lawrence carroll

Lawrence Carroll, born in Melbourne, Australia and died in May 2019, considers himself a true painter. Although his works are rarely recognisable as classic paint-on-canvas work, this is always his point of departure. However, the creative process causes the works to unfold in literally all directions. One can imagine the canvas with which it all started, but the end result is a complex layered structure of linen, wood, cardboard, wax, flowers, ice … and paint. Everyday things – leftovers that would’ve been thrown away – are added, removed, cut, stapled, mended, scraped off and so on. As a true testament to the process, all traces are kept visible.

The painting literally and figuratively leaves the frame with Carroll. The ‘natural’, almost colourless constructions that are reminiscent of the Arte Povera movement take all kinds of forms: paintings shaped like – but still paintings according to Carroll – (wall) sculptures, tables, boxes, hinged surfaces, light boxes … In every case the artist searches for the perfect composition – on the surface, in 3D or in depth – a painstakingly long process that is determined by experimentation and an unwavering commitment to discovering the new, no matter how much patience or effort it requires.

Here and there some text pops up which, thanks to the sparing and meticulous way in which it is employed, soon turns into poetry. Fragments of sentences are illegible “scraps” which, just like the other materials, merge into a new whole. The work Untitled (poem) is exceptional within this theme: a pile of letters which seems to have fallen off the wall and been swept into a corner. The poem lost all of its original cohesion and thus its power.

One of the only figurative works in his oeuvre is the photographic lithography Untitled (2004), a contribution to the ECLiPS graphic folder which was published in honour of the eponymous project from Deweer Gallery’s 25^th anniversary. The lithograph is a flattened self-portrait of the artist. Even the self-image and the inner psyche of the artist are inevitably subject to distortion.

 

In 1988 Carroll presented his first solo exhibition in New York, followed by his first international exhibition together wih Joseph Beuys, Bruce Nauman and Robert Ryman i.a., curated by Harald Szeeman in Hamburg, Germany. His work was exhibited in many important institutions across the world including Guggenheim, New York – MOCA, Los Angeles – MOMAT, Tokyo – Museo Correr, Venice – Folkwang Museum, Essen. He took part in Documenta 9, Kassel and the 2013 Venice Biennial.