Nathan Eastwood

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(b. 1972 in Barrow-in-Furness, England) lives and works in London.

 

2008 - 09   MA Fine Art, Byam Shaw School of Fine Art, (CSM), London, UK

2001 - 05   BA (Hons) Fine Art, Kent Institute of Art & Design, Canterbury, UK - (First Class)

 

 

Solo Exhibitions

 

2017 

My England, Sid Motion Gallery, London  

 

2016

Laptop & Chips, SE9 Container Gallery, London

 

2014    

Work/Recreation/Freedom, Nunnery Gallery, London

Domestic Realism, (CBP) Crypt St Marylebone Parish Church, London  

 

Selected Group Exhibitions

 

2019

Made in Britain: 82 Painters of the 21st Century, the National Museum in Gdańsk Poland

Curated by, Robert Priseman, Anna McNay, Małgorzata Taraszkiewicz-Zwolicka and Małgorzata Ruszkowska-Macur

 

2018

Contemporary Masters from Britain, Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts Museum, Tianjin, China,

80 works of art selected from the Priseman Seabrook Collection of 21st Century British Painting

1 December 2017 – 10 January

 

2017

The Long Count, Von Goetz Art (group show curated by Von Goetz Art, Mayfair, London  

Contemporary Masters from Britain, Jiangsu Art Museum, Nanjing, China Contemporary Masters from Britain 80 works of art selected from the Priseman Seabrook Collection of 21st Century British Painting, 29th – 16th November

 

Contemporary Masters from Britain, Jiangsu Art Museum, Nanjing China, 80 works of art selected from the Priseman Seabrook Collection of 21st Century British Painting, 24th – 31st October

Contemporary Masters from Britain, Jiangsu Arts and Crafts Museum Artall, Nanjing China 80 works of art selected from the Priseman Seabrook Collection of 21st Century British Painting, 10th – 23rd October

Contemporary Masters from Britain, The Yantai Art Museum Yantai China, 80 works of art selected from the Priseman Seabrook Collection of 21st Century British Painting, 7th July - 3rd August

Silence Un-scene, Arthouse Lewisham, London

Contemporary Masters from the East of England, 36 works drawn from the collection of 21st Century British Painting, focusing on the East of England, The Cut Halesworth Suffolk, 25th April - 27th May

 

2016

Aviary, Transition Gallery, London, UK

Selected Works from the Priseman Seabrook Collection, The Minories, Colchester, UK

 

2015

London Painting Survey, Blackhorse Lane, Studios, London, UK

Anti-Social Realism, Charlie Smith Gallery, London, UK

Documentary Realism: Painting in the Digital Age, the Crypt at St Marylebone, London< UK

Present Tense: The Swindon Collection, Swindon Museum and Art Gallery, UK

 

2014

@PaintBritain, Ipswich Museum

Priseman-Seabrook Collection, Huddersfield Art Gallery, UK

Towards a New Socio-Painting, Transition Gallery, London, UK

Prize winner: The East London Painting Prize, The Nunnery Gallery, Bow Road, London, UK

Signal Over Noise / Don’t Split the Focus, Walthamstow E17, London UK

This Year’s Model, Studio1.1′s, Shoreditch, London, E2, UK  

 

2013 

Contemporary British Painting, the Crypt at St Marylebone, London

Zeitgeist Arts Projects, ASC Studios, London (On-line catalogue)

Threadneedle Prize, (finalist) Mall Galleries, London (On-line catalogue)

Royal Academy Summer Show, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK

 

2012

John Moores Painting Prize, (finalist) Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK

Occupied Realism, Portman Gallery, E2 0PX London  

 

2011

Platform C’s Emergent Art Show, Vyner Street Gallery, Vyner Street, London

 

2010

Artworks Open 2010, Barbican Arts Group Trust, E17, London

 

2009

17 Ingredients Measures of Autonomy, Studio One, London

 

Awards/Prizes

 

2014   East London Painting Prize - inaugural winner

2013   The Threadneedle Prize - shortlisted

2012   John Moores Painting Prize – shortlisted

2008   South Square Trust Scholarship, Masters Scholarship at Byam Shaw School of Art

2005   Award: Outstanding Achievement in Fine Art, BA (Hons) Fine Art

 

Collections

 

Yale Centre for British Art

Zabludowicz Collection, London

Goldhill Family, London

The Priseman-Sea Brook Collection

Swindon Museum and Art Gallery

 

Talks

 

2017   Artists’ Talk: Silence Un-scene, chaired by Nicholas Balmfort, speakers: Nathan Eastwood | Hannah Brown | Marguerite Horner | Rob Reed, Arthouse Lewisham, London  

2017   Artist Talk: in conversation with Matt Price (an independent art publisher, editor and curator) My England, Sid Motion Gallery, London  

2017   Artist Talk: chaired by Matthew Krishanu, Contemporary British Painting Friends Programme, My England, Sid Motion Gallery, London    

2014   Artist Talk: in conversation with Matt Price (an independent art publisher, editor and curator), Work/Recreation/Freedom, The Nunnery Gallery, Bow Road, London, UK

2014   Artists’ Talk: Towards a New Socio-Painting  chaired by Alex Michon, Speakers: Nathan Eastwood, Paul O ‘Kane, George Vasey, David Tucker, Transition Gallery, London

2014   Artists’ Talk: Showing Painting, with Katrina Blannin, Nathan Eastwood, Stephanie Moran, The Nunnery, London

2009   Artists’ Talk: Who is Art For? Chaired by Brian Putnam, Speakers: Mick Finch | Andrew McGettigan | Nick Lambrianou | Adam Knight, Byam,   Shaw School of Art (CSM) London,

 

PUBLICATIONS

 

2019   Made in Britain, group exhibition catalogue, National Museum, Gdansk, Poland  

2018   The Anomie Review of Contemporary British Painting, Edited by Matt Price, Published by Anomie

2017   Contemporary Masters from the East of England (Priseman-Seabrook Collection group exhibition catalogue), The Cut,

2017   The Yantai Art Museum, Yantai, China Contemporary Masters from Britain 80 works of art selected from the Priseman Seabrook Collection of 21st Century British Painting

 

2015   Contemporary Art’s Hottest Talent, The Angel resident magazine, January 2015, Issue 28

2015   The Angel resident magazine

2014   Work/Recreation/Freedom, The Nunnery (exhibition catalogue)

2014   Priseman-Seabrook Collection of 21st Century British Painting, ISBN 1514186772

2014   Domestic Realism, Garageland,17: Society, Transition Gallery, London (UK)

2014   East London Painting Prize (exhibition catalogue)

2012   John Moores Painting Prize (exhibition catalogue)

 

 

 

 

 

It was during my Masters Degree that I reached a conceptual point where I felt that the correct procedure in my development was to empty out my art practice off all existing references to the real world.  This was a time of de-cluttering and purging and reducing my paintings to a minimal monochromatic object.  The painted monochromatic object and its relationship to the exhibition space became my preoccupation.  The use of measurements bridged the gap between painted object and exhibition space.  The painted monochromatic object and its relationship to the exhibition space became my preoccupation; the use of measurements bridged the gap between painted object and exhibition space.  The exhibition space and monochromatic painting object became overtly dependent on each other (symbiotic).  I was making for the space; measurements were the backbone to the works structure.  The artists I was examining at the time were, Agnes Martin, Alan Charlton, Gunter Umberg, Gerhard Merz, Mel Bochner, Gerhard Richter and Kazimir Malevich.  For my MA dissertation I wrote about the author’s book Non-Place by Marc Augé.

 

After spending time making painted monochromes, or oil on graph paper for example I realised that the art works became too heavily dependent on the exhibition space and the language of measurements.  The art works could not function without being considered in relation to the architecture of the exhibiting space; this dependency became its limitation.  A dilemma surfaced. This dilemma, forced me to ask myself; what kind of painter (artist) did I want to be; a minimalist or figurative painter?  How could I extend my interests in the minimalist aesthetic, but still be able to evade the possibility of burying myself in an overtly academic, formalistic aesthetic?  How could I return to the realist model, representing social realities?  

 

This critical question provided my art practice with a new starting point for a new artistic and conceptual direction.  This dilemma within my practice required an artistic and conceptual re-invention in order for my practice to develop.  I realised that I needed to consolidate all my experiences into a new painting practice.  What I wanted to do was to make paintings that kept the minimal aesthetic but paint real life and maintain a reductionist pellet.  New questions surfaced; what should my subject be?  What do we mean by the term ‘real’?  The ‘real’ here, for me, is the actual social sites; social relations; social existence, the politics of everyday life.  Today my intention is to, ultimately, make a contemporary ‘Kitchen Sink’ painting; one which has its roots in photo-real painting; a minimal greyscale aesthetic operating and within the objective language social realism.”  

 

As a conceptual framework I will here refer to Georg Lukacs whom states “The inner truth of the works of the great realists rests on the fact that they arise from life itself, that their artistic characteristics are reflections of the social structures of the life lived by the artist himself”  

 

Statement

Biography