Callum Harvey explores environments which sit within places of transition, where perceptions of space are altered and natural forms are flattened. Looking at imagery from Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts movements, Harvey investigates idealised depictions of nature and its construction through design that allows us to experience it in new ways. For his solo exhibition, Harvey considers the function of nature in a man-made environment by playing with the architecture of the gallery itself. Sculptural ornamentation is subtly displayed around the gallery in architecturally appropriate places, such as the edges of the ceiling as coving or close to the floor. Alongside them are his paintings of repeated patterns that reference elements of architecture and interior decoration. Aspects of unity and oneness are present throughout the exhibition with imagery of clouds obscured by branches that follow the same designed pattern and lines that are repeated across the paintings. Built up from thin layers of transparent paint, Harvey’s paintings evolve through an assembly of design. They are based on a mix of sources such as photography, image manipulation and paper models. This process allows Harvey to create his own compositions that are then flattened through a transfer of medium and turned into something domestic or decorative. Through meticulous technique and process, Harvey continuously moves between something artificial and organic. His work is both new and contemporary as well as retaining a relationship to interior and architectural methods that are centuries old. Harvey considers the ideals and status that these decorative elements symbolise through the social histories of the buildings and interiors the paintings are based on. He demonstrates something of the social relation involved in Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts movements, their ideologies and production, showing how they relate to the present and our current lived environment. Callum Harvey (1998) lives and works in London. He completed his BA at Falmouth University in 2020 and received a scholarship to study for his MA at the Royal College of Art graduating in 2023. He completed a residency at Porthmeor Studios, St Ives in 2019. Harvey’s work has been included in a number of recent group exhibitions internationally including Kingsgate Project Space, London (2023); Safehouse, London (2023); Centre Space Gallery, Bristol (2023) and Huxley-Parlour, New York (2023). Harvey’s exhibition at Pipeline marks the artist’s first solo exhibition.
