Andrew LITTEN

Andrew LITTEN
1970

Born in 1970 Aylesbury UK. An early interest in expressionist art lead to evening classes in life drawing whilst still at school. Then began art college full time but found it a restricting and claustrophobic experience. ‘I was not suited to art college and it became the least creative time of my life. With the realisation that I was most creative during the evenings in the privacy of my own room, I decided to drop out of art education. I wanted to find a creative freedom away from the ‘guarded’ impersonal language of high art at the time.’ Litten traveled the UK to find inspiration within commonplace life, aiming to convey an emotive poignancy in figurative representations of ‘the ordinary’ and 'the everyday'.

During the early 1990’s, he began employment in photographic studios ‘finishing’ hand printed photographs. Employed in London and later in Oxford, where visits to Richard Hamilton’s studio encouraged a new phase of personal creativity.
Moved to Cornwall ini 2001 and began exhibiting in 2003 with DICK THE DOG, Penzance. Was included in an exhibition ‘Nudes’ (along with Epstein and Renoir) in New York City which was reviewed in the NEW YORK TIMES. He has been part of numerous international art fairs with JILL GEORGE GALLERY. During the week of Frieze Art Fair in 2007, Litten exhibited ‘Dog Breeder’ in LIME WHARF project space in Vyner Street, London . 'Dog Breeder’ was made with paint and pubic hair and is intended to be seen in the Dada tradition of anti-art, commenting on the absurdity of the contemporary art world and its hierarchies. Litten has exhibited in curated exhibitions in Berlin, Dublin, London, Sienna, Edinburgh, Milwaukee and New York. Has work in the MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM, USA, SIENNA ART INSTITUTE, Italy and MUSEUM OF EVERYTHING, London. Was included in ‘No Soul For Sale’ an exhibition of independents in 2010 at TATE MODERN (turbine hall. Exhibited with WW GALLERY at the 54th VENICE BIENNALE.

media

Sculpture, painting, assemblages, work on paper

works and access

Works incl:  Flasher; Dog Breeder

exhibitions

Art Chicago

Art Toronto

Red Dot Miami; Red Dot New York

Frieze Art Fair, London (2007)

The Museum of Everything, London (2010)

'No Soul for Sale' group exh, Tate Modern (2010)

2012: Jill George Gallery, London

2018: Ordinary Bodies, Ordinary Bones, Anima-Mundi, St Ives (11 May-16 June)

2018: Archive, Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro (1 May-28 June)

2019: Protected by Alarms - at the Old Vicarage Flats, St Ives, Anima Mundi (25 Oct-16 Nov)

2020: Concerning the Fragile, Anima Mundi, St Ives (23 May-6 July)

2020: CoLab, Anima Mundi, St Ives (May - online)

2023:: The Human Shadow (The Animal Smile), Anima Mundi (15 July-28 Aug)

memberships

NSA 2009 list

misc further info

WCAA file

references

www.nsanewlyn.com

Cornwall Today (June 2018) 'A Witty, Artistic Look at Human Existence' by Sue Bradbury

'Everyday Means' by Andrew Litten, pub. 2018