Artist statement
Plane wreckage falls from the sky after fifty years; enigmatic objects are found littering the earth; the cockpit is a riddle of dials impervious to interpretation. The drawings and objects here use a vocabulary of motifs: plane; bunker; tower; clearing; sky and sphere with materials that carry a weight of meaning such as ash, gold, lead, beeswax and salt.
This work begins in the Cold War bunkers of the Royal Observer Corps in the landscapes of East Anglia, bringing together strands of enquiry that arise in my research, that of a sublime in tension with the everyday; the uncanny; the phenomenology of perception; place and psychoanalysis. This field work proceeds through drawing in situ, drawing from objects retrieved temporarily from the sites and from photographs. Other work, both objects and drawings, develops from this primary resource material. Thus this body of work produced through poesis forms an object of and for research.
Stephen Felmingham studied at Middlesex University and the Wimbledon School of Art in London; he completed an MA in Drawing at Wimbledon in 1999 and is now engaged in research for a practice-led PhD at the University of Leeds. He is a member of the LAND2 Research Network and is represented in Switzerland by Galerie Lucy Macintosh, Lausanne.
Current and forthcoming events
- November 2013 - January 2014: Recent drawings, Luborimov-Easton Gallery, London (more info)
- March 2014: Tania Kovats, Drawing Water: Drawing as a Mechanism for Exploration, Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh (more info)
Qualifications and training
- 2009 Practice-led Phd: Drawing, Place and the Contemporary Sublime, University of Leeds, Leeds
- 2008 Post Graduate Certificate in Education, University of Leeds, Leeds
- 1999 MA Drawing in Fine Art Practice, Wimbledon School of Art, London
- 1992 BA (Hons) Fine Art, Middlesex University, London
Solo exhibitions
- 2012 touching:clear, Galerie Lucy Macintosh, Lausanne
- 2011 Tocsin Bang - Recent drawings, Union105 Gallery, Leeds
Group exhibitions
- 2010 Supermarket - Stockholm Art Fair, Kulturhuset, Stockholm
- 2009 The Space Between, Surrounds our Desire, The Event 09, Birmingham
- 2007 The Ninth Plinth, Leeds Art Fair, Leeds
- 2005 Red October, SevenSeven Contemporary Art, London, E2
Curated projects
- 2009 The Space Between, Surrounds our Desire, Axis curated selection - Mona Casey, http://www.axisweb.org/atSelection.aspx?AID=2359
Competitions, prizes and awards
- 2010 Celeste Art Prize 2010 Finalist, Celeste Art Prize, New York
- 2009 Shortlisted - Jerwood Drawing Prize 2009, Jerwood Space, London
- 1999 Winner of the Wimbledon School of Art Post-Graduate Drawing Prize, Wimbledon School of Art, London
Educational experience - tertiary
- 2012 Associate Lecturer (Drawing), University College Falmouth, Falmouth
- 2012 Visiting Lecturer BA Art and Design, University of Leeds, Leeds
- 2009 Visiting Lecturer BA (Hons) and MA Fine Art, Norwich University College of the Arts, Norwich
- 2004 Lecturer BA (Hons) Fine Art, Leeds College of Art, Leeds
Web links - gallery/work/projects
