Artist Statement:

Geographically the beach represents a transgression between the land and the sea, while culturally it may stand for a similar infringement of boundaries. The importance of the image of the beach in my work is motivated by ideas of repetition, deformation and transition.

The Arcadian settings of the beach elude trajectories of progress, referencing instead a primordial state.In my paintings, the putatively Arcadian setting of the beach is ambiguous in that it both references a key site at which modernity appears (the landing of the Spanish in America, for example), and a primordial untouched space. In this sense the beach in my work is both a place where new and/or foreign agents first appear and a place of Arcadian purity. The failure associated with the trope of the shipwreck, for example, denotes the metaphorical return to a semantically uncertain field. Evoking both positive and negative associations, the beach can be interpreted as both origin and dramatic breakdown.

The viewer of my paintings may find her/himself trapped in uncertainty. The usual associations of the beach with holiday resorts merges and clashes with the imagery of shipwreck, whilst the landing of refugees at Spanish Coast is superimposed with bodybuilders at muscle beach. The romantic beach realm becomes an arena where this sort of dichotomies can be transgressed.

Biography

Christian Mieves was born in 1973 in the North of Germany. Based in the UK since 2003, he completed a Masters in Fine Art at Newcastle University in 2005 funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and has finished his PhD in Fine Art at Newcastle University, also funded by the AHRC and works as visiting lecturer.

His paintings have been shown in exhibitions in Germany, Mexico, Spain and UK. Recent exhibitions include Myles Meehan Gallery, Darlington (June 2010, Solo), South Square Gallery, Bradford (7-29 Nov 2009, Solo) Art Sway (2009), Pheonix, Exeter (2008); Foro R-38, Mexico City, Mexico (2008, Solo); Long Gallery, Newcastle (2008, Solo); Red Wire, Liverpool (2007); St. Aidan's College, Durham University (2007, Solo) and The Gallery, Gateshead (2006, Solo).

He is co-organizer of the ‘Re-visiting the Beach’ conference and exhibition that took place at Newcastle University in July 2009 (for details please see: http://conferences.ncl.ac.uk/beachconference/).

Further Information can be found on his website: http://www.mieves.info/