Narbi Price’s work involves journeys to specific places that have witnessed a range of events – variously historical, famous, personal or forgotten. He researches the precise location of a chosen event, ranging from significant moments in music, film and TV, whimsical acts through to places of violence and death amongst others. Working from photographs taken at the site, he makes paintings in the studio focussing on the abstract, formal and painterly qualities of the resultant images.
This process removes the conscious choice of subject matter; he must work with whatever is present at the spot. Whilst clearly photographically derived, the paintings use the language of abstraction to simultaneously acknowledge and disrupt the representational image. The paint is transparent, opaque, glossy, matt, dilute and impasted, often within the same work. As viewers, we are not immediately made aware of the specific histories of the sites and are given space to wonder about the multiplicities of events that might have taken place, an effect heightened by the painting method. Our experience of the work shifts as we become aware of the provenance of the depicted sites.
Untitled Gutter Painting and Untitled Path Painting (2014) show the anonymous locations where the artist was the victim of an unprovoked attack in his hometown, Hartlepool. Untitled Flowers Painting (KB for Ettrick)(2017) shows the site of the Kard Bar, a hub of alternative culture in Newcastle, destroyed by fire in December 2015, killing the owner.
Untitled Yard Painting (Albert) and Untitled Yard Painting (Harold) (2015) depict the filming locations of the yard gates in the iconic Steptoe and Son TV sitcom and spin-off films respectively, the former now an actual scrap yard and the latter a plate glass office building. Untitled Bridge Painting (2013) portrays the site of Lollards Pit in Norwich, where heretics were burned at the stake in the 15th and 16th centuries. Untitled Alley Painting (2013) shows the filming location for the video to Subterranean Homesick Blues, the 1965 song by Bob Dylan. Untitled Black Door Painting (304) (2012) shows the door to the home of record producer Joe Meek, famous for Telstar by The Tornados, where in 1967, in a fit of depression, he shot and killed his landlady and himself.
Untitled Flowers Painting (DB) (2017) depicts the spot where David Bowie stood on the cover art of his 1972 album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, as it was during the week after his death. Untitled Well Painting (2012) shows the supposed site of the well, celebrated in the North East England folksong, The Lambton Worm, where Lord Lambton threw the Wyrm (Worm) before leaving to fight in the First Crusade. Untitled Slab Painting (2016) depicts a former public execution site in Venice. Untitled Monkey Painting (2016) shows the site where, allegedly, during the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century, a shipwrecked monkey was hanged by the people of Hartlepool, believing it to be a French spy. Untitled Club Painting (2015) features the Salford Lads Club, made famous in the artwork and videos for The Smiths 1986 album The Queen is Dead.
Born 1979 in Hartlepool, lives and works in Gateshead and Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
EDUCATION
MFA, Newcastle University 2008 – 2010
BA (Hons) Fine Art, Northumbria University 1999 – 2002
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
The Haworth Prize, Mall Galleries, London, 2015
Beyond the Goldmine Standard, RPM, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2015
(detail), The Usher Gallery, Lincoln, 2015
Narbi Price 60x45, (solo presentation), GalleriaSIX, Milan, Italy 2014
(detail), Transition Gallery, London, 2014
The Manchester Contemporary with Vane, 2014
VOLTA10, (solo presentation), Markthalle, Basel, Switzerland, 2014
(detail), H-Project Space, Bangkok, Thailand, 2014
Towards a New Socio-Painting, Transition Gallery, London, 2014
HYDRA, Unit 53, Bolton, 2014
‘another landscape’, Whistle Art Stop, Haltwhistle, 2014
Between Fact and Fiction, Vane, Newcastle upon Tyne 2014
Small is Beautiful XXXI – Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue? Flowers Gallery, London 2013
End of the Line, Paper Gallery, Manchester, 2013
The Manchester Contemporary, with Vane and Paper Gallery, 2013
Painting Past Present: A Painter’s Craft, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2013
Shan’t Quit, (solo show) Vane, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2013
Luminous Language, Launch F18, New York, USA 2013
Paper#3, Paper Gallery, Manchester, 2012
John Moores Contemporary Painting Prize, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool , 2012
The Manchester Contemporary, with Paper Gallery, 2012
neo:artprize, neo:gallery22, Bolton 2012
6 X 4, Motorcade FlashParade, Bristol, 2012
Omnia Mea Mecum Porto – Works On Paper, Kotti-Shop, Berlin, Germany, 2012
Arte Fiera, with Marc Bijl, Bologna, Italy 2012
Hole Editions - Ink on Paper, Durham Art Gallery & DLI Museum, Durham, 2011
Narbi Price - Solo Show of Site Specific Work, GalleriaSIX, Milan, Italy 2011
Nothing, Like Something, Happens Anywhere – New Work by Narbi Price and Neil Cammock, Moving Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2011
9, ACADovetail, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2011
John Moores Contemporary Painting Prize, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool 2010
MFA2010, Hatton Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2010
Laugh? I Nearly Bought One, Richard Ling Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne 2010
PRINT, Mushroom Works, Newcastle upon Tyne 2009
Summer 2009, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne 2009
Quattro Part 2, Lamplight Arts Centre, Stanley 2009
The MAs, Atkinson Gallery, Street 2009
Quattro, Moot Hall Gallery, Hexham 2008
Group Show, Newcastle Arts Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne 2005
Basement, Waygood Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne 2003
Northern Graduates, New Academy & Curwen Galleries, London 2003
Fresh Art, Business Design Centre, London 2002
AWARDS
John Moores Painting Prize, Prizewinner 2012
Arts Council England, Grants for the Arts 2011
Bartlett Travel Scholarship 2010
AHRC Research Bursary 2008
Northumbria University Post Graduate Fellowship in Painting 2002
British Airways Travel Award 2002