Summer Marathon begins with sculptor and textile artist Christian Newby; followed by painter Jan Sebastian Koch; conceptual photographer Roman Schramm; textile artist and painter Joy Miessi; fine­art and fashion photographer Rosanna Lefeuvre; and finally painters Florence Hutchings, and lastly Jordy Kerwick.

Christian Newby is currently focusing his work around experimental textile production, exploring how mark­making and industrial carpet­tufting can together further expand how labour, authorship and materiality aid in defining notions of the fine and applied arts. He explores how industrial textiles is a structurally unique model for how we materially encounter a variety of broader cultural and economic intersections.

Christian Newby [b. 1979, Virginia Beach, USA] graduated with an MFA from Glasgow School of Art (2009). Selected exhibitions include: ‘Yo Compro Calidad, Matadero, Madrid (2017); ‘Tetracontameron’ Space Between, London (2016) and; ‘Le Club des Sous l’Eau’, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2016). Is currently a PhD researcher at the Centre for Useless Splendour, Kingston University. Newby lives and works in London.

It seems Jan Sebastian Koch is presently the art­world’s best ­kept ­secret. His ethereal, dreamlike landscape and still ­life paintings evoke the otherworldliness of Chagall or Matisse, handled with a masterful approach to contemporary painting. The works are at once poetic, powerful, and deceptively simple ­ with cerulean hues and planar shapes reminiscent of his contemporary peers Andreas Eriksson or Harold Ancart, but a sensitivity that suggests an emotional understanding or even sense of narrative. The marathon presents Jan Sebastian in his first major solo outing, and we look forward to what our future holds with this talented young artist.

Jan Koch (b.1978 Monchengladbach) graduated with an MA from the University of Art in Berlin in 2005. Solo exhibitions include: ‘New Paintings’, Avlskarl Gallery, Copenhagen (2013). Group exhibitions include: ‘Roter Hirsch’ codex­berlin, Berlin (2018); ‘Black Box’ Kunsthalle, Luneburg (2018) and; ‘No More Heroes Anymore’ Kreuzberg Pavillion, Berlin (2016). Koch currently lives and works in Berlin.

Roman Schramm’s photographs and artist books combine the traditional genres of portrait and still life with elements from advertisement shots. The artist exaggerates and partially subverts commercial strategies, for example, aligning five shiny bullets or capturing the detail of a brand new boat motor as if they were desirable luxury goods.

Roman Schramm [b. 1979 Pfullendorf, Germany] graduated from the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg. Selected exhibitions include: ‘Lilia & Tulipan’ Kusthalle Lingen, Germany (2018); ‘Never Leave Me’ On Stellar Rays, New York (2016) and; ‘The Human Apparatus’ Klemms, Berlin (2015). Schram lives and works in Berlin.

Joy translates moments, conversations, feelings and intimate thoughts into visual pieces for reflection. Inspired by shop fronts in Kinshasa to punk posters in Camden, Joy Miessi takes inspiration from everyday life. Socio­political themes are reoccurring in Joy’s present work and are translated through abstract shapes, figures and writing.

Joy Miessi (b.1993) lives and works in East London. Selected exhibitions include: ’The Second Head’ Office and Gallery, LA (2019); ‘The Gift of Skort’ Atom Gallery, London (2018) and ‘Do You Know Your Middle?’ 198 Gallery, London (2018). Miessi has also given several talks including; ‘Work It Out: Reactions To Soul Of A Nation’ Tate Modern, London.

Rosanna Lefeuvre probes the entanglements between photography and textile. She uses fabrics as the material support of her photographic work but also as a pattern, that both dissimulate and reveal subjects that borrow from the sensuality Barthes describes as the gap between “the glove and the sleeve”: “Is not the most erotic place of the body where the clothing yawns?” Just like classical painting reveals, by covering them, the reliefs of a body whose modesty it feigns, she offers a vision of sensuality and femininity through its symbolic link to fabrics, drapes or floral motifs, questioning our contemporary relationship to intimacy or eroticism. She hand-­weaves herself on a jacquard loom and prints a number of her photographs. This materiality transforms our connection to the image into a physical relationship, ­ her images are an invitation to touch ­ reinforced by ever-present silky fabrics and bare skin. Oversized weavings subject the spectator to a double relation: one has to look at the fabrics from a certain distance to understand what they depict but also to come closer to understand the particular process of manufacture.

Rosanna Lefeuvre [b. 1993, France] Graduated with an MA in textile design from the National School of Decorative Arts, Paris (2018). Selected exhibitions include Kosminen Gallery, Helsinki (2019); ‘Montrouge 64th Show’ The Belfry, Montrouge (2019); ‘100%’ La Villette, Paris (2019) and; Orsay Museum, Paris (2018). Lefeuvre lives and works in Pantin, France.

In her first solo exhibition since showing with Saatchi Gallery in 2019, Florence Hutchings’ crudely executed domestic scenes have revitalized the genre of interior-scene and still-life painting. Their execution, however, is much more surprising—formed from seemingly haphazard compositions of shapes, their forms would disappear if a single element was removed. Her claim to be as interested in the space around an object as the object itself is immediately apparent, with the backgrounds of her works often utilising the same geometries as the subject.

Florence Hutchings [b. 1996, Kent, UK] lives and works in London, UK. Selected exhibitions include: ‘Kaleidoscope’ Saatchi Gallery, London (2019); ‘Seating Arrangement’ Delphian Gallery, London (2018); ‘Juice’ 5th Base Gallery, London (2018); ‘Mud’, Doomed Gallery, London (2017) and ‘Do I Beg this Slender Inch’, The Chopping Block Gallery, London (2017). Florence has previously exhibited with BEERS London in ‘Works on Paper’ (2018).

Jordan Kerwick’s dense impasto brushstrokes flatten the perception of space; instead, it is his thick application of paint that offers dimension and texture. The self­taught Australian artist explores the relationship between thick patches of colour and form while incorporating recurring elements of iconography such as contours of palm trees and anchors as a means of fusing painting and sketching. These intuitive and enticingly tactile marks celebrate the artists’ role in investigating the inherent potential of his chosen media of oil paint.

Jordan Kerwick [b.1982, Melbourne, Australia] Solo exhibitions include: ‘Sweep The Leg Johnny’ Pt 2 Gallery, Oakland, USA (2019); ‘Diary of an Introvert’ Delphian Gallery, London (2018) and ‘Fourth Time Around’, Linberg Galleries, Victoria, Australia (2017). Group exhibitions include: ’75 Works on Paper’, BEERS London (2018); ‘Summer Cool’, Anna Zorina Gallery, New York City, (2017), ‘Angry Boys’, Galerie Rompone, Koln, Germany (2017), ‘Micro Salon #7’, Galerie L’inlassable, Paris, France (2017), ‘Local Group Show’, Seventh Gallery, Melbourne, Australia, (2016). Kerwick lives and works in Melbourne, Australia.