Known for his research into colour within major urban centres, the London-based artist and writer David Batchelor presents his latest production from the ongoing series Concretos, featuring over twenty sculptures in various dimensions and materials. Entitled Transparent Things, the artist’s fifth solo exhibition at Galeria Leme opens on 5 April, at 4pm, and remains on view until 11 May, 2024.
David Batchelor first exhibited in Brazil at the 26th São Paulo Art Biennial in 2004. In the two decades since then he has returned to Brazil on many occasions and exhibited his colour-based sculpture in many venues.
Brazilian art and culture is a continual source of inspiration for Batchelor, and he has made many works in Sao Paulo and from materials found in the city. The title of his series of work presented in the exhibition is a direct reference to the Brazilian avant-garde groups of the 1950s and 1960s.
Each free-standing Concreto is made up of a brightly coloured element set into a simple rectangular block of concrete. The first of these works, from 2012, was inspired by the shards of coloured glass embedded in concrete walls that are a feature of many urban settings. Since then Batchelor has incorporated a vast range of objects and materials into this basic form, from off-cuts of Plexiglas and commercial hardware, to paint tin lids and decorative coat hangers. They also vary widely in size, from a few centimetres high to over three metres tall.
The principal subject of Batchelor’s work over the last 30 years is colour, and how it is manifested in the materials and structures of the modern city. These subjects recur in different ways and in different combinations in a wide range of sculptures, installations, paintings, drawings, photography, prints and animations.
Batchelor has also written several books and articles on colour theory. His best-known book, Chromophobia (2000: Reaktion Books, London; Senac, Sao Paulo) discusses the fear of colour that is a current in much Western philosophy since Aristotle, and evident in anglophone art history and aspects of European modernism.
In 2023 Batchelor had his first large-scale survey exhibition at Compton Verney Museum in the UK. In addition to over two hundred works spanning four decades, a new book of sculptures was also published. Titled Concretos, it shows the development of this series of works in detail and includes an essay by the artist on making art during a pandemic. The book is available to consult at Galeria Leme.
