Exhibitions
Kleiner Shames ACCUMULATE
The first in a series of shows to be guest curated by Daisy Laing Gallery.
A collection of recent works - paintings, screen prints and assemblages constructed from found materials gathered over the last 10 years. An ongoing experiment with forms, shape, colour and line.
“Colour, line, shape and surface appear on the verge of reorganising themselves in Shames’ boldly abstract compositions. The artist, however, keeps these forceful ingredients in a tense equilibrium. But his audience senses that, given their chance, the elements might bolt for the edges of the panels and canvas he works on and return in an altered state, as another image. Rather than look inwards for his subject matter, Shames looks out towards the world that surrounds him and observes people interacting with their environment and the traces they leave behind. He does not feel confined to conventional places for showing or making his work. His paintings appear on gallery walls and on buildings, and even on the hull of a boat. He also makes free-standing objects and, inside or out, public or private, the setting determines how this artist wants the world to engage with him. One inspiration is music. The rhythms and tempos, tones and improvisations of many styles fascinate Shames, contributing to the kinetic spirit that fires his painter’s vision. “I listen to a lot of music. I try to listen to new stuff every time I’m in my studio working.” It has a bearing on how he paints: “I guess in my mind my paintings are complex musical fusions,” he says, “composed of a bunch of different genres and rhythms.” Equally inspirational is the fusion of skateboarding and graffiti, the subcultures that were the training ground for his visual awareness.”
Martin Holman, Art Historian and Writer
“Colour, line, shape and surface appear on the verge of reorganising themselves in Shames’ boldly abstract compositions. The artist, however, keeps these forceful ingredients in a tense equilibrium. But his audience senses that, given their chance, the elements might bolt for the edges of the panels and canvas he works on and return in an altered state, as another image. Rather than look inwards for his subject matter, Shames looks out towards the world that surrounds him and observes people interacting with their environment and the traces they leave behind. He does not feel confined to conventional places for showing or making his work. His paintings appear on gallery walls and on buildings, and even on the hull of a boat. He also makes free-standing objects and, inside or out, public or private, the setting determines how this artist wants the world to engage with him. One inspiration is music. The rhythms and tempos, tones and improvisations of many styles fascinate Shames, contributing to the kinetic spirit that fires his painter’s vision. “I listen to a lot of music. I try to listen to new stuff every time I’m in my studio working.” It has a bearing on how he paints: “I guess in my mind my paintings are complex musical fusions,” he says, “composed of a bunch of different genres and rhythms.” Equally inspirational is the fusion of skateboarding and graffiti, the subcultures that were the training ground for his visual awareness.”
Martin Holman, Art Historian and Writer
