Crean & Company
Skip to main content
  • Menu
  • Artists
  • Exhibitions
  • Press
  • About
  • Contact
Menu

Soho to Montmartre: Observations on Life: A solo show of works by Rupert Shrive

Past viewing_room
12 March - 30 April 2021
La Lune, 2020, oil on polyester, 29 x 22 cm
La Lune, 2020, oil on polyester, 29 x 22 cm

This recent collection of works by British figurative painter Rupert Shrive reflects on the artist's trajectory and the influence of his time spent living in London, Paris and Valencia. The show features a diverse range of 38 artworks, from his cross-genre paintings and landscape compositions to his new series of ‘Lockdown Lives’ – still lives animated with unusual objects – which together illustrate the evolution of Shrive's unique figurative style.

 

At the heart of Shrive’s practice is an interest in abstracting human form. His work is influenced by the School of London of the 1970s: a group of figurative painters that included David Hockney, Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon, with whom Shrive became acquainted in the pubs of Soho while a St Martins student in the 1980s. From Freud’s intense observation and Hockney’s technical experimentation, to Bacon’s breaking up and rebuilding of the subject, Shrive’s inspirations culminate in his own distinctive body of work.

 

To enjoy a virtual walkthrough of this exhibition, view here: https://emperia.gallery/CreanCompany/1/index.htm

Download Press Release
Download List of Works
  • Cross-Genre Paintings

    Primarily a painter, Shrive’s practice also encompasses sculpture and collage. For his ‘cross-genre paintings’ – first created in London in the 2000s – the artist crushes paintings into sculptures, before re-supposing them as collages or repainting them. As shown in artworks such as Self-Portrait (2020), by this process of deconstruction and reconstruction and introducing chaos to order, Shrive challenges traditional concepts of form and perspective.

     

    ‘This particular genre came about by accident,’ Shrive explains. ‘I tore up a drawing of an animal that wasn’t quite right, and as the pieces lay on the floor with the sudden appearance of something monstrous, I realised they might be rearranged to create something else. My ways of working - blurring the lines between painting, sculpture and collage - make it somewhat difficult to categorise. I’m interested in taking things further than might be expected.’

    • Rupert Shrive, Arrangement No. 6 (Visor), 2015
      Rupert Shrive, Arrangement No. 6 (Visor), 2015
    • Rupert Shrive, August Painting, 2017
      Rupert Shrive, August Painting, 2017
    • Rupert Shrive, Arrangement No. 10 (Wild Dog), 2016
      Rupert Shrive, Arrangement No. 10 (Wild Dog), 2016
    • Rupert Shrive, Year of White Rat 2020, 2020
      Rupert Shrive, Year of White Rat 2020, 2020
    • Rupert Shrive, Confinement Self Portrait, 2020
      Rupert Shrive, Confinement Self Portrait, 2020
    • Rupert Shrive, Pig and Pencil, 2020
      Rupert Shrive, Pig and Pencil, 2020
  • Urban and Landscape Compositions

    Where the School of London artists traditionally painted human form, Shrive’s recent subjects have included urban and landscape paintings inspired by his surroundings: ‘But even those I see as portraits,’ he says. From coastal views in Brittany to snowy street scenes in Montmartre (where Shrive is now based), the resulting compositions evoke a strong sense of place and the artist’s intimate association with each location. 

    • Rupert Shrive, Maison Rose, Montmartre, 2021
      Rupert Shrive, Maison Rose, Montmartre, 2021
    • Rupert Shrive, Submarine Brittany 1, 2020
      Rupert Shrive, Submarine Brittany 1, 2020
    • Rupert Shrive, Rock Face Brittany, 2020
      Rupert Shrive, Rock Face Brittany, 2020
    • Rupert Shrive, Le Rocher de Fontvieille 1, 2020
      Rupert Shrive, Le Rocher de Fontvieille 1, 2020 Sold
    • Rupert Shrive, Le Rocher de Fontvieille 2, 2020
      Rupert Shrive, Le Rocher de Fontvieille 2, 2020
    • Rupert Shrive, Year of the Ox, 2021
      Rupert Shrive, Year of the Ox, 2021
    • Rupert Shrive, Eucalyptus, 2020
      Rupert Shrive, Eucalyptus, 2020
    • Rupert Shrive, Ash Study Montmartre, 2020
      Rupert Shrive, Ash Study Montmartre, 2020
  • Tree Series

    The importance of place across Shrive’s work is particularly apparent in his striking series of fig tree works. Painted in Valencia, where the artist has lived on and off for a number of years, they variously depict the same fig tree in different angles, periods and materials including gold leaf. Imperilled by the construction of a petrol station, the fig tree in these paintings stands as a potent symbol of the constant struggle between nature and man.

  • The richness and character with which Shrive depicts the fig tree draws us into the intimacy of the scene, where...

    Rupert Shrive, Petrol Station Ficus 5 (with Dog), 2021, oil on linen, 38 ¼ x 51 1/8 in, 97 x 130 cm

    The richness and character with which Shrive depicts the fig tree draws us into the intimacy of the scene, where the buttress roots spread like fingers in cloth across the park. 

    • Rupert Shrive, Petrol Station Ficus 1, 2018
      Rupert Shrive, Petrol Station Ficus 1, 2018
    • Rupert Shrive, Petrol Station Ficus 3 (Rain), 2020
      Rupert Shrive, Petrol Station Ficus 3 (Rain), 2020
    • Rupert Shrive, Petrol Station Ficus 2 (Gold Leaf), 2020
      Rupert Shrive, Petrol Station Ficus 2 (Gold Leaf), 2020
  • Nature also provides the inspiration for the newest work in this show, the evocative Wishing Tree, painted in Derbyshire.

    Rupert Shrive, Wishing Tree, 2021, oil on linen, 51 1/8 x 76 ¾ in, 130 x 195 cm

    Nature also provides the inspiration for the newest work in this show, the evocative Wishing Tree, painted in Derbyshire.

  • 'Lockdown Lives'

    The 'Lockdown Lives' series was mostly painted from Shrive's studio in Montmartre during the Paris lockdowns in 2020. Depicting vegetables and other objects in theatrical or absurd mises-en-scène, the works reflect both the mundanity and the extraordinarness of life in confinement. 

     

    The series was partly inspired by Spanish Enlightenment painter Juan Sánchez Cotán, one of the pioneers of Spanish still lives in the 16th century, whose work features vegetables suspended mid-air in beautiful settings. Shrive's reimagining of these works projects an ironic humour onto the scene that captures the uniquely strange experience of lockdown in 2020. 

    • Rupert Shrive, Cauliflower, 2020
      Rupert Shrive, Cauliflower, 2020
    • Rupert Shrive, Ceps and Pencil, 2020
      Rupert Shrive, Ceps and Pencil, 2020
    • Rupert Shrive, Asparagus Pearls, 2020
      Rupert Shrive, Asparagus Pearls, 2020
  • 'Buying vegetables became a significant part of the day,' Shrive says. 'There weren't many places open but I still managed...

    Rupert Shrive, La Lune, 2020, oil on polyester, 11 3/8 x 8 5/8 in, 29 x 22 cm

    'Buying vegetables became a significant part of the day,' Shrive says. 'There weren't many places open but I still managed to find what I needed and as I had to spend all of my time in the studio, I started setting them up as maquettes in little theatres or mises-en-scène, to create a kind of narrative or dialogue around them - before painting them and then eating them for supper.'

    • Rupert Shrive, Gourd and Bee, 2019
      Rupert Shrive, Gourd and Bee, 2019
    • Rupert Shrive, Animal Vegetable Mineral Study, 2020
      Rupert Shrive, Animal Vegetable Mineral Study, 2020
    • Rupert Shrive, Buddha's Hand Chanel, 2020
      Rupert Shrive, Buddha's Hand Chanel, 2020
    • Rupert Shrive, Untitled Composition, 2020
      Rupert Shrive, Untitled Composition, 2020
    • Rupert Shrive, Chef After Soutine, 2020
      Rupert Shrive, Chef After Soutine, 2020
    • Rupert Shrive, Composition After Fragonard, 2020
      Rupert Shrive, Composition After Fragonard, 2020
    • Rupert Shrive, Enigma Machine, 2020
      Rupert Shrive, Enigma Machine, 2020
  • After 'Lockdown Lives'

    Testament to the artist’s ever-evolving versatility, ‘Lockdown Lives’ has prompted a new emphasis in Shrive’s work that has continued outside of the studio. The artist’s most recent compositions feature random objects and belongings thrown out by people onto the streets. These images of domestic detritus serve as a metaphor for the pared-down nature of life during the pandemic.

    • Rupert Shrive, Effets Personnels, 2020
      Rupert Shrive, Effets Personnels, 2020 Sold
    • Rupert Shrive, Rubbish Painting 4, 2020
      Rupert Shrive, Rubbish Painting 4, 2020
    • Rupert Shrive, Studio Study, 2021
      Rupert Shrive, Studio Study, 2021
    • Rupert Shrive, Rubbish Painting 3, 2020
      Rupert Shrive, Rubbish Painting 3, 2020
    • Rupert Shrive, Rubbish Painting 2, 2020
      Rupert Shrive, Rubbish Painting 2, 2020
    • Rupert Shrive, Italian Alder Study, 2020
      Rupert Shrive, Italian Alder Study, 2020
    • Rupert Shrive, Studio Wall Postcards, 2020
      Rupert Shrive, Studio Wall Postcards, 2020
    • Rupert Shrive, Two Tyres After Sargent, 2020
      Rupert Shrive, Two Tyres After Sargent, 2020

Privacy Policy

Shipping

Terms and Conditions

Instagram, opens in a new tab.
Facebook, opens in a new tab.
Join the mailing list
Manage cookies
Copyright © Crean & Company 2022
Online Viewing Rooms by Artlogic

This website uses cookies
This site uses cookies to help make it more useful to you. Please contact us to find out more about our Cookie Policy.

Manage cookies
Accept

Cookie preferences

Check the boxes for the cookie categories you allow our site to use

Cookie options
Required for the website to function and cannot be disabled.
Improve your experience on the website by storing choices you make about how it should function.
Allow us to collect anonymous usage data in order to improve the experience on our website.
Allow us to identify our visitors so that we can offer personalised, targeted marketing.
Save preferences