arca

In Your Own Village 'Community Project', 2009, Oil on panel, 80 x 60 cm, Courtesy the artist and Master Piper, London, Photo: 2009 Anna Arca

Justin Mortimer, 'Community Project', 2009, Oil on panel, 80 x 60 cm, Courtesy the artist and Master Piper, London, Photo: 2009 Anna Arca

In Your Own Village

22 Jan—16 Apr 2010

artists

Justin Mortimer

To view past works, biography and an essay by David Trigg click here.

A graduate of the Slade School of Art in the early 1990s, Justin Mortimer is a painter based in London. First prize winner of the BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery, he also won the EAST Award at EAST International in 2004, selected by Neo Rauch and Gerd Harry Lybke.

With particular emphasis on the relationships between the human body, landscape and architecture, his practice addresses the themes of pain, suffering, injury and deformity, often in the context of war or armed conflict, though the identity of the protagonists, victims, locations and moment in time always remain unclear.

Infused with an equal ambiguity as to what exactly has been taking place, the recent works are described by critic Matt Price as ‘powerful, challenging and disturbing paintings depicting the aftermath of the incomprehensible suffering that humans can inflict on their fellow men’.

more;

Press Release:

A graduate of the Slade School of Art in the early 1990s, career highlights to date include winning first prize in the BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery, the East Award from East International in 2004 (selected by Neo Rauch and Gerd Harry Lybke), and being commissioned to paint a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. In addition to having made his living through exhibitions with galleries such as Pippy Holdsworth, London, and Galerie Bertin-Toublanc, Paris, he has been commissioned to produce works for a significant number of private collectors.

Since East International in 2004, Mortimer’s practice has been developing rapidly and in the last 12 months, might be said to have come to full maturity. His innate skill as a painter of portraits and the human form has become skilfully intertwined with his more recent research into landscape painting and military architecture, resulting in a remarkable new body of work that might tentatively be described as contemporary history painting.

The new works are not for the faint-hearted. They are powerful, challenging and disturbing paintings depicting the aftermath of the incomprehensible suffering that humans can inflict on their fellow men. Consistently ambiguous and with an acute and complex air of uncertainty, the series references physical and psychological pain, military dictatorships, guerrilla warfare, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity that can be found from the Korean War to the Rwandan genocide, from Afghanistan to Kosovo.

While murder, rape and oppression are themes that are implicit in the works, it remains unclear as to what exactly has been going on. A secluded patch of woodland seems to be the site of a mass grave with some people still alive; a picturesque village appears to have been hit by a mortar; some figures in radiation suits storm through a landscape in the darkness. These peculiar and affecting scenarios are staged in locations that might otherwise be chocolate box landscapes, now injected with a sinister undercurrent and unsavoury narratives.

Always too late to witness the terrible acts that have taken place, the viewer is caught in an uncomfortable limbo, unsure as to whether they are looking from the viewpoint of aggressor or victim, journalist or doctor, neighbour or stranger. Mortimer forces us to consider what it must be like when atrocities are inflicted upon civilians and exposes us to the fear that violence, inhumane actions and destruction may come to our own towns and villages. How do individuals and groups descend into such depravity and maleficence, and what emotional and psychological effects must it have on those who experience it?

With a mastery of figurative painting allied to a sophisticated use of more abstract techniques in the service of landscape painting, Mortimer’s new works bring the universal themes of suffering and pain to contemporary painting with a gravitas, urgency and profound sense of insight into the barbaric nature of humankind.


Matt Price

Matt Price is a curator, writer and editor based in London and Birmingham. Formerly Managing Editor of Flash Art International, Milan, and Deputy Editor of ArtReview, London, he recently co-authored the publication Adrian Ghenie for Hatje Cantz, and has written the chronology of Anish Kapoor for the new monograph by Phaidon. In addition to Flash Art and ArtReview, he has also written for publications including Art Monthly, A-n, Frieze and The Guardian. Las year he co-curated the exhibition Sound in Z at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris, a version of which is currently on show as part of the 3rd Moscow Biennale. www.matthprice.com