Jonathan McCree

Painting and performance, painting as performance and the performances of paintings. Jonathan McCree works with film, installation, painting and sculpture as a record of movement and emotion through space. He pushes the boundaries of what is normally perceived as architecture and demonstrates how experimental practice can help uncover new strategies for exploring spatial ideas and qualities. Materiality and structure are main considerations, giving way to a deeper understanding of the spaces we navigate on a daily basis. He works with traditional notions of architecture but also with the architecture of the body and the mind. With references to the historical, the biographical and the quotidian, McCree's work reflects a series of moments, the concept of potential, a space where anything can happen. Exploring lived experience in the body, paint, and painting, serves not only as a visual medium, but as a performative one, a study of the physical across space and time.

 

"anything can be a painting; marks on a sheet of paper or canvas, a dance, a film, a crowd" through a merging of artistic genres in a site-specific environment that challenges preconceived notions of the role of the viewer from the moment they enter the space."

 

Solo Exhibitions

2023

Echoecho, Sim Smith, London, UK

2022

Outside Mainly, Sim Smith, London, UK (viewing room)

2021

High Folly, Sim Smith, London, UK

I Never Imagined It Could Be Like This, Foundry Gallery, London, UK

2016

Do Be Do Be Do, Collaboration with New Movement Collective, curated by Sim Smith, London, UK

2013

Drawing On Nature, Museo Craveri, Bra, Italy, curated by Victor de Circasia

Falling Into Place, Watermans Art Centre, London, UK, in collaboration with Gretchen Schiller and Helen Paris

No Ground Under My Feet, Tavoletto Chapel, Turin, Italy, curated by Victor de Circasia

Once A Year, Northcote Gallery, London, UK

2012

Abracadabra, Northcote Gallery, London, UK

Falling Into Place, Université Stendhal Grenoble, France, in collaboration with Gretchen Schiller and Helen Paris

2011

Days On End, The Caroline Gardens Chapel, London, UK, in collaboration with Paul Statham

 

Selected Group Exhibitions

2024

Breeze Blocks, duo exhibition with Andrew Graves, Haricot Gallery, London, UK

In Colour, Haricot Gallery, London, UK

2022

Stellatundra, Sim Smith, London, UK

Prospect and Refuge, Sim Smith, London, UK

2021

Up For Grabs, APT Gallery, London, UK

Now, Now, Breach Gallery, Miami, USA

2020

Public Notice, curated by Holly Pollard and Kira Wainstein, venues across East London, UK

Atelier97, La Spezia, curated by Alessio Guano, Italy

2019

What Kind of Spirit Is This?, Sim Smith, London, UK

2018

Monticello D'Arte, curated by Carla Testore. Castello Di Monticello D'Alba, nr. Turin, Italy

2017

Art Licks Weekend, curated by Looking at Painting and KoProjects, London, UK

2016

PULSE Miami Beach, Conversations section with Tim Garwood, presented by Sim Smith

Closer To The Veg, Fitzroy Park Allotments, London, UK, curated by Sasha Galitzine and Olga Mackenzie

Playroom, London, UK, curated by Sasha Galitzine and Olga Mackenzie

2015

Open15, Northampton Contemporary, UK

2014

Crossings, with Paul Statham, Watermans Art Centre, London, UK

2013

Exhibition at The Castillo Di Monticello D'Alba, Italy, curated by Victor de Circasia

 

Education

1986

Batchelor of Arts (Hons), History of Art, University of Sussex, UK