Toby Paterson
‘Generosity’
April 22 thru June 17, 2007
Opening hours: Wednesday thru Sunday 12-5 pm
Stroom Den Haag
Hogewal 1-9
2514 HA The Hague
The Netherlands
T 31-70 3658985
info@stroom.nl
www.stroom.nl
The exhibition Generosity at Stroom Den Haag by the British artist Toby Paterson (1974, Glasgow) features new works exclusively. Toby Paterson (winner of the Becks Futures Award 2002) is generally viewed as one of todays leading British artists. He is fascinated by modernism in the art of painting, sculpture and architecture, with special emphasis on its underlying ideology of the malleable society. In preparation for the exhibition and upon invitation by Stroom, Paterson visited The Hague for a number of times in 2006. During this intensive period of research and analysis specific sources of inspiration for him were the post-war redevelopment area of The Hague South West, the Black Madonna social housing block (designed by Carel Weeber), and the building of the Ministry of Finance. All three are in the midst of radical transformation.
For years Toby Paterson has explored the urban environment as an impassioned skateboarder, thus gradually developing his special way of looking at architecture and public space. In his work he usually focuses his attention on the often dilapidated modernist architecture which is gradually disappearing from the urban landscape as the result of subsequent planning and design developments. In his paintings, works on Perspex, sculptures and photographs he represents these architectural elements in such a tranquil, sophisticated and aesthetic manner that their inner beauty is regained. Implicitly the lost ideals are weighed and made visible again.
In 1995 Toby Paterson graduated with honours from the Glasgow School of Art. During his studies he spent one year as an exchange student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (1993). In 2001 he designed a skateboardpark for the Royston Road area in Glasgow. His work has been shown a.o. at the ICA in London; TATE St. Ives; Tramway in Glasgow; the Barbican in London; the Henry Moore Foundation in Leeds; Modern Institute Glasgow; and CCA (Center for Contemporary Arts) in Glasgow. In 2005-2006 Paterson was part of the traveling exhibition British Art Show 6, organized every five years by the Hayward Gallery. He is currently working on a prestigious commission for the new headquarters of BBC Scotland in Glasgow.
The exhibition is made possible in part by: Mondriaan Foundation and Modern Institute Glasgow.
Stroom Den Haag focuses on the urban environment from the viewpoint of visual arts, architecture, urban development and design.
