Fiona Curran (b.1971 Manchester) read Philosophy at the University of Manchester before studying at Manchester School of Art and the Slade School of Fine Art, she teaches at the Royal College of Art in London and works from her studio at Wysing Arts Centre in Cambridge.
An interest in the poetics and the politics of landscape space is central to Curran’s practice. Her works explore notions of landscape space and landscape time, once measured through the impact of natural cycles and planetary shifts, now equally measured through digital time and the patterns of invisible algorithms. Images are collaged and fragmented, materials are layered. There is a strong tactile element at play that both mimics and counters the saturated spaces of screen technologies with their heightened colour and sleek, luminous surfaces. Curran’s practice reveals a recurring utopian impulse, formal idealism and sense of escapism, frequently referencing ‘natural’ forms, patterns and materials from the applied and decorative arts alongside historical botanical specimens. There is however, no easy flight to the pastoral as landscape fragments are reproduced as facsimiles and natural motifs are obscured or become ghost-like presences against heightened coloured grounds. Curran works with a range of media across painting, textiles and installation, often deploying slow and laborious handmade processes that mark longer durations of time and loss in the midst of an accelerated present.
Curran has also produced a number of temporary public art commissions in the UK. These works extend the artist’s practice into the physical landscape and reflect on notions of heritage as an ongoing and contested project of inheritance where the past might be reclaimed and reimagined.
2021 | Jump Cut, Still Life, solo exhibition at Broadway Gallery, Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire |
Bright Shadows Point, permanent public art commission with the Contemporary Art Society for Edyn at Eddington, Cambridge. | |
2018 | Your sweetest empire is to please, Commission for Newcastle University and the National Trust as part of the AHRC funded research project: Mapping Contemporary Art in the Heritage Experience for Gibside, Gateshead |
2016 | The Grass Seemed Darker than Ever, Commission for Kielder Art and Architecture, Kielder Forest, Northumberland |
2013 | Beach Fatigue, solo exhibition at Carslaw St*Lukes, London |
2012 | An accident looking for somewhere to happen, Commission for Locws International, Art Across the City, Swansea |
A Delicious Garden, Commission for The Crafts Council and Bexleyheath Development Trust for The Yellow Wallpaper at Danson House, Bexleyheath | |
Waiting for The Perfect View, solo exhibition at Touchstones, Rochdale Art Gallery, Greater Manchester | |
2010 | This time next year things are going to be different, Commission for Parabola for the Tatton Park Biennial, Tatton Park, Cheshire |
Too Many Waterfalls, solo exhibition at Hive Gallery, Barnsley, Yorkshire | |
Assembly, solo exhibition at Chapter Gallery, Cardiff | |
2009 | The world seen from inside, Commission for Vital Arts for The Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel, London |
2007 | Notes on camouflage, solo exhibition, Cornerhouse Projects, Manchester |
The world is larger in summer, solo exhibition, MAC, Birmingham |
2020 | The Poetics of Place, UHArts, Hertfordshire |
Dance First, Think Later, General Practice, Lincoln | |
Enough is Definitely Enough, Oceans Apart Gallery, Salford | |
2019 | The Cambridge Show, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge |
Out of Place, Hatton Gallery, Newcastle | |
Parade, Broadway Gallery, Letchworth Garden City | |
Enough is Definitely Enough, General Practice, Lincoln | |
2018 | Resistant Materials, M100, Odense, Denmark and Sluice Exchange, Berlin |
Everything, Assembly Point, London | |
Paper Cuts - Kristian Day, Saatchi Gallery, London | |
2017 | Exeter Contemporary Open, Phoenix Gallery, Exeter |
Creekside Open Part 2 (Selected by Alison Wilding, RA), A.P.T Gallery, London | |
Love, Peace and Happiness, Kristian Day, London | |
2016 | MA/MFA/PhD Show, Slade School of Fine Art, London |
Other, Royal College of Art, London | |
2015 | No Matter, New Matter, Ed.Varie, New York |
Signal Failure (Squared), Safe House, London | |
Promise of Palm Trees, Breese Little, London | |
Finite Project Altered When Open, David Dale Gallery, Glasgow | |
Mostyn Open 19, Oriel Mostyn, Llandudno | |
2014 | Situation, RMIT, Melbourne, Australia |
Detail, H Projects, Bangkok, Thailand Transition Gallery, London Usher Gallery, Lincoln |
|
Interchange Junctions, Howick Place, London | |
2013 | Riff, Baltic39, Newcastle |
Signal Failure, Legion TV, London | |
Easy Does It, David Dale Gallery, Glasgow | |
Aid and Abet, Cambridge | |
Supercollider, Blackpool | |
2012 | Untitled, Miami with Carslaw St*Lukes |
Crocodiles With A Second Skin Thrash, Over + Out Gallery, Lincoln | |
Making Space, The Slade School of Fine Art Research Centre, London | |
2011 | Translate/Transcribe, Central House of Artists, Moscow, Russia. |
We are all in this together, Bureau, Manchester | |
Surplus To Requirements? The Slade School of Fine Art Research Centre, London | |
London Art Fair Projects, The Florence Trust | |
2010 | Tatton Park Biennial, Tatton Park, Cheshire |
Saatchi Northern Stars, The Blade Factory, A Foundation, Liverpool | |
Guasch-Coranty International Painting Prize, Centro de Arte Tecla Sala, Barcelona. | |
Paint, Beldam Gallery, Brunel University, London | |
London Art Fair with Paul Stolper Gallery | |
2009 | Fringe MK Painting Prize, Middleton Hall, Milton Keynes |
Pairs, Paul Stolper Gallery, London | |
Coller-Elective, Arena Gallery, Liverpool | |
Creekside Open Part 1 (Selected by Jenni Lomax), A.P.T Gallery, London | |
London Art Fair with Paul Stolper Gallery | |
2008 | Future 50, Project Space, Leeds |
Swap/Vaihto, Bureau, Manchester and The Cable Factory, Helsinki |
Tate, Liverpool | |
University of Leeds | |
University of the Creative Arts, Farnham | |
University of the Creative Arts, Canterbury | |
Newcastle University | |
MACBA, Barcelona | |
Goldsmiths, University of London | |
Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg | |
Central St.Martins, London | |
RMIT, Melbourne | |
The University of Westminster, London | |
The Bartlett School of Architecture, London | |
Parsons New School of Design, New York | |
Plymouth College of Art | |
The University of Oxford |
The University of Hertfordshire (UHArts) Paintings in Hospitals Manchester Art Gallery Brunel University The Royal London Hospital |