Anne-Marie Creamer

In 2004 an old man, Vladimir Slapeta, wrote a letter to the painter Andrew Grassie, asking him to make a painting of a room in his childhood home. The painting Grassie then made became the basis for an animation by me. Slapeta was my own fictional construction, an old man, something of a ghost, who via his imaginary connection to this private room, hoped he could transported back ‘home’. The letter, the animation and a reproduction of Grassie’s painting (the original was said to be in the private collection of the fictional Slapeta), became the basis for ‘Flying Through Amber: the last wish of Vladimir Slapeta’, which linked all three objects in a three-room installation that was shown in the FORMAT festival, Derby, UK. This explored a place between fact and fiction, a search for something that exists as much in the imagination as anywhere else. In the process Grassie’s painting, like other objects in my work, was displaced into that un-graspable space that exists between perception and its conscious representation. Between the seer and the subject of the gaze there is a gap, and increasingly I am drawn to finding ways to make visible that narrow space.

Like Slapeta, often in my work nameless protagonists search for lost objects or places that paradoxically seem always to be simultaneously receding, creating in turn a series of impossible returns, or impossible escapes. Artifacts often found during periods of research or fortuitous moments of chance have often provoked this suturing of an object into an invented narrative, as in the small painting which the fictitious Vladimir Slapeta commissioned from real life painter Andrew Grassie. This was also the case with two hundred odd letters I came across that the Hungarian-Transylvanian exile Mikes Kelemen wrote to his fictitious aunt in the eighteenth century, which lead to the work ‘Mikes Kelemen Returns to Transylvania’. Both finds acted as catalysts for time-based works, as have the chance finds of love letters, wedding rings, an old mans coat, and a Czech book on Robin Hood found in an abandoned apartment in Cesky Krumlov in Southern Bohemia (the later two lead to the work ‘The Prompter of Krumlov‘ in 2006).

Although I now use myriad forms I trained as a painter. This also reflects my growing interest in inter-disciplinariness and in a fascination with ideas about space, identity and memory. This change has also enabled me to increasingly explore an inter-textual and allegorical form, the better to evince an artistic language that could express without being expressionistic

Education

• 1986-8
  • Middlesex University. B.A. Fine Art
• 1988-90
  • Royal College of Art. M.A, Fine Art, painting

Current Teaching

Has lectured widely. Currently:
2000 - Part-time Lecturer at Norwich School of Art and Design, BA and MA Fine Art courses

Awards and Residencies

• 1990
  • Basil H. Alkazzi Travelling Scholarship, Greece
• 1990-2
  • The Delfina Studios Trust, studio residency award, London
• 1991
  • Artist at Work, short-term residency, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
• 1992
  • The Union of Soviet Artists Residency Exchange, U.S.S.R- Russia, Latvia, Uzbekistan and The Crimea
• 1992
  • The Princes Trust, European Travel Award, Berlin
• 1993
  • Arts Council of Great Britain, Artists Bursary, Conference attendance.
• 1997
  • London Arts Board, ‘Award to Individual Artists’
• 2001
  • London Arts ‚Go! International Award’
  • London Arts, London Arts Development Fund: London Visual Arts Artists Fund
• 2003
  • Foundation and Center for Contemporary Art, Prague, Czech Republic International-artist-in-residence-award
  • Arts Council of England, London, Grants for Individuals
  • Arts and Humanities Research Board, Small Grants in the Creative and Performing Arts
  • University of the West of England, Bristol, UK, (with the Advanced Centre in Drawing), Evelyn Williams Drawing Fellowship).

Solo / Duo Exhibitions

• 1995
  • Interference, James Brook & Anne-Marie Creamer, curated by Alex Farquharson, The Spacex Gallery, Exeter, UK
• 1999
  • My Dark Places, Anne-Marie Creamer, Gallery Aoyama, Tokyo, Japan. Part of the BAN, British Art Now Festival, organised by Katerine Bell.
• 2006
  • Flying Through Amber: the last wish of Vladimir Šlapeta, with Andrew Grassie. Green Lanes Gallery/ University of Derby, UK. FORMAT’ festival.
• 2007
  • Meeting The Pied Piper in Brasov, Anne-Marie Creamer, Jeliní Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic. Curated by Michal Pechoucek

Selected Group Exhibitions

• 1987
  • Whitworth Young Contemporaries, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, UK
• 1988
  • Royal Overseas League, Annual Exhibition, London, UK
• 1989
  • Arbeiten Auf Papier, Galerie Zur Alten Deutschen Schule, Switzerland
  • Group exhibition, Galerie Zur Alten Deutschen Schule, Switzerland
• 1990
  • ART/London ‘90’, International Contemporary Art Fair, London, Olympia, UK
  • New Faces III, Paton Gallery, London, UK
  • The Contemporary British Art Fair’, loan exhibition from the Royal College of Art collection, London, UK
  • Art Futures Market, Contemporary Art Society, London,UK
  • The Discerning Eye, selected by Odette Gilbert, The Mall Galleries, London, UK
• 1991
  • Vyugovey Festival, Gorky Park/ October District, Moscow, USSR
  • ART/London ‘ 91, International Contemporary Art Fair, London, Olympia, UK
  • Contemporary British Art, Bonhams Auction House, London, UK
  • Kleines Arbeiten, Galerie Zur Alten Deutschen Schule, Switzerland
• 1992
  • Back to Painting; Five Painters from Britain, Montreal, Canada. Curated by Stephen Friedman
  • East and South, selected by Helen Chadwick and Marjorie Althorpe-Guyton, The Norwich Gallery, Norwich, UK
  • Delfina Studios Trust Show, London, UK
• 1993
  • The Arthur Anderson Award, selected by Catherine Lampert and Richard Cork, Arthur Anderson & Co, London, UK
  • An Open Tutorial, (with Eric Fischl), Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, UK
• 1993-4
  • Twelve British Artists, Salama-Caro Gallery, London, UK
• 1994
  • Thinking Aloud, Small Mansions Arts Centre, London, UK
  • Whitechapel Open, Whitechapel Art Gallery/ Atlantis Gallery, London, UK
  • Stalker, The Gallery at John Jones, London, UK 1994-5 Dad, Gasworks Gallery, London, UK
• 1995
  • East International, selected by Guiseppe Penone and Marian Goodman, The Norwich Gallery/ Sainsbury Centre, Norwich, UK
• 1996
  • Whitechapel Open, Whitechapel Art Gallery/ Delfina Gallery, London, UK
  • Absolut Secret, Gulbenkian Gallery, Royal College of Art, UK
• 1996-7
  • Sad, Gasworks Gallery, London, UK
• 1998
  • Whitechapel Open, The Whitechapel Art Gallery/ The Tannery, London, UK. Selected by Julian Opie, Lucia Nogiera and Felicity Lunn
• 2007
  • Territoritories, BBK Galerie de Kunstler, München, Germany. Jan Mladovsky / Jost - H. Hecker, Andreas Wutz, Anne-Marie Creamer, Tomas Svoboda, Sabine Kammerl, Hanus Burger, Robert Barta, Toni Crabb & Martin Zet. Curated by Pavel Zelechovsky
  • Elective Affinities, Outpost Gallery, Norwich, UK. With Anne-Marie Creamer, Jan Mladovsky, Matthew Noel-Tod, Janette Paris, Elizabeth Wright & Toby Ziegler.
• 2007 -
  • Currently developing ‘The Palace Lucerna Projekt’, a research project, Jerzy Kierkuc-Bielinski, Courtauld Institute of Art & Jan Mladovsky, & other Central European & UK organizations. The exhibition will form part of a artist lead discursive project taking differing forms involving talks, events, exhibitions, artist residencies, a touring exhibition & a major book with Gallery books, Prague that will take place in Central Europe & the UK over the next three years.

Screenings

• 2001
  • Hand-Made-Films conference, East International 2001, Cinema City, Norwich, UK. Screening Amnesia
  • In Your Head Film Night, One-in-the-Eye Film Club, selected by David Harrison, Cubitt Gallery, London, UK. Screening Amnesia
• 2003
  • Videoformes, International festival d’arts video et Multimedia de Clermont-Ferrand, France. Screening Yonder
  • LUX OPEN 2003. Festival of new British artists' film and video, Royal College of Art, London, UK. Screening Yonder
  • Rencontres Internationales PARIS-BERLIN, Paris, France. 2003, screening Yonder

Publications

• 1990
  • Twentieth Century British Art Fair catalogue
• 1991
  • Bonhams Auction House, ‘Contemporary British Art’, catalogue
  • Delfina Studios Trust catalogue

   

• 1992
  • East and South, The Norwich Gallery, illustrated with artists text, catalogue
  • Delfina Studios Trust, catalogue, text by Charles Hall
• 1993
  • An Open Tutorial, (with Eric Fischl), 56 mins. video, filmed by the Institute of Contemporary Art. Whitechapel Art Gallery/ I.C.A. distribution
• 1995
  • Interference, The Spacex Gallery, text by Alex Farquharson
  • East International, catalogue, The Norwich Gallery
• 2000
  • British Art Now, catalogue, Tokyo, Japan
• 2001
  • British Art Now, catalogue, Tokyo, Japan. Funded by The Great British Saskawa Foundation.
  • East International catalogue. Text by Lynda Morris. Funded by the Arts Council, The Henry Moore Foundation, Eastern Arts Board
• 2005
  • The Basil H Alkazzi Foundation and The Royal College of Art. A celebration of twenty years association between the Foundation and the College, looking at the work of the 54 scholars the Foundation and the College have supported over the last twenty years. Published by the Basil H Alkazzi Foundation and The Royal College of Art.
• 2006
  • The Drawing Book, a survey of drawing, the primary means of expression. Edited by Tania Kovats. With texts by Charles Darwent, Kate Macfarlane & Katherine Stout. Hardback 320pp. 280 b/w and colour ills. Black Dog Publishing. ISBN: 1904772 33 1

Bibliography

• 1988-89
  • Time Out, Robert MacDonald
• 1989
  • Arts Review, Mary-Rose Beaumont
• 1990
  • The Telegraph, Stephen Jones
• 1992
  • Women's Art Magazine, Fiona Hackney
• 1994
  • Women's Art Magazine, ‘Beyond Eye To Hand’, Rebecca Fortnum
  • Evening Standard, E.S. Magazine, ‘Hot Tips’,‘Stalker’, Simon Grant
  • Arts Review, Recommended shows,‘Stalker’, Charles Hall
  • Time Out, ‘Dad’ exhibition review, David Lillington
• 1995
  • Art Monthly, ‘East International’ review, Mark Durden
  • Art News (Paris), ‘East International’ review, Helen Valentin
• 1996
  • Museums and Galleries Magazine, ‘Waiting for Saathci’, review of Whitechapel Open, Martin Plimmer
• 2001
  • Norfolk Contemporary Art Society magazine, reviewing East 2001, Robert Short.
• 2005
  • ARTTRA – on-line art magazine. Review of Oriel Mostyn 25, Julian Benson

Consultancy

• 1995-99
  • Appointed to the Standing Committee, Visual Arts Department, London Arts Board, Advisor to the board on Visual Arts policy in Greater London
• 1999
  • Delfina Gallery, London. Organized a public talk between Marlene Dumas & Marina Warner.
• 1999-01
  • Consultant to research and setting up of artist advice and support web-site ‘Artquest’ for London area, UK. London Arts Board. Running from 2002
• 2006 -
  • Judging panel, Alkazzi Foundation Awards, Royal College of Art Fine Art Department, London, UK

Curatorial / Exhibition work

• 1992-95
  • Travel grant, Art Council of Great Britain to research an exhibition of German and British artists with Sonia Boyce and Marietta Their
• 1995-96
  • Member of gallery committee, Cubitt Gallery, London, UK
• 1995-99
  • Head of Cubitt Gallery Events, Cubitt Artists /Cubitt Gallery, London, UK. Over-seeing international artist talks, discussions and symposia.
• 1999
  • Acting Member of Exhibition Committee, Spacex Gallery, UK
• 2005
  • Currently developing The Palace Lucerna Projekt, a research project, Jerzy Kierkuc-Bielinski of the Courtauld Institute of Art & artist Jan Mladovsky, plus other Central European & UK organizations and galleries. The exhibition will form part of a major project, also involving a conference to take place in Prague and London & a major book with Jaroslav Koran of Gallery books, Prague. Within the context of the wider project, a series of artist residencies based in Prague, supported by The Linhart Foundation, will form the basis of an exhibition of commissioned art-works that will take place in Central Europe & the UK in three years time

Workshops, Public Talks & Conferences

• 1991
  • Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK. Artist in residence, (public access)
• 1992
  • London Borough of Newham, London, UK. Community art work-shops, tutor
• 1993
  • Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, UK. Artist talk on the Lucien Freud exhibition to the Seattle Museum of Modern Art
• 1994
  • London Women's Centre/ Feminist Artist News, UK. Workshop with Veena Stephenson
• 1995
  • Pavillion Photography Gallery, Leeds, UK. Organised by Feminist Artist News. Panel speaker/workshop leadrer
• 1996
  • Institute of Contemporary Art, London, UK. Audio tape interview, ‘John Currin’ exhibition, with Martin Maloney, Paul Noble and Alessandro Reno
• 1998
  • Sightlines, Artist talk, interpreting 'Whitechapel Open', The Tannery Gallery, London, UK
• 1999
  • Film Nite’, Anne-Marie Creamer & Keiichi Ogata, screening and presenting animation and film work. Also, work-shop and seminar in NOPE Artist Studios, Mita district, Tokyo, Japan
• 2000
  • Artist Run Galleries, panel speaker at symposium, Spacex Gallery, UK
• 2001
  • The British Art scene in the 1990’s, Open Studios NOPE, Tokyo, Japan
  • Hand-Made Film, East conference, chaired by Marjorie Althorpe-Guyton. Screened and presented Amnesia, Cinema City, Norwich, Norfolk, UK
• 2003
  • Drawing Quarters 1, Presentation of research. Other speakers Deanna Petherbridge, Grenville Davey, Humphrey Ocean, Paul Gough, Caroline Broadhead, Tania Kovats. University of the West of England, Bristol, UK.
• 2006
  • FORMAT conference, Looking at some of the current relationships between painting and photography. Presenting, Flying Through Amber: the last wish of Vladimir Šlapeta, along with Andrew Grassie. Also including Dan Hays, Lisa Le Feurve, Jonathan Harris, John Goto, Jane Harris. Green Lanes Gallery & Derby University of Art & Design.
• 2007
  • Currently working on ‘The Palace Lucerna Projekt’, a research project with Jaroslav Koran of Gallery books, Prague, Jerzy Kierkuc-Bielinski of the Courtauld Institute of Art & artist Jan Mladovsky, plus other Central European organizations and galleries. A major seminar taking place Prague in the Autumn of 2006 will involve a partnership between the TRANZIT organisation (a major contemporary art organization based in Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Bratislava & Bucharest) & Norwich School of Art (UK). This will be followed in 2007 with a conference to take place at the Research Forum, Courtauld Institute of Art, London, UK & will be followed by a major book published with Gallery books, Prague, six artist residencies in Prague and an exhibition of commissioned art-works, which will take place in Central Europe & UK in 2008

Work in Collections

Royal College of Art Collection, Coopers & Lybrand Delloitte, London, Delfina Studios Trust, London. & in private collections in London, Switzerland and Paris.

Anne-Marie Creamer
e-mail: amcreamer@mac.com

to see more of Anne-Marie's work, visit her website.

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