Skip to Main Content

Artist Talk—David Batchelor: “The Luminous and the Grey”

Friday, October 3, 2014

8 pm EDT

David Batchelor (Scottish, born 1955). Magic Hour, 2004–07. Lightboxes, fluorescent lamps, acrylic sheet, steel support, and cable, 121 1/4 x 103 x 7 (308 x 262 x 18 cm). Image courtesy the artist.

FREE 
Auditorium

In partnership with the University at Buffalo’s Institute for Research and Education on Women and Gender’s “Color and Gender” Fall Symposium, the Albright-Knox is pleased to present a talk by Scottish artist David Batchelor. During this evening presentation, Batchelor will discuss his vast body of work, particularly its relation to the theme of color. Batchelor’s work has been exhibited around the world, and is in the Collection of the Albright-Knox. 

About the Artist

David Batchelor is an artist and writer based in London. He was born in Dundee, Scotland, in 1955. He studied Fine Art at Trent Polytechnic, Nottingham (1975–78), and Cultural Theory at Birmingham University (1978–80).

Batchelor’s work includes three-dimensional structures, photographs, paintings, and drawings, and it mostly relates to a long-term interest in color and urbanism. He has exhibited widely in the UK, continental Europe, the Americas and, more recently, Asia. Recent exhibitions include Flatlands, Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh/Spike Island, Bristol (2013/14); Magic Hour, Gemeentmuseum, The Hague (2012);Chromophilia: 1995–2010, Paço Imperial, Rio de Janeiro (2010); Backlights, Galeria Leme, São Paulo, (2008); Color Chart, The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2008) and Tate Liverpool (2009); Unplugged, Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh (2007);Extreme Abstraction, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York (2005); the Biennial de Santiago, Chile (2005); Shiny Dirty, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (2004); the 26th Bienal De São Paulo (2004); Sodium and Asphalt, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City (2003); and Days Like These: Tate Britain Triennial of Contemporary Art, Tate Britain, London (2003).

Chromophobia, Batchelor’s book on color and the fear of color in the West, was published by Reaktion Books, London, in 2000, and is now available in eight languages. His new book on color, The Luminous and the Grey, was also published by Reaktion Books in February 2014. Colour (2008), an anthology of writings on color from 1850 to the present, edited by Batchelor, is published by Whitechapel, London, and MIT Press. His book of photographs, Found Monochromes: Vol. 1, Nos. 1–250 (2010), is published by Ridinghouse, London.

Part of M&T FIRST FRIDAYS @ THE GALLERY

On the first Friday of every month—from 10 am to 10 pm—admission to the Gallery’s 1962 Knox Building is free. Events and art classes are offered for FREE for Members and for a small fee for non-members. Learn More