VOLTA New York | March 4-8, 2020 - JD Malat Gallery

VOLTA New York | March 4-8, 2020

       JD M A L A T
              G A L L E R Y

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As part of Armory Arts Week, JD Malat Gallery is proud to present a group show featuring
          work by Swiss artist, Conrad Jon Godly, Chinese artist, Li Tianbing and Scottish artist,
                                Robert Montgomery for VOLTA New York.

Driven by the ambition to produce visually and thematically compelling art, each artist demonstrates their
unique perspective on creativity. From the ethereal mountain landscapes by Conrad Jon Godly, the politically
charged paintings by Li Tianbing, to the LED word installation inspired by poetry and contemporary life by
 Robert Montgomery, this exhibition aims to evoke an array of thoughts and emotions within its audience.

        By bringing these three artists together, this exhibition underlines JD Malat Gallery’s wider
            international programme and seeks to strengthen the dialogue between artists and
                                          viewers across the world.

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CONRAD JON GODLY

  Nevertheless #1, 2020
      Oil on canvas
150 x 130 cm | 59 x 51 in

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CONRAD JON GODLY

  Nevertheless #2, 2020
      Oil on canvas
150 x 130 cm | 59 x 51 in

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LI TIANBING

Envahisseur dans Mon Atelier, 2017
           Oil on canvas
     198 x 244 cm | 78 x 96 in

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LI TIANBING

Grimper le Giraffe, 2017
      Oil on canvas
198 x 244 cm | 78 x 96 in

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LI TIANBING

Climbing the Elephant, 2019
        Oil on canvas
   124 x 99 cm | 49 x 39 in

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LI TIANBING

  Riding a crane, 2020
      Oil on canvas
198 x 245 cm | 78 x 96 in

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ROBERT MONTGOMERY

          A HUNDRED YEARS, 2014
Black Valchromat, filcris recycled PVC, wood,
    paint, 12 volt LED lights and copper
          190 x 137 cm | 75 x 54 in

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Nevertheless #2, 2020. Oil on canvas 150 x 130 cm | 59 x 51 in

Conrad Jon Godly
Born in 1962, in Davos, Switzerland, Conrad Jon Godly addresses the symbiotic relationship
between human nature and the sublime; finding a beauty in the awe and terror of nature.
Godly’s paintings are a reminder of the futility of human existence, whose blunt expression
of natural forms are an exercise in capturing the intricacies of the dramatic. Godly’s work
exposes the purity of nature; his heavily impastoed canvases are not only a recurring motif,
but work to recreate the richness of one’s surrounding environment.

After graduating from Basel’s School of Art in 1986, Godly moved away from his nexus of
inspiration in Switzerland, changing both his surroundings and medium. From 1988-2004,
Godly’s photographic work found international success both in magazines and advertising,
and, on Godly’s brief return to Europe where he settled in Vienna, Austria, Godly migrated to
Japan, where he currently lives and works.

Godly expresses the everlasting impact of the Swiss mountains in his two newly created
pieces. Working primarily from memory and imagination, Godly captures what he calls, the
“essence” of Switzerland’s powerful nature. Godly’s work traverses its viewer to the summit
of vertiginous proportions, giving over his canvases to the all-consuming elements of nature.

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Grimper le Giraffe, 2017. Oil on canvas. 198 x 244cm | 78 x 96in
                                      Envahisseur dans Mon Atelier, 2017. Oil on canvas. 198 x 244 cm | 78 x 96 in

Li Tianbing
Born in 1974 in Guilin, China, Li Tianbing studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he
formed a unique visual language to express his own cultural origins. Fusing traditional Chinese
techniques with Contemporary Western references, Li does not limit himself to a single style in order to
explore the boundaries of the medium.

This approach also reflects the artist’s cultural background, rooted in the Eastern philosophy that all
things are in a constant state of flux. The ongoing advancement of the “self ” thus finds its reflection
in Tianbing Li’s ever-changing artistic expression. On a personal level, the paintings offer an intimate
portrait of a fantasized childhood: where fiction and fantasy seamlessly merge. Being an only child
in China was a condition shared by many children of his generation, a deeply lonely experience with
profound psychological effects. Consequently, the artist often sought refuge in his own imagination,
inventing games inhabited by fictitious characters. Li‘s poetic childhood portraits reached its most
vivid expression in 2006 with the introduction of an imagined brother to his painterly repertoire. Later
works depict the artist accompanied by a host of brothers and playmates, which have come to form a
complete yet entirely ‘imagined’ family album. On a general outlook, Li’s work articulates the shared
loss of a generation who grew up under an authoritative government exercised at its most personal
level. Moreover, his compositions interweave the dualities present in China today: East and West,
communism and capitalism, ancient culture and modern consumerism. The artist quickly gained
international attention exhibiting worldwide, i.e. at Stephen Friedman Gallery in London, L&M Arts
Gallery in New York, and Galerie Albert Benamou in Paris.

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Saalfelden Leogang Poem

Robert Montgomery
Born in 1972 in Chapelhall Scotland, Robert Montgomery brings a poetic voice and public
interventionist strategies to the tradition of contemporary text art. Working across a diverse
range of media, such as billboard pieces, solar powered light pieces, fire poems, woodcuts,
and watercolours, Montgomery was selected for the Kochi Biennale 2012, as well as the
Yinchuan Biennale in 2016. A monograph of his work was published by Distanz in 2015,
along with the architect’s Allied Works. Robert Montgomery was a shortlisted finalist for the
UK National Holocaust Memorial in 2017 with the scheme exhibited at the V&A Museum
 in London. His recent solo show took place in the Aspen Art Museum in January 2019.

Writing in the Black and Blue Literary Journal, Dane Weatherman describes Montgomery’s
work as follows, “To encounter the work of Robert Montgomery is to make a tender
encounter whose tenderness is enhanced by the public, communal quality of his work. To
encounter his work is to have your body filled with a sad thunder and your head filled with a
sad light. He is a complete artist and works in language, light, paper, space. He engages
completely with the urban world with a translucent poetry. His work arrives at us through a
kind of lucid social violence. No one has blended language, form and light in such a direct way.”

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Special Thanks:
Victoria Aboucaya
Merva Bojaj
Conrad Jon Godly
Jean-David Malat
Robert Montgomery
Richard Morrissey
Annie Pereira
Li Tianbing

info@jdmalat.com

30 Davies Street, London W1K 4NB
+ 44 203 746 68 30
www.jdmalat.com

Copyright © 2020 JD Malat Gallery

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