Artist Statement:
In his work Christian Mieves has examined the site of the beach as a threshold which not only explores the transgression of two entities but which often eschews Western thought. The liminal site of the beach becomes here a metaphor for a semantically uncertain field, associated with a kind of Arcadia and, the other side of the same coin, Modernity. His paintings deal often with a certain ambiguity in its representation which does not allow a clear categorisation.
In his current work he focuses on the idea of erosion more broadly, extending the scope onto city environs and found, arbitrary objects. This allows him to explore the conceptual resonances of some of his earlier work and to develop a new trajectory for his artistic practice. For the purposes of this project, erosion is defined as that set of processes by which surfaces are worn, thinned or marked. It will be observed both on a formal ‘painterly’ level (the breaking up of the image surface), and more broadly in the decaying or disappearance of the object.
Bio (short):
Christian Mieves is painter and Senior Lecturer at the University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom. He holds a PhD in Fine Art (2009) and an MFA (2005) from Newcastle University (UK), both funded by the AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council). He has presented research papers at international conferences and symposia, as well as co-organised the international conferences Revisiting the Beach (Newcastle University, July 2009) and Working Wonder (Newcastle University, June 2013).
Recent Publications include: Mieves, C. (2013) ‘Distant Toys, Dissected Bodies and Reality TV: Luc Tuymans and Painting in the Age of Ritual and New Media’, International Journal of Arts and Technology, 6.3, pp 297-316; Mieves, C. (2013) ‘Unfinished Bodies, Bodies at Work and Frank from Observation: Figure and Ground in the work of Dana Schutz’, European Journal of American Culture, 32.1, pp 79-96. (ISSN: 17589118); Co-editor of special issue Revisiting the Beach, Journal of Visual Art Practice, 9.3 (ISSN 1470-2029); Mieves, C. (2010) ‘Traces and Erosion: A Case Study of the Beach in Contemporary Art Making’, Journal of Visual Art Practice, 9.3, pp 273-290 (ISSN1470-2029); Interview with Dana Schutz, Turps Banana (July 2014); Mieves and De Jong ‘The Trope of Flattening and the Complexities of Difference: Visual and Acoustic Accounts of Trinidad Carnival.’ with Dr Nanette De Jong, Newcastle University (under review).
Christian Mieves is member of the editorial board, Journal of Visual Art Practice, Taylor & Francis.