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Biography

 

Andy Bannister lives and works in London. He studied fine art at Nottingham Polytechnic and completed the MA Sculpture course at Chelsea College of Art in 1992. Shortly after graduating his work was selected for the 1993 BT New Contemporaries exhibition and included in the influential ‘Institute of Cultural Anxiety’ exhibition at the ICA, London in 1994. Since then he has exhibited widely in the UK and abroad. He has worked in higher education since 1993 and is currently a Senior Tutor at City & Guilds of London Art School. In 2023, he became a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors.

Statement

My current practice investigates the impact of science and technology on culture and society during the second half of the twentieth century through to the present day. An ongoing series of highly detailed pencil drawings- including the works Fermi/Chicago '42, ROC Post '64 and Blockade/Upper Heyford '82- involves the careful reworking of images and documents that correspond to developments within atomic science and the threat of nuclear confrontation; in meticulously recreating and modifying these images, I explore their latent meanings and the nature of the events and artefacts that they depict.

 

The mixed media installation work Final Day 1980:2016 relates to the escalation of the nuclear threat during the early 1980's, a period of global tension which has been referred to as the 'Second Cold War'. The piece comprises a number of elements- a detailed scale model of the above-ground structures of an ROC (Royal Observer Corps) underground nuclear monitoring post; a video, shot from inside a decommissioned bunker comprising cross-faded still images of the sky, representing the course of a single day; an audio recording of a musical composition based on the notes that make up the short instrumental section from the 1980 song 'Final Day' by the band Young Marble Giants; and a framed photographic close-up of the label of the 7" EP single on which the song appears.

 

The song in question was released in June 1980- the same month that the British government revealed its plans to store the first US nuclear cruise missiles on British soil, at the RAF bases at Greenham Common and Molesworth in Cambridgeshire. The track can be seen as a response from within British independent music culture to the increased possibility of nuclear confrontation between the two global superpowers during this time. The new composition that it inspired resembles an extended two-part 'round' or plainsong, in instrumental form; combined with the other components in the work it suggests either peace or oblivion, or both.

 

Other works- including the digital drawings/giclee prints Gemini/Kettering '71 and Delta/Thetford '83- are informed by my research into the play structures that furnished the recreation areas of British towns and cities from the 1960’s through to the 1980’s. The designs of these artefacts reflect the optimism of the times in which they were created- an era epitomised by the space race, the moon landings and colour television. Most of these structures have now vanished, superseded by newer (and arguably safer) designs, while some continue to exist as deteriorating relics of this earlier age. I see my works as an exploration of the gradual disappearance of these objects and a meditation on their persistence, both in consciousness and actuality.

 

CV

Education

 

1991-1992         

Fine Art M.A. (Sculpture), Chelsea College of Art and Design

1987-1990         

Fine Art B.A. [Hons], Nottingham Polytechnic

One person exhibitions

2018

'Surface to Air', Turner Sims, University of Southampton

           

2001                

METAFORA project space, Barcelona, Spain

1993              

the agency, London

Selected group exhibitions

2023

'Next:Previous', Gerald Moore Gallery, Mottingham, London

2022

Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2022 exhibition. National tour during 2022-3- various venues including Trinity Buoy Wharf, London; Willis Museum and Sainsbury Gallery; ArtHouse Jersey. Selected by Lucy Byatt, Danie Mellor, Isabel Seligman

2018

Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2018 exhibition. National tour during 2018-19- various venues including Trinity Buoy Wharf, London; the Gallery at AUB, Bournemouth; Royal Drawing School, London; Drawing Projects UK, Trowbridge; Chapel Gallery, Ormskirk. Selected by Megan Piper, Nigel Hall and Dr. Chris Stephens

 

'New Relics', Thames Side Studios Gallery, London

 

2017

Jerwood Drawing Prize 2017 exhibition. National tour during 2017-18- various venues including Jerwood Space, London; Edge Gallery, Bath; Vane Gallery, Newcastle. Selected by David Dibsosa, Helen Legg and Michael Simpson.

2016

Propeller Foundry Open Studio, Childer's Street, London

           

2007                

‘Distance’, APT Gallery, Deptford, London

‘Notting Heaven’, Sartorial Contemporary, London

2006                

‘Requiem’, St. Anselm’s Church, Kennington, London

‘Obsession’, Sartorial Contemporary, London

2004                

'Marks in Space: Drawing and Sculptural Form', Usher Gallery, Lincoln

2000                

‘Snowballing’, at Arthur. R. Rose (gallery), London and The Henry Moore Institute (gallery), Leeds

1999                

‘Andrew Bannister- Sharon Kivland- Nicolas Rieben’, Centre d'art Contemporain de Rueil-Malmaison, Paris

‘A Distortion of Memory on the Acropolis’, Centre for Freudian Analysis and Research, London

‘Passion’, Gasworks gallery, London

‘10 x 10-5 m/sec’, Standpoint Gallery, London

‘Nerve’, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London

‘Artists from Nottingham Trent University’, Boots D90 building, Nottingham

‘Dot’, 5 Teesdale Yard (project/studio space), London

 

1998                

‘Grey Area’, Bonington Gallery, Nottingham

Whitechapel Open exhibition, The Tannery, London

(Selected by Julian Opie, Lucia Noguiera and Felicity Lunn)     

 

1997                

‘Visitor', Staffordshire University (various sites on university campus), Stoke-on-Trent

‘Drone’, Kingsgate Gallery, London

 

1996                

‘Whitechapel Open exhibition’, Commercial Too, London. Selected by Richard Wentworth, Alison Wilding and Keith Ball

'SAD', Gasworks Gallery, London 'Quarterlight', (Public Project), Upper rooms at Site Gallery, Sheffield

 

1995                

‘Sculpture and Drawing Biennale’, Caldas Da Rainha, Portugal

'SMART SHOW' (art fair), Stockholm (with the agency, London)

 

1994                

'The Institute of Cultural Anxiety: Works from the Collection' (curated by Jeremy Millar), Institute of Contemporary Arts, London*'Turning Up', at 'The View' (warehouse/project space), Gostins Building, Liverpool, Organised by F.A.T., B*sk, and Hales Gallery, London

'Miniatures', the agency (gallery), London

'FEED', Quicksilver place gallery space, Middlesex University

 

1993-4              

British Telecom New Contemporaries National Touring Exhibition (selected by Caroline Russell, Willie Doherty, Stuart Morgan). Cornerhouse, Manchester; Orchard Gallery, Derry; Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield; Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow

'Adsite', Public Project organised by FAT, various locations in Central London

 

1992                

'Into the Nineties #4', Mall Galleries, London

'Fresh Art 92', Business Design Centre, London

 

1991                

'Seen and Not Heard', Angel Row Gallery Touring exhibition

 

Curatorial projects

                       

2007                

‘Distance’ , APT Gallery, London. Works by Mark Riley, Candice Jacobs, Tom Godfrey, Judith Dean, Sean Cummins, Andrew Bannister

1998                

‘Grey Area' at Bonington Gallery, Nottingham. Works by Mike Nelson, Phillip Lai and Andrew Bannister

 

Press coverage/reviews

 

1999                

Christian Gattinoni, article on exhibition at Centre d'Art Contemporain de Rueil-Malmaison, Paris, Arts Croises (magazine), issue no 11 [April-May]

 

1998                

Dawn Fulcher, article on 'Grey Area', Contemporary Visual Arts issue no. 17

Robert Clark, article on 'Grey Area', The Guardian (north guide) [10.1.98]

 

1997                

Padraig Timoney, review of 'Visitor', Frieze [November-December]

 

1996               

Carl Freedman, review of 'Whitechapel Open' exhibition,The Guardian [30.7.96]

Martin Coomer, review of 'Whitechapel Open' exhibition, Time Out [14.8.96]

Wayne Burrows, article on 'Quarterlight' exhibition, Sheffield, The Big Issue [25.11.96]

 

1995                

Simon Grant, review of 'The Institute of Cultural Anxiety' exhibition, Art Monthly [February]

Stuart Morgan, 'The Future's Not What It Used To Be', feature on ICA exhibition, Frieze [March-April]

 

1994

Sarah Kent, review of 'The Institute of Cultural Anxiety' exhibition, Time Out [19.12.94]

 

1993

Andrew Graham-Dixon, review of BT New Contemporaries, The Independent  [22.6.93]

Lynn McRitchie, review of BT New Contemporaries, Financial Times [2.7.93]

Tania Guha, review of one person exhibition at the agency, Time Out [7.9.93]

 

Publications and catalogues relating to exhibitions/projects

 

2004                

'Marks in Space: Drawing and Sculptural Form'. Includes essays by Judith Mottram and Alain Ayers. Published by Usher Gallery, Lincoln

 

2000                

Publication accompanying ‘Snowballing’ exhibition, Arthur R.Rose, London and Henry Moore Institute, Leeds

‘In the Place of an Object’, publication documenting the 1998-9 programme of exhibitions at the Centre for Freudian Analysis and Research, London (which included ‘A Distortion of Memory on the Acropolis’)

 

1999                

‘Andrew Bannister’; publication accompanying the exhibition ‘Andrew Bannister- Sharon Kivland- Nicolas Rieben’. Published by Centre d’Art Contemporain de Rueil-Malmaison, Paris, France.

Includes essay by Alex Coles                                

Publication accompanying ‘Nerve’ exhibition at ICA, London. Includes essay by Dave Beech

 

1997                

‘Quarterlight’; publication documenting public projects in Sheffield. Includes essays by Isabel Vasseur and Tim Etchells. Published by Workstation, Sheffield

 

1995                

Publication for Drawing and Sculpture Biennale, Caldas da Rainha, Portugal

 

1994               

Publication forThe Institute of Cultural Anxiety exhibition, ICA, London. Includes essay by Francis McKee. Published by ICA

 

1993                

Publication for BT New Contemporaries 92-93 exhibition. Includes essay by Stuart Morgan. Published by BT New Contemporaries, London

 

Own published writing

 

2004                

Review of 'Transmission: Speaking and Listening Volume 2', edited by Sharon Kivland and Lesley Sanderson, published by Sheffield Hallam University, in a-n magazine, March 2004 (p. 7)

 

Text contribution to publication accompanying 'Cleave' exhibition by Sean Cummins at the Economist Building, London

 

Published interview 

 

2011                

Transcript of Sarah Rowles’ interview with Andy Bannister in '11 Course leaders, 2 Questions: Where in art education does the education take place?' (Book published by Q-Art, 2011)  

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