26 May - 12 June 2006
about the exhibition
Chris Denton’s prints are intrinsically intricate, minutely observed and exquisitely executed. He produces multi-plate colour prints that focus on a nexus between spirituality, art and science, and question the role of mathematics as applied to the natural world. Chris has concentrated on drypoint printmaking techniques on copper plate for some years now, effectively allowing him to scratch onto the plate as if using a pencil to draw. This exhibition is his first serious engagement with the genre of “still life” – which seems a natural progression in many ways from his previous work whilst offering a wide scope for symbolism and metaphor. As Chris explains, ”the works intend to achieve a mood or atmosphere that conveys some qualities of a tangible reality (though not necessarily ‘realism’). Beneath this lies an abiding interest in number, mathematics and the natural order, and the philosophy of science as a belief system for our understanding of the world”.
Chris Denton has exhibited widely since his first show in the UK in 1969. His work has been shown across Australia and around the world, including galleries in Japan, China, France, Spain, Poland and the United States. Chris’s work is represented in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, the Association Musee d’Art Contemporain (Chamalieres, France), Hawaii State Foundation for Culture and the Arts, Gilkey Center for Graphic Arts (Portland, USA) and the Tama Art University (Tokyo, Japan). In 1996, Chris was awarded the Grand Prize in the prestigious Biennale Internationale d’ Art Miniature in Canada. In 2003 he won first prize (graphics) at the International Biennial of Miniature Art, Gornji Milanovic, Serbia & Montenegro and this year was highly commended in the British International Miniature Print Exhibition. This is Chris’s fourth exhibition with Beaver Galleries.
