Living Fragments Dreaming Totality
Jonathan Callan, Ali Cherri, Marti Cormand, Fernanda Fragateiro, Orange Li, Marco Maggi, Sean Micka, Stephen Talasnik, Djamel Tatah, Michael Wang
December 18, 2024 - January 19, 2025
Born in Manchester, England in 1961, Jonathan Callan lives and works in London. Callan works with found objects and imagery, where his primary material comes mainly from books. Callan received his BA from Goldsmiths College of Art in 1984 and MA in Sculpture from Slade School of Fine Art in 1990. “Most of my work is derived from a fascination with materiality. I'm interested in fluff, dirt, and dust. I'm interested in things breaking down. I'm interested in what cannot be said but can only be shown. Most objects to me are not real until I can find what is inside. Which presents a paradox, since we can only ever see the surface of things. The real interior of any object is seen as a series of surfaces beyond, and behind which are only more interior surfaces. This is a morbid inclination. Perhaps implying that things can only be understood after having been broken down or destroyed, suggesting that the attainment of knowledge is an invasive procedure, no gaze or observation leaving its subject unmarked.” (Jonathan Callan)
Selected exhibitions include: Villa Datris Foundation for contemporary sculpture, L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, France (2020); The British Museum, London (2019); Fundació Vila Casas, Barcelona, Spain (2019); Deep Cuts: Contemporary Paper Cutting, Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire (2017); Redacted, Islip Art Museum, East Islip, NY (2014); Boghossian Foundation, Villa Empain, Brussels (2014); Wesleyan University Museum, Boston, MA (2012); Met anderen Ogen, Teylers Museum, Haarlem, Netherlands (2012); John Michael Kohler Arts Center, WI (2010); Royal Society of British Sculpture, London, UK (2010); Uncoordinated: Mapping Cartography in Contemporary Art, Contemporary Arts Center, CINCI (2008); and Fantastic, Found and Fake, Potteries Museum, England (2008). His work is included in major museum collections including: The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The British Museum, London; The Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, United Kingdom; The High Museum, Atlanta GA; The Leopold-Hoesch Museum, Duren, Germany; and Princeton University Art Museum, NJ.
