Striking new exhibition at River & Rowing Museum
21 April 2008
A striking new exhibition about the pain of being beaten in competition is coming to the The River & Rowing Museum, Henley-on-Thames 10 May – 6 July 2008. Gollon at Henley, by leading British artist Chris Gollon, is the first artistic study of the Henley Royal Regatta to explore defeat.
The exhibition is centred around the major work, Gollon at Henley, commissioned by the River & Rowing Museum. Gollon will use his fascination with tragi-comedy, the grotesque and absurd to portray the pain of losing. The work Gollon at Henley juxtaposes a defeated rower against the colourful Regatta crowd indifferent to his pain. The painting, together with the exhibition’s other works will be revealed for the first time at the River & Rowing Museum. Gollon’s silkscreen prints will be for sale in the Museum shop.
Gollon accepted the River & Rowing Museum’s commission to produce Gollon At Henley after learning about the ‘winner takes all’ aspect of the Regatta. Only one team wins and there are no medals for second or third place. He was interested in how this would enable him to explore defeat in sport.
Following its display at the Museum, the exhibition will tour the USA after which the main work ‘Gollon at Henley’ will return to the River & Rowing Museum for permanent display. The work will be hung beside the famous French artist Raoul Dufy’s work Regatta at Henley (circa 1930). Dufy’s Fauvist style of strident colours, simplification and abstraction is in marked contrast to Gollon’s physical approach to painting. Visitors will be able to contrast two very different artistic interpretations of the Regatta painted almost a century apart.
Gollon at Henley is sponsored by Beefeater Gin and the American Friends of the River & Rowing Museum.
The Henley Royal Regatta will be held from 2 - 6 July 2008.
The exhibition includes a large diptych used by the artist to create the final work Gollon at Henley. The study colourfully depicts a very British sporting scene, but with tragic comedy and absurdity. The left hand canvas shows women either crying or indifferent to the losing crew shown in the right hand panel. The rowers, mournful and shocked in defeat stare at the crowd and out of the painting, their limbs grotesquely massive and heavy. One rower’s hand reaches off the canvas, towards the crowd as if seeking reassurance and help. In the foreground, ‘drunken’ champagne glasses touch each other and make a small still life within the work, hinting at a human drama beyond the canvas.
Gollon visited the Regatta in 2007 taking photographs and making sketches. He focused on the body language of rowers; the elation of victory and draining emotion of defeat. He was interested in how all energy instantly leaves a losing crew; their limbs become heavy and limp. He was struck by how this drama is played out in front of acolourfulcrowd often seemingly unaware of the losing crew. The crowd’s jollity seemed to add a further poignancy to the weight and sadness of defeat.
The River & Rowing Museum, with the aid of the Victoria & Albert Museum, purchased Gollon’s hinged triptych Big Fish Eat Little Fish, for its permanent collection in 2001.
Gollon’s work has been exhibited internationally including five solo museum shows. Gollon is one of very few living artists to be commissioned by the Church of England to paint the Stations of The Cross. His work was unveiled on Good Friday 2008 in The Church of St John on Bethnal Green. Gollon’s new film installation ‘Kaleidomorphism’ will be premiered at the East End Film Festival on April 18 2008. Chris Gollon is represented by IAP Fine Art, London, www.iapfineart.com.
Entrance to the River & Rowing Museum is from £3.50 for adults and £2.50 for children. Each ticket is valid for 12 months free access to the Museum.
Paul Mainds, Trustee & Chief Executive, River & Rowing Museum,said:“For each Henley winner there are many more losers. In choosing Chris for this commission we were looking for someone who would really ignore the traditional jolliness and strawberries of so many Henley paintings and look at the very heart of the matter.”
I wanted Chris to explore what is going on in that lonely moment when defeat ends a season's training. The emotion of losing and the bitterness of defeat are feelings that bind athletes and fans together, and something to which we can all relate. Chris' work is powerful and evocative; I am sure that it will inspire audiences to think about sporting success and defeat.“
Nick Blacknell, Brand Director for Beefeater Gin, said: "As a long-term sponsor of the Boat Race through the 80's and 90's Beefeater has always had a close association with rowing. We’re delighted to be able to continue this association and sponsor this remarkable new commission. Gollon has dramatically captured the drama of competition and we look forward to a successful showing in the USA later this year.”
Chris Gollon said: “I am fascinated about human endeavor and the effort required to be the best. Of course there is a flip side, and this is losing. The pain of not reaching one’s goals is something we can all relate to. In a physical sport like rowing the heaviness and loneliness of defeat is touching. I was taken by the drama of the competition, the determination and brutal effort to win, quickly followed by the sharpness of losing. This is what I’ve tried to capture in my paintings.”