Approved: 03.05.2010

Carl Rowe

Artist, Lecturer / academic

Approved: 03.05.2010
 

Artist Statement

I am an artist living and working in the East of England. My visual practice is based at OUTPOST studios in Norwich, and I work part-time as Senior Research Fellow at Norwich University of the Arts. I have engaged with creative and academic projects widely in the UK and in Germany, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Canada, US, Estonia, Japan, Malaysia, and Egypt. In addition to studio production, I work on public art initiatives including billboards, print portfolios and commissions. In 2018 I was invited by the charity Hospital Rooms to make work for Woodlands Mental Health Unit at Ipswich Hospital and again in 2019 for Northside House Forensic Mental Health Unit. Recent creative workshops have been devised for Hospital Rooms, HMP Norwich, Clear Channel, Norfolk and Suffolk Secure & Forensic Services and The Restoration Trust. I am a member of OUTPOST gallery and studios, East Anglia Art Fund, and the Printmakers Council, and a trustee of Norfolk Contemporary Arts Society.

I make paintings, prints, drawings, and objects. My approach to making art sways between concept and not knowing. The subjects that I question through my creative process are diverse and include pollen, eels, scaffolds, calibrations, logos, traps, donuts, and domestic objects. Real space coexists with imaginary space in an implausible graphic paradigm. Physical things are incorporated into paintings and painted surfaces evolve into concrete objects. Colour is notable, in some works naturalistic and low key, but in others it is ramped-up to a feverish vibrancy. All of this appears within seemingly non-sensical and vexing unions. There is a strong sense of duality and unseen forces at play. Some works have no discernible subject matter, others are like signs or cyphers or warnings.

CV & Education

Exhibitions

2024

Fronteer Gallery, Sheffield (group show)

2023

Colour, Cromer Artspace, Norfolk

Holding Space, Hospital Rooms, Hauser & Wirth, London

The Assembly House Summer Open, Norwich

2022 

Mandell's Gallery Winter Exhibition, Norwich

studioUS, an Original Projects exhibition at PRIMEYARC, Great Yarmouth

2021   

Not Quite Aligned, (solo) Mandell's Gallery, Norwich

Northside House / Hospital Rooms, (group) EastGalleryNUA, including: Dexter Dalwood, Naomi Harwin, Jade Montserrat, Cara Nahaul, Richard Wentworth

Somewhere Unexpected: Norwich Castle Open, (group) Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery

The Waiting Place, (group) The Art Station, Suffolk

Territory, (group touring) The Wright Gallery, Texas A & M University, 

2020   

Colour, Printmakers Council online exhibition in conjunction with Royal Overseas League, London

Unrealised, May 2020, Group exhibition in virtual gallery PSX including: Fay Nicolson, Marcia Farquhar, Henry Jackson Newcomb, Klanghaus, Sarah Cameron, Krzysztof Fijalkowski and others. Curated by Carl Rowe. 

Essentials, April 2020, Group exhibition in virtual gallery PSX including: Richard Sawdon Smith, Martin Firrell, Cécile Pitois, Sarah Horton, Olivia Bax, Marcus Cope and others. Curated by Carl Rowe       

2019    

Hospital Rooms, Waterfront Gallery, Ipswich (with Tal Rosner, Nancy Milner, Rebecca Byrne, Nick Knight and Tim A Shaw)

Territory, (group touring) Lust and the Apple, Edinburgh (May), CLB Berlin (April)

2018    

Ecstasy in Norwich, LOWER.GREEN, Norwich

State of Print, (group touring) - Norwich (November 2018), Preston (December 2018), DCA Dundee (March 2019) Cork City Hall (June 2019)

WAC 2018 - Wells Art Contemporary, Bishop's Palace, Wells, Somerset

Cracking, Biblioteca Central, Santander, Spain

9th International Printmaking Biennial, Douro, Portugal

2017    

OUTPOST members' show, selected by Andy Holden

We Came Here to Conquer, Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery

BALLOT (touring), CIT Crawford College of Art & Design (June), Contemporary Art Museum Naples (September) Nunnsyard Gallery Norwich (October)

Rudi Dutschke, group show at Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge

3rd Global Print 2017, Douro, Portugal (August 2017)

Lasting Impressions: Selected Work from the Printmakers Council Archive, Scarborough Art Gallery 

2016   

Constellation, group show at The Undercroft, Norwich. In collaboration with Piet Zwart Institute, Netherlands

We Came Here to Conquer II, Group print exhibition, Norwich

East/West, collaborative print portfolio (curated and published by Carl Rowe) exhibited at China Academy of Arts, Hangzhou, China.

2015

Okanagan Print Triennial, British Columbia, Canada

Hidden in Plain Sight, NUA Gallery, Norwich

2014

SAVORR XII, Norwich

Jackpot, Billboard Hoarding, Nuffield Hospital Cambridge (commissioned)

We Came Here to Conquer, Norwich Arts Centre, Group print show with Adam Bridgland, Aaron Griffin, Vicki Johnson and Tazelaar Stevenson.

Barbecue, film screening at Hyde Park Art Centre, Chicago

2013

Synasthesia 3 // A Banquest for Ultra Bankruptcy, Art Laboratory Berlin, Berlin, Germany

2012

Print Odyssey, Stew Gallery, Norwich

Neo:Print Prize, Neo: Gallery, Bolton

2011

3rd Sheffield International Artist's Book Prize, Bank Street Arts, Sheffield

For Love not Money, The 15th Tallinn Print Triennial, Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn

KIWA 2011, Kyoto International Woodprint Association, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, Kyoto

2010

Global Studio, Bluecoat, Liverpool

Pipe 10, Penang International Print Exhibition, Penang Museum and Art Gallery, Malaysia

2009

Recipe Cards, street performance, In association with Asaguya College of Art and Design and Norwich University College of the Arts, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan

2008

Tempura, video, Aurora, International film festival, Norwich

Kunstwerk Bazaar, Outpost members show selected by Andrew Hunt, Outpost Gallery, Norwich

2006

Cyclone, Installation with light boxes and screenprinted floor, Hat Factory, Luton

2005

Dislocation, two-person show, Visions Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

 

Commissions, Installations, Performance and Public Works

2021  

BE, Hospital Rooms commission for Northside House, Forensic mental health unit, Norwich. https://hospital-rooms.com/northside-house

2018    

Have Strength Find Peace, Hospital Rooms commission for Woodlands mental health unit at Ipswich Hospital, https://hospital-rooms.com

?2014   

Jackpot, editioned print for Nuffield Hospital Cambridge (commissioned) in connection with billboard public art project.

2009

Recipe Cards, street performance, In association with Asaguya College of Art and Design and Norwich University College of the Arts, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan

2007   

Artwork/installation for Neutrinos video “one way kiss”, edited by Dan Tombs

2006   

Hayvend multiple, edition of 100 artworks for vending machines http://www.hayvend.com

209 shorts, 209 Radio Cambridge, http://www.209radio.co.uk

2005   

Future FM Radio, http://www.futurefmradio.co.uk/

Web work to coincide with Dislocation, Tokyo.

2003   

Virgin CD Gallery. Exhibition of multiples in CD boxes, Virgin Megastore, Norwich.

Talk Portfolio of prints published through Norwich School of Art and Design.

2002   

Postcards from the Coast Lowtide 2002. International ecology awareness event.

 Currency Portfolio of prints published through Norwich School of Art and Design

2000   

Splash Zone, installation, Coastal Currents Festival, Hastings.

Lowtide 2000, Beach project, Hastings.

 

Published Work

2013  

12, portfolio of prints by staff and students from Norwich University of the Arts, Published at IMPACT 8: Borders and Crossings: The Artist as Explorer International Multi-Disciplinary Printmaking Conference 2013

2009  

8 Ways to Cook the Books, 20 page artist’s book published in an edition of 50. Launched at Impact 6, Bristol and available from http://www.carlrowe.co.uk

Market, collaborative portfolio of prints by staff and students from Norwich University College of the Arts and Boston University, USA. Edited by Carl Rowe and Professor Deborah Cornell.

8 Ways to Cook the Books: Art, Food and Politics. Paper delivered at Impact Conference, Bristol, September 2009.

2007   

Evolution, collaborative portfolio of prints by staff and students from Norwich School of Art & Design, California State University, USA and Asagaya College of Art & Design, Tokyo. Conceived and edited by Carl Rowe.

2005   

Context, (printed multiple) published by Original Projects at Outpost Gallery, Norwich. Exhibited at ‘Publish and be Damned’.

2003   

Nursing the Artist in the UK, essay in catalogue for Robin Blackledge's residency and commission for Norfolk & Norwich NHS University Hospital.

 

Published Academic Papers

2013   

EASTprint IMPACT 8: Borders and Crossings: The Artist as Explorer International Multi-Disciplinary Printmaking Conference 2013

A Banquet for Ultra Bankruptcy: Desire*Flow*Inhibit, Essay and text written to accompany the performance and installation at the Arts Laboratory Berlin March 2013 http://www.artlaboratory-berlin.org/

2011   

8 Ways to Cook the Books: Art Politics and Food, Paper written for Impact 7 International Printmaking Conference September 2011 http://impact7.org.au/

 

Reviews and Catalogues

2011  

Kaljula, L., For Love Not Money p353 ISBN 978-9949-21-547-8, Tallinn, 2011

2010   

Rahman, A M., Pipe 10 p76 ISBN 978-983-42376-4-6, Malaysia, 2010

Griffin, J,. Global Studio http://www.a-n.co.uk/interface/reviews/single/626390

2004  

Chetcuti, M., Salthouse 04 Crossing The line, Norwich 2004

Leeming, C., Domestic Haz-Chem a-n 2004 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/article/133837

 

Qualifications

BA Honours Fine Art                  Manchester Polytechnic 1984

MA Fine Art                               Manchester Polytechnic 1985

Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy UK

 

Employment

Norwich University of the Arts. http://www.nua.ac.uk

 

Memberships

Norwich Outpost Gallery. Artist member http://www.norwichoutpost.org/

Axis web. Artist member http://www.axisweb.org/

Printmakers Council

Bloc Projects