Bill Woodrow: Fata Morgana, Crocker Land and the Odd Superior Mirage

27 Oct-25 Nov 2017

Overview

Pippy Houldsworth Gallery is very pleased to present a solo exhibition of new works by acclaimed British artist Bill Woodrow. 

Woodrow emerged as a pivotal figure in the New British Sculpture movement of the 1980s. Following his first institutional solo show in 1972 at the Whitechapel Gallery, he went on to represent Britain at Biennales in Sydney (1982), Paris (1982, 1985) and São Paulo (1983). He was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 1986 and participated in Documenta 8, Kassel in 1987. After being elected as a Royal Academician in 2002, the artist had a retrospective at the Royal Academy, London in 2013. This will be Woodrow's first solo exhibition with Pippy Houldsworth Gallery.

In Fata Morgana, Crocker Land and the odd Superior Mirage, Woodrow explores optical phenomena that occur in the natural world. The title of the exhibition refers to an expedition from 1913 that sought to investigate an island supposedly sighted by legendary explorer Robert Peary in the Arctic. Crocker Land, named after the sponsor of Peary’s original expedition, was later found to be non-existent. Taking inspiration from these phenomena and falsehoods, Woodrow plays tricks with the viewer's perception in the exhibition. Using mirrors and feats of materiality, the artist subjects glacial landscapes to mirage-like distortion where sheets of ice and surreal objects seemingly float in mid-air. Similarly, in a new series of paintings, ships and satellites are suspended amidst aurora-filled skies.