Public Commissions
In recent years, Chris Gollon has been offered and accepted major public commissions:
Being Human
Being Human
Chris Gollon was invited by the Institute of Advanced Study, Durham University, to partake in an international research project asking the question: "What, if anything, is distinctive about being human?" This question inspired a Renaissance that made 'man' (not God) the measure of things. It has prompted many cultures to set people above animals, along with the desire to rank some categories of 'being human' over others. The 20th Century drew on ideas of progress, reason, will and consciousness to define human achievement; at the same time 'modernism' and 'modernity' are terms that name a crisis at the heart of society. That crisis is the always historically specific yet fundamental question, 'what does it mean to be human?' In fact, a quest to establish the particularity of humanity and its gradations lies at the heart of human history...
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The Stations of The Cross
The Stations of The Cross
"No scene in the history of art is more heart-rending, yet art history provides no appropriate model for a modern mother’s grief. Traditional depictions of this scene marginalize Mary. In Raphael’s The Procession to Calvary Jesus passes his mother without a glance, every ounce of his strength devoted to his struggle, while fainting Mary, supported by the Women of Jerusalem, forms a feminine subplot to the action. This will not do for a modern Mary. Modern women do not faint, and cannot be so conveniently sidelined. In Gollon’s image, for which he used his son and daughter as models, mother and son meet as partners in sacrifice; their heads, raised above their escort of Bosch-like grotesques, are almost level." Laura Gascoigne is a visual arts writer for Galleries, The Spectator, What’s On, ART Review, Royal Academy Magazine and The Tablet
Continuum Books in London & New York will be publishing award-winning novelist Sara Maitland 's book entitled 'Stations of the Cross', which is solely a book of her reflections on Chris Gollon's paintings of the Stations of the Cross. This powerful and moving series of paintings will be installed permanently in the Church of St John on Bethnal Green in spring 2009, transforming this historic church, designed by Sir John Soane and located adjacent to the Museum of Childhood, into a major visitor attraction in East London.
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Gollon At Henley
Gollon at Henley
This painting of the Henley Royal Regatta by Chris Gollon was commissioned by the River & Rowing Museum, Henley on Thames, UK. It is now part of the Museum's permanent collection, alongside Raoul Dufy's 'Regatta At Henley', and works by Whistler, Trevelyan and Piper. As you enter the Schwarzenbach International Rowing Gallery you'll see this striking contemporary painting by the entrance. Gollon researched the commission at Regatta 2007, and completed the work in early May 2008. The completed commissioned work was unveiled in the sell-out exhibition also entitled 'Gollon At Henley' at the RRM, where the silk-screen print studies, painting studies and research photographed were shown together.More...
