Rupert Hartley is a British visual artist living and working in Hove, East Sussex. Trained originally in printed textile design at the Glasgow School of Art he later studied an MA Art in Architecture at University of East London. He has worked in many media and contexts and exhibited both nationally and internationally in recent years he has focused primarily on painting.
His recent paintings focus on the grid; colour and the repeated gesture, using a layered approach he creates frameworks of colour through numerous re-paintings and revisions. A constant interest and reference in his work has been architecture and city space, from the ‘psychogeographic’ city-based projects of his early work to the spaces he currently lives in and encounters on a daily basis. He sees the city and its endless surfaces and built structures as his source material, living in an area that combines residential, industrial, municipal and touristic spaces he feeds off these environments noting aspects of the public and private spaces, its material surfaces, colours and changing light that act as a constant backdrop to his daily life.
These experiences filter into his studio practice, an open- ended process where he generates multiple collections and series of works through an exploratory process. He sees his work as ‘constructing’ spaces as much as paintings, setting up an active working space in his studio, where he assembles materials and colours that lead to his paintings and where he plans the installation and exhibition of his works. The emerging works reflect various time spans and edits, re uses and repurposing of materials.
He is represented by Nordic Art Agency in Scandinavia. Please follow link to see profile and available works.
For more info and to join mailing list please contact: ruperthartley1@gmail.com
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SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2024
Concrete Art, Pulchri Studio, The Hague, Netherlands.
Rising in the start of its arc, 19a Gallery, Brighton.
Hard Paper, Phoenix Art Space, Brighton.
2023
Sublieme Vormtaal Minimale, Icoon Museum, Netherlands.
Inter-scenic, Nordic Art Agency, Malmö, Sweden.
Minim.AL longing for Donal Judd, Icoon Museum, Netherlands.
Niagra Falls, Returns, Dodo Gallery, Brighton.
The Cottage of Modern Art, Brighton.
2022
Outfields, 57W57Arts, New York.
This Year’s Model, Studio 1.1 Gallery, London.
Outfields, Studio 50 Hove, Brighton.
Binary, Terrace Gallery, London and Shift Gallery, Cardiff.
KickOff – Volume 0, Contemporary Art Chronicle, Online.
2021
This Year’s Model, Studio 1.1 Gallery, London.
The Cottage of Modern Art, Brighton.
On some faraway beach, Back Room Gallery, Copland Park, London.
Together Through Painting, London Paint Club, Online.
The Land of Sol, Sol Space, Nouic, France.
2020
Hastings Open 2020, Hastings Museum and Art Gallery, Hastings.
2019
A Hand Stuffed Mattress, Terrace Gallery, London.
Near Misses, Studio 50 Hove, Brighton.
Well’s Art Contemporary, Wells Cathedral, Somerset.
This Year’s Model, Studio 1.1 Gallery, London.
2018
Billboard Commission, Constructor’s Gallery, London.
The Abstract Show, Well Hung Gallery, London.
Summer Salon, Islington Arts Factory, London.
2017
Draw the Line, Surface Gallery, Nottingham.
2016
Flag Commission, Usher Gallery, Lincoln.
30 Works 30 Days, 12oCollective, London.
2015
Flick, Triangle Space, Chelsea College of Art and Design, London..
Thinking/Making, Curious Gallery, Eastbourne.
On Photocopy, 44AD Gallery, Bath.
The Red Files, Schwartz Gallery, London E9.
30 Works 30 Days, 12o Collective, London.
Pop Living, Schwartz Gallery, London E9.
2014
Blind Searches, Bloc Projects billboard commission, Sheffield.
Misalignments, Pilotschannel.org, Online.
2012
Filling in the Blanks, X Marks the Bokship, London E2.
2011
100 things not worth repeating: on repetition.
Book contribution edited by Marianne Holm Hansen.
Performance reading, X Marks the Bokship, London.
Drawing in Space, Architectural Association, London.
2010
Salon Art Prize, Matt Roberts Arts, Vyner St. London.
First Contexts, Manifest Gallery, Ohio, USA.
Daumenkino - thumb cinema, Bookart bookshop, London.
2009
Artist in Residence, The Centre for Drawing, Wimbledon College of Art, UAL.
In Their Own Words, Bank Street Arts, Sheffield.
2008
Conflux 2008, The Centre for Architecture, New York.
Time and Space,The Bowery, Leeds.
2007
From Outside, St.Brides, St.Mary le Bow, All Hallows by the Tower, City of London.
Public Pages, Portland Square Building, University of Plymouth.
Conflux 2007, The Change You Want To See, Williamsburg, New York.