Angus layers found materials such as rubber, glass and wood with oil paint and printed matter. His sculptural paintings are made in groups, each work is used as a tool to produce the next. One might have been used as a crude mallet or a saw support, another a cutting mat and then a palette - a circular economy of materials, each bearing traces of their prior use and abandonment, this engenders a studio practice with very little waste and an interdependence between the works.
Sapling is pleased to present new works from artist Angus McCrum in his first solo exhibition in London, These here, quietly, curated by Charlotte Call and Caspar Williams.
Angus layers found materials such as rubber, glass and wood with oil paint and printed matter. His sculptural paintings are made in groups, each work is used as a tool to produce the next. One might have been used as a crude mallet or a saw support, another a cutting mat and then a palette - a circular economy of materials, each bearing traces of their prior use and abandonment, this engenders a studio practice with very little waste and an interdependence between the works.
The places where Angus finds materials help determine the works that follow - sections of crumbling wall from a Schrebergarten, 'repaired' with paint and glue, a roll of industrial vulcanised rubber is nailed to a board and used as a canvas, the drizzled paint and angular cutouts echoing the neglected steel works next to where it was found. Collected leaflets from forgotten spa towns, hot dog wrappers, salt gathered from extant Gradierwerk, CD covers, twigs and rags, metal signage and dropped coins - all these elements contribute to the landscapes and drifting narratives presented in this exhibition.
Angus McCrum was born in Portsmouth in 1987, studied at Camberwell College of Art and is based in Berlin. Recent solo and two person shows include: Bleigießen, 17 Addington Road, Margate, 2019; Fallow (with Emii Alrai), The Rectory Projects, London, 2019; Studio 2 (with Jon Kipps), Assembly Point Studios, London, 2019; and The Sorrows, Intercession Gallery, Northampton, 2017. Group shows include: Bathing Nervous Limbs, Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh, 2021; Off Trail, AIR Gallery, Manchester, 2021; Of Noise, Slow Space, Fieldworks, London, 2020; Used For Glue, Assembly Point Studios, London, 2019; Odds, TOMA Project Space, Southend-on-Sea, 2019; How small a thought, hosted by Anne Ryan & Andrew Child, Margate, 2019; Lunar Gardening, Kingsgate Project Space, London, 2019; Gobbledygook, The Kennington Residency, London, 2019.
