Carl Walter Imthurn – Friday 31st August – Thursday 13th September
The Work of Carl Walter Imthurn
by Joanna Gore on July 26, 2012
Born in 1961 to Anglo-Swiss parentage, in Montreal Canada, Carl Imthurn’s work draws on an truly international heritage. With Influences ranging from Dada, through the abstract colours and shapes of the Swiss artist Paul Klee and the American artist Jean Michel Basquiat, the magpie like Imthurn emerges as a true original.
In an Art World dominated by art not being made by artists, but factory styled design assistants with a fashionable name attached, Carl Imthurn stands like a force of nature, producing defiant and truthful narratives, conveying to the viewer collected stories derived from urban politics through to the classical world.
The self described “positive cynic,” Imthurn rejects the idea of the “too easy artist genius”, seeing himself as a hard working European mark maker relating gathered truths from far and wide, just like his loved and respected hero’s Huginn and Muninn (the crows of Norse mythology) bringing information to Odin, only in Imthurn’s world the viewer is Odin deciding to accept or reject the truth.
Development of the work began in 1994-1996 at The City of Bath College of Art and Design, culminating with an exhibition, Homo Art Expo in 1996 at The City of Bath Art Festival. As the work progressed a further exhibition was held in 1998 at Brixton South London, titled, A Public Hanging. In the late 1990s Imthurn accepted a place at Goldsmiths College reading Fine Art and Art History under the positive and noted tutors Roger Bates and David Hyde.
In 2000 Goldsmiths decided to purchase an original Imthurn for its permanent collection, which was displayed for some time in the public area of the college. Imthurn later received news that the piece had been stolen. The news was received with a wry smile, such is his sense of humour, knowing that the true value of artistic recognition comes from the very human emotion which is in us all, to acquire what we love.
The work of Carl Walter Imthurn can now be found in Public collections, including The Durham University Collection, and many private collections throughout the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States of America.
Event Details
Date: Friday 31st August - Thursday 13th SeptemberDay(s) of week: Tues -SunTime: Private View Friday 31st Aug 6-9
Opening times - Tues - Sun 10am - 5pmLocation: Canvas & Cream GalleryTicket price: FreeEvent host: Bob Dinsdale - Curator
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