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