Installation view of Sholto Blissett: Rubicon (January 25-February 22, 2023) at Alexander Berggruen, NY.
Sholto Blissett (b. 1996, Salisbury, UK) constructs fantastical landscapes, marked by imagined monuments, topiary, and the suggestion of human presence within the natural world. They are eerie scenes suffused with the tension between human attempts to modify nature, and nature’s resistance to these contortions.
Blissett received an MA in painting from the Royal College of Art in London and a BA in Geography from Durham University in Durham, England. He is co-represented by Hannah Barry Gallery, London, UK. The artist’s work has been exhibited at Alexander Berggruen, New York, NY; Hannah Barry Gallery, London, UK; Colnaghi, London, UK; The Hole, New York, NY; The Artist Room, London, UK; Nicola Vassell, New York, NY; White Cube, London, UK; Saatchi Gallery, London, UK; L.U.P.O., Milan, IT; and Perez Projects, Berlin, GE, among others. Blissett lives and works in London, UK.
Sholto Blissett in the studio, London, UK, 2023. Photo: GH Photo Studios
SHOLTO BLISSETT: RUBICON
January 25-February 22, 2023
THE NATURAL WORLD: PART II
March 9-April 13, 2022
SHOLTO BLISSETT, EMMA FINEMAN, MADELINE PECKENPAUGH
December 10, 2021-January 22, 2022
The art magazine HypeArt for Hypebeast named Sholto Blissett an “up-and-coming artist” in their announcement of the gallery’s solo show. Zoe Leung writes: “The show is made up of an intimate collection of paintings featuring Blissett’s signature Impressionistic yet dream-like sceneries that envelop fictional monuments.”
Nature isn’t something awesome, awful, and “other”; we can’t look from a near-yet-removed precipice at it, for we are within it, together. Hence, my paintings place the manmade architectural features within the landscape by literally putting them within the painting, in the mid-ground & center. This is not to suggest that humans are the center of attention; rather, that we are subsumed by & should be working with to be part of the natural world. Indeed, despite the lavish architectural designs, “nature” is creeping in, as topiary.
I’m currently working on paintings that will be exhibited at Alexander Berggruen in New York in January 2023, this will include my largest-scale painting yet.
We are delighted to share that our exhibition Sholto Blissett, Emma Fineman, Madeline Peckenpaugh has been included in “Editors’ Picks” on Artnet News. Tanner West described the show as:
“Three contemporary artists whose work probe depictions of time and space are on view in a group show at Alexander Berggruen on Madison Avenue. Each artist’s approach to depicting environments appear to be inspired by Surrealism, with distorted landscapes and tilted perspectives that challenge the viewer.”
On the occasion of Alexander Berggruen’s exhibition Sholto Blissett: Rubicon (January 25-February 22, 2023), we are delighted to share a new editorial feature by Flora Blissett, Sholto’s sister. Flora explores Sholto’s work through an intimate lens, revealing how his interests appear in his paintings and exploring the work’s underlying metaphorical suggestions.
On the occasion of Alexander Berggruen’s two-part exhibition The Natural World, we are delighted to share a new editorial feature in which Kirsten Cave connects the works in both exhibitions and discusses the emergent themes. Driven by statements from the artists about their work, Cave acknowledges the historical condition of climate change and explores how “attitudes and approaches to The Natural World range from studies of subject matter, line, color, and form, to meditations on symbolism, history, and projection.”
On the occasion of our exhibition Sholto Blissett, Emma Fineman, Madeline Peckenpaugh (December 10, 2021-January 22, 2022), we spoke with the artists about their work.
