Opening 7th of November 18:00 - 21:00
Open 8th - 24th of November
Thursday - Sunday 14:00 - 18:00
Peter Lynch ‘PAINTINGS’
Exhibition Dates & Opening Hours:
8th November - 24th November
Thursday - Sunday, 14:00 - 18:00
The Transformation Gallery is delighted to present 'PAINTINGS', an exhibition by London-based artist Peter Lynch curated by Pujan Gandhi, running from Friday 8th November to Sunday 24th November 2024. This highly anticipated exhibition features an intimate collection of small-scale canvases, inviting viewers to delve into Lynch’s complex engagement with the language of painting.
Peter Lynch: Dissecting the Monochrome
Peter Lynch delights in dissecting the monochrome. His taut canvases jostle space and pause time, revealing and concealing the mechanics within the medium of painting. If the principles of Renaissance illusionism were flattened by Modernism, Lynch probes the depths of the painterly surface with a choice selection of tools: the classical brush, the utilitarian roller, and the artist’s finger. Hung like humble totems, the works necessitate heaps of pigment, applied and subtracted layer-by-layer until the colour satisfies, when the webs of pattern and texture resolve in a suspended stasis. However resonant the titles, such as just as when you were about to finish (2024), Lynch explains they are intentionally “ambiguous, avoiding any direct reference or meaning to the works…creating a wedge between the visual and the linguistic.” In this way, Lynch playfully takes on the mantle of Ad Reinhardt’s “Art is not” aphorisms--elevating the language of aesthetics above all else, in ways that privilege our mutable perceptions.
Lynch (b. 1971, U.K ) operates among a generation of abstract painters who have forged through the multiple ‘isms’ of the past decades to centrifuge the essential elements of plane, gesture, luminosity, and material into objects of individual thought. These artists are unified, as Laura Hoptman argues, by the atemporality implicit in the time-space compression amplified by hyper-sonic realities of the internet era. 1 Past, present, and future coalesce so that artists can borrow freely and simultaneously to tackle the issues at hand. Lynch affirms: “this history [of painting] is not a development that is particularly linear; instead, I think it is very circular. My work relates back to previous generations in a circular forward-looking process.”
Working in rectangular formats of shifting scales (22.5 x 30.5 x 2cm; 42.7 x 33.5 x 2 cm; 50 x 40 x 2 cm, for example) Lynch interrogates the pre-determined structure of the oft-heralded grid by means of bodily gesture, with rhythmic zips of finger marks seeming to appear in the final stages of the painting’s execution. could not be left to ravaging whims (2020) is a yummy slab of custard 1 1 Laura Hoptman, The Forever Now: Contemporary Painting in an Atemporal World (New York; The Museum of Modern Art, 2014), p.16. underscoring the manifold propositions inherent in the generative constraint of Lynch’s process. Here, the ridges created by the moving roller are impastoed over, evoking a skin akin to the crackle of dry earth. Replete with asymmetrical cross marks which recede and come to the fore, the work suggests a special depth that embraces the painting’s inherent plasticity. Looking straight-on, the “echo of the substrate”—in Lynch’s words--emerges in the slightest phantom of pink. The edge of the canvas is integral, revealing earlier strokes of lavender and Kelly green (it is said that El Greco used the edges of his canvases to wipe his brushes clean).
In Peter Lynch’s 2024 “Paintings” exhibition at The Transformation Gallery, London, he centers the black canvas in arrangement of eight works, leaping from Tiffany blue to Safari tan. To allow the chemistry to bloom (2024) features a dense weave of warp and weft that nearly subsumes the gesture. The black pigment absorbs and bounces light. Eking on the edge is a florescent green, creating a halo in an expanded field. Throughout his practice, we appreciate an artist whose methodology deconstructs to reconstruct, yet, Peter Lynch, is very much a painter’s painter—he harnesses the power of the medium to offer viewers a much needed halt.
Pujan Gandhi 2024
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Acrylic on plywood 48.8 x 36.6 x 2 cm
Acrylic on plywood 48.8 x 36.6 x 2 cm
Acrylic on linen 36 x 28 x 2 cm
Acrylic on plywood 48.8 x 36.6 x 2 cm
Press Release
Join us for the private view on Thursday 7th November from 18:00 to 21:00 at The Transformation Gallery, Arch 18 Valentia Place, SW9 8PJ, London.
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Peter Lynch’s work engages deeply with the language of painting, particularly exploring the balance between gesture and non-gesture, and the dynamic tension between control and spontaneity. Known for his distinctive use of finger marks that interrupt the uniformity of the canvas, Lynch's paintings are meticulously layered compositions where each stroke and texture tells a story of erasure and persistence. Each layer of paint seeks to obscure yet never fully erases the history beneath, creating a visual record of the act of making. These small-scale works offer an intimate yet powerful reflection on the complexities of form, texture, and surface, inviting viewers to explore the history embedded in the act of painting itself.
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In 'PAINTINGS', Lynch continues his exploration of abstract expression through minimal means, pushing the boundaries of the medium with a unique emphasis on touch and gesture. His method of applying paint through multiple layers—some with brushes, others with rollers—offers a rich depth, where every mark becomes both a form of creation and erasure. This repetitive process results in canvases that are not only visual objects but also records of time and movement.
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By focusing on smaller formats, Lynch creates a more personal experience for the viewer. Each piece invites close inspection, drawing attention to the fine details and subtle disruptions that characterize his work. The contrast between the physicality of his gestural marks and the restraint of the monochromatic surfaces suggests a constant dialogue between order and chaos, between presence and absence.
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The exhibition offers a focused exploration of Lynch's continued fascination with the interaction between the expressive and the mechanical, as each piece captures a moment in the artist’s ongoing conversation with his materials.
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Exhibition Dates & Opening Hours:
8th November - 24th November
Thursday - Sunday, 14:00 - 18:00