Absent Authors: Curator’s Statement

My idea for Absent Authors first took shape in 2018 after reading various texts by - and in response to - the German art critic Isabelle Graw who claims that each artwork somehow “contains the ghostly presence of the absent author”. This idea may seem self-evident and incontestable, but when I started to reflect on the nature of that ‘somehow’ - of how the specific character of both presence and absence residing in the work could differ - I knew I had the theme for my exhibition.

I don’t think it is necessary to agree with all Graw’s views to be grateful to her for generating debate and providing a useful framework for thinking about contemporary art. Above all I was interested in her take on the concept of indexicality - the idea that signs in the work serve as an index of traces of the creator - and her observation that people think of artworks as quasi-people, leading her to claim that “buying artworks indeed comes close to buying people”. A blue-chip example of this would be when collectors talk about owning a Vermeer, or selling a Picasso.

I’ve been following each of the invited artists for some years and my selections have sought to highlight connections and points of departure - both in content and approach - to offer the viewer eight very distinct encounters.

There are stark contrasts in time and proximity between the slowly shifting, meditative digital realms created by Alison Goodyear (Green Palette Slow Painting No 1 and Yellow Palette Slow Painting No 1) and the intense physical presence that is central to KV Duong’s performance Resurrection. Goodyear employs analogue and digital processes to explore the idea of painting as place, working within an expanded understanding of the painting tradition. In her latest digital works there is a deep sense of calm as one floats through richly coloured manipulations of her physical painting palette. Describing herself as a VR Flâneur we too trace her path. 
In contrast KV Duong presents a different type of journey. He disturbs time and space by combining live performance with projected imagery and news of future off-site action upon the static installation. After his performance traces of his body linger in the space, trapped in paint, ash and soil to commemorate his family’s migration due to the Vietnam War.

Themes of cultural displacement, language and identity connect works by Kit Yan Chong and Güler Ates. Kit Yan Chong examines her sense of an invisible boundary between mainland China and Hong Kong through the different writing systems of Traditional and Simplified Chinese and the conflicting ideas about cultural value and political freedom. These emerge in her meticulous work such as The Hidden Boundary through the careful application and erasure of graphite. Through her mark-making the quiet indexical nature of these works slowly reveal their power. 
In Blanket II by Güler Ates a figure stands alone in an ornate Baroque palace obscured by a gold emergency blanket. By referencing the veils and drapes found in European painting Ates wishes to confound and challenge attitudes towards economic migrants and refugees. For Ates exploring these solemn themes merge with her own experiences of cultural displacement. In the film Light without Colour a quilt made of baby and toddler clothes billows in strong wind. The quilt had been made in response to the Syrian refugee crisis, in particular the story of Alan Kurdi, a young boy who passed away as his family fled Syria by sea, and was being carried over the Millennium Bridge when some of the clothes were ripped off by the wind and fell in to the Thames.


Water no longer dances with light II also refers to the sea, and includes texts from immigrant, asylum seekers, and refugees and exiled people since 2014 from Turkey, the Netherlands and the UK.

Where does the magical, mischievous and mysterious originate? For Kelly Sweeney her multi-disciplinary practice is a portal to meet an unsettling community of witches, harlequins and other creatures from a supernatural realm. She also works with film and performance, often appearing in various guises. These personages also appear in her paintings and other media so that Sweeney can be thought of as traveller in her own realm. Early inspirations include Grimm’s Fairy Tales but these ghouls are no tribute act: they are emissaries with their own agency. The viewer, standing in front of her paintings The Blessing and Mystic Twins is invited to step into into their universe. 
Madi Acharya-Baskerville also makes sorties into the subconscious, creating mysterious beings from textile, wood and other elements she collects from exploring coastlines, woods and markets. Her background as an Asian diaspora artist permeates her work so themes of migration and exile fuse with a playfulness, exoticism, and indeed sometimes eroticism, in the juxtaposition of disparate elements. Yet these characters also are born from a serious concern for the environment and the previous ‘lives’ of the objects she selects. In such works as I’m all eyes it’s possible to feel the artist, artwork and audience become one.


The large painting Hardtack Juniper reflects Kirsty Harris’s ongoing fascination with the atom bomb. From an early age Harris has absorbed the imagery and data surrounding nuclear tests and explosions and processed these images to draw attention to the shocking destructive potential. The size of the canvas for HardTack Juniper is 100 x 65 inches. Each square inch of linen in the painting represents 1000 of TNT, which in turn is the unit of measurement used to denote the yield of the explosion. Her projections Eyes down and Kilroy was here reflect the nonchalant attitude of the sailors who were present at the explosions but seem quite carefree. Sailors would often compete to tag "Kilroy Was Here" though the winner would remain anonymous. In contrast Harris’s signature is one born of awe, anxiety, incredulity.

In my series of paintings I present a group of figures emerging and retreating from their backgrounds as the mind of the viewer attempts to pin down their morphology. They reflect my long-standing interest in interrogating figurative conventions across cultures. Influences include Romanesque art and sculpture from India and the Far East. Surrender includes compositional elements from The Surrender of Breda by Velazquez; in Reboot the stable grid pattern has evolved to suggest new beginnings and new configurations.

Robert Fitzmaurice

Absent Authors
APT Gallery, Creekside, Deptford SE8 4SA
08 July - 01 August 2021

12-5pm Thursday to Sunday
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