Untitled

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

This collage comprises fragments of cut-out images of faces and the body; they are set against images of brick-work and a residential building. Taken together they might convey to the viewer fleeting and fragmented impressions around living, and inhabiting an inner-city housing block. The artist Donald Rodney, rose to prominence as a leading figure of Britain’s The Blk Art group. Founded to create a platform for young black artists in the UK in 1982, a time when few such spaces existed, the group launched the careers of many artists who have gone on to become household names. Rodney himself suffered from sickle cell anaemia his whole life, using this disease and its symptoms as a metaphor in his work to explore ideas of black emasculation, identity, racial stereotyping and societal issues around, and beyond, racial discrimination. He lived on a council estate in London and due to his illness was confined to his home for extended periods of time. Rodney died of the disease aged just 36 and is recognised as one of the most innovative artists of his generation.

Donald Rodney (1961-1998) rose to prominence as a leading figure of Britain's The Blk Art Group. This was founded to create a platform for young black artists in the UK in 1982, a time when few such spaces existed. He studied at the Bourneville School of Art and Trent Polytechnic, Nottingham, going on to a Postgraduate Diploma in Multi-Media Fine Art at Slade School of Fine Art in London. Solo exhibitions of his work have been held at Celine gallery as part of the Glasgow Festival in 2021; Vivid Projects, Birmingham (2016); Iniva, London (2008); South London Gallery (1997); Camerawork, London (1991); and Rochdale Art Gallery(1990). Group exhibitions of his work include Civic Duty, Cell Project Space, London (2019); The Place is Here, Nottingham Contemporary (2017); Trophies of Empire, Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol (1992); and An Exhibition of Radical Black Art: The BLKArt Group, Battersea Art Centre, London (1984).

Places

Subjects

brick, cat, eye, human figure, tower block, brick wall

Materials & Techniques

mixed media (art material), paper (as artists material), collage, paper collage

Artist

Donald Rodney (1961 - 1998)

Title

Untitled

Date

1994

Medium

Paper, mixed media, magazines

Acquisition

Purchased from Institute of Visual Arts, London UK, April 2019

GAC number

18803