Artists to Watch – Luke George & Elizabeth Rose

Is it me or have I been noticing more and more artistsic partnerships lately? The likes of Gilbert & George and Jean Claude &  Christo have been around for a while, but more recently it seems that artists working together has become more accepted, with well known pairings like Allora & Calzadilla, Elmgreen & Dragset, Noble & Webster, The Chapman Brothers and Doyle & Mallinson. On top of these more recently emerging or paired up are Nerhol, kennardphillips, Keeler & Tornero, Swales & Sinclair and so on. There is even the notable pretend pairing – Bob & Roberta Smith – that is actually a single artist Patrick Brill.

Griffin Art Prize

Then there are Luke George & Elizabeth Rose who met at City & Guilds London, and who have recently come to prominence as winners of the Griffin Art Prize (see recent feature) – a newly established prize for recent graduates that is rapidly becoming one of the most important of the London art world.

As deserved winners they are keen to investigate the possibilities of materials – in their case primarily paint and canvas. They manage to draw a remarkable range of texture and depth from such traditional and well-used materials and their medium to large sized canvases are a joy to examine at any scale.

Channelling the unpredicatable ‘avenir’ of Derrida (“There is a future which is predictable, programmed, scheduled, foreseeable. But there is a future, l’avenir (to come) which refers to someone who comes whose arrival is totally unexpected.”) they look to shared intuition and “happy accident” to takes the artwork in a entirely new direction.

They are “excited by the notion of our paintings eventually making themselves; by responding directly to the surfaces and working in such a way that our actions are dictated entirely by the process rather than our own aesthetic needs as individuals.”

Their work is excellent, inventive and attractive – and if it takes two to tango – then why not?

The Griffin Art Prize tours to High House Gallery in the Cotswolds from 18 January to 16 February 2014

Related articles

• The Griffin Art Prize 2013 winners – Luke George & Elizabeth Rose (akickupthearts.wordpress.com)
• The Griffin Art Prize 2013 Exhibition (akickupthearts.wordpress.com)
• Artist Bob and Roberta Smith and filmmaker Tim Newton on their inspiring relationship (theguardian.com)
• Exciting Contemporary Art Arrives in the Cotswolds (akickupthearts.wordpress.com)
• Elizabeth Price wins £60,000 Contemporary Art Society Annual Award (akickupthearts.wordpress.com)