PROJECT SAATCHI GALLERY LA

8070 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048
17 February – 11 March 2019

BRITISH POP ARTIST PHILIP COLBERT’S FIRST U.S. SOLO SHOW ‘HUNT PAINTINGS’ AT SAATCHI GALLERY’S FIRST POP-UP EXHIBITION SPACE IN LOS ANGELES

Saatchi Gallery announce British artist Philip Colbert’s Hunt Paintings, presented by Unit London, and part of the Frieze Los Angeles Collateral programming. The exhibition is the London-based pop artist’s first solo show in America, and Saatchi Gallery’s first temporary gallery space in Los Angeles. The exhibition, curated by Sasha Craddock , will feature a series of large-scale paintings, a series of large scale sculptures, as well as a virtual reality experience, which will allow the audience to immerse themselves with Colbert’s Lobster alter ego in his World of Art. A lobster will be installed on the exterior roof, visible to all passersby on the busy street. The show will also feature a multimedia collaboration titled “Year of the Lobster” between Colbert and renowned auctioneer Simon de Pury. Presented as a satirical Pop Song crossed with an art auction, the video star’s Colbert’s alter ego Lobster. The saturation and layering is consistent with Colbert’s large paintings and reflects the advanced excesses of art, capitalism & technology in contemporary society and serves as an honest reflection of our hyper pop society.

Like British pop artists before him such as David Hockney and Derek Boshier, Colbert’s work is heavily connected to California and American pop culture, light, and landscape, as seen in the young artist’s surreal hyper pop works, which are highly influenced by the time the he spent in Joshua Tree.

The new vibrant canvases on view, including the monumental Hunt Triptych and Lion Hunt, maintain Colbert’s wildly exuberant style, while alluding to the compositions of Colbert’s artistic predecessors. Colbert’s ability to reference the epic narratives and heroic configurations of the Old Masters, from Reubens to Van Dyck, while presenting topical themes around digital media and contemporary consumer imagery, place him in a unique and influential position – from which he is simultaneously able to comment on the world around him, whilst maintaining a connection to the influence of those that have come before him.

The oil paintings challenge and toy with the viewer’s cultural vocabulary, superimposing commonplace banal objects onto painted faces and merging portraiture with popular culture in a Magritte-like fashion. Frequently narrated by the distinctive personality of Colbert’s comical lobster alter ego, he states, “I became an artist when I became a lobster.” A giant lobster figurine will feature in the Saatchi exhibition, alongside a lobster army, bringing to life Colbert’s artistic personality.

Colbert’s multidisciplinary approach, with a focus on oil painting, updates the legacy of pop art collage for the internet age, pushing the boundaries of artistic imagery and immersive experience.

Philip Colbert comments, “I am very excited to be showing for the first time in Los Angeles with Saatchi Gallery and Unit London. The time I spent in Los Angeles and Joshua Tree a few years ago had it a big impact on my creative language, which is very visible in my paintings. My new large-scale works in the show reflect the hyper saturation of our culture and our crazy, ferocious appetite for image consumption.”

Hunt Paintings marks Philip Colbert’s continued relationship with Saatchi Gallery and Unit London. Since his first Saatchi show in London over 2 years ago, Colbert’s intricate and complex works have garnered international acclaim and media coverage. In August 2018 he participated in Unit London’s iconic Looking For U Group Show, and has since held exhibitions at The Power Long Museum in Shanghai, China and MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) in Chengdu, China, Galerie Nichido in Tokyo, Japan and the Kasama Nichido Museum of Art in Kasama, Japan.

ABOUT PHILIP COLBERT

Living and working in London. Colbert is known for his multidisciplinary approach, creating a “World of Art”. Deeply entwined with pop theory, Colbert works across the mediums of painting, sculpture, clothing, furniture & design. Described as “the Godson of Andy Warhol” by Andre Leon Talley. Colbert’s large-scale oil paintings push the boundaries of contemporary narrative painting, they follow on from a dialogue established by artists such as Richard Hamilton, James Rosenquist a nd Roy Lichtenstein.

ABOUT UNIT LONDON:

Unit London remains firmly committed to its core principles that art should be celebrated, inclusive and undivided. Founded in 2013, Unit London was born from an innate desire to break down the barriers of elitism and create new innovative pathways into the contemporary art world, recognised for its pioneering approach to digital media and role in expanding and diversifying audiences using new technologies.