Talbot Rice Gallery

Anton Henning

5 August – 22 October 2011

Anton Henning, Interieur No.455, 2009, oil on canvas © the artist and VG Bildkunst, courtesy the Blain Southern, London

In his first solo show in Scotland, German artist Anton Henning has created a Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art) within Talbot Rice Gallery. His bold, individual style, fluent in art historical references, challenges notions of ‘good’ taste.

Bright painted walls transform the gallery space providing a backdrop for the exhibition, which brings together furniture, lighting, easel painting, sculpture, window painting and drawing. This approach bypasses the authority of the ubiquitous white cube, allowing Henning’s works to be uninhibited by conventional display.

Henning is idiosyncratic and moves away from the cold, conceptual boundaries of much contemporary art to embark upon an exploration of what has been described as ‘painterly desire’. In this spirit Henning’s practice hinges on an individualistic lust for life.

Ragamala painting on paper © University of Edinburgh

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Additional Exhibition

Ragamala

5 August – 22 October

The word ‘raga’ derives from the Sanskrit root – ranj – which means to tinge, to colour, love, passion and beauty, particularly of a voice or song. Selected from the University of Edinburgh’s collection, this exhibition presents a series of unique Indian Miniature paintings. The meaning and significance of these colourful and emotional narrative scenes is enhanced with information provided by the eminent scholar Anna Dallapiccola.

Talbot Rice Gallery,

University of Edinburgh,

Old College, South Bridge, EH8 9YL

0131 650 2210