Josh Rowell (UK, 1990) graduated from Kingston Art School in 2013, where he received a first class BFA with honours. Following a course in Art Criticism at Central Saint Martins college, Rowell returned to Kingston Art School for an MFA in 2015, where he was awarded a first- class distinction. His works have been exhibited in London, New York, Miami, Seattle, Basel, Hong Kong and Mexico and his works are part of public collections including the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, the Gregorian Foundation in Washington, London Kingston University's contemporary art collection, and the Matilda collection in San Miguel De Allende. In 2017/18 he had his first museum exhibition at the Palacio Nacional de Guatemala. Rowell won the Public Choice award at the VIA Arts Prize 2017, and was included in Future Now, the yearly publication by Aesthetica listing the 100 most interesting emerging artists of the year. In 2019 he was selected for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London.
The Painting Language series of was born out of a long term interest in the functions of language and information, especially in light of a digital age. These paintings are coding systems for language, each one contains in them a body of text that can be taken from any source (book, magazine, script) and from any language. The artist then processes the information through a coding system of his own design. The system operates through colour, sequence and pattern, and ultimately the language becomes transformed into the paintings. In each work there is the potential for it to be read, as it was in its original state, and, as it is in its altered state. Through making these works, Rowell wanted to explore what it means to reshape information, and think about alternative ways of seeing, or ‘reading’ the world around us. With language, spoken and written, as our primary means of communicating, it seemed a natural starting point for him to work with.
A second series, titled ‘Virtually Fragile’, comments on the potential total loss of information and the resulting shift back into apparent chaos that can be experienced once we become disconnected from the internet. In contrast to the abstract images of the Painting Language series, these works are painted entirely from reality. Working directly from found images of broken smartphone screens, Rowell seeks to highlight the fact that the digital world, despite its seemingly limitless potential, is not yet immortal. Like all things, our personal relationship with the virtual realm is temporal; as we enter into the digital world through our screens, the gateway through which we travel can just as soon be taken away from us with one false move, one simple drop of our cell phone. We can understand here that the digital world is still, ultimately answerable to the physical world.
Selected Exhibitions
2020
-False Memory, Rugby Museum of Art, Rugby, UK
-II, Online exhibition, Daniel Benjamin Gallery
-Salon Acme, Solo Booth, Daniel Benjamin Gallery, Mexico City, Mexico
-Dentons Art Prize, Private Exhibition, London, UK (Joint winner)
-The Freud/Jung Letters, Solo exhibition, Moyshen Gallery, San Miguel de Allende
-Reset, Tales From The Vanguard - (ONLINE) Group Exhibition, Programa Taide with Colección Aldebarán
2019
Author's Translations, Daniel Benjamin Gallery, London, UK
WOP Art, Atipografia, Lugano, Switzerland
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London, UK
Pareidolia, Space Station Gallery and Daniel Benjamin Gallery London, UK
Art Central Hong Kong, Unix Gallery, Hong Kong
Hospital Rooms 2020 Exhibition, Elephant West, London, UK
Summer Exhibition, Daniel Benjamin Gallery, London, UK
2018
Analytics and Aesthetics (SOLO), Moyshen Gallery, San Miguel De Allende, Mexico
All About My Selfie, (with Rachel Libeskind), The Department Store, Brixton, London, UK
Seattle Art Fair - Solo Booth, UNIX Gallery, Seattle, USA
Art Miami, UNIX Gallery, Miami, Florida, USA
Volta Basel, UNIX Gallery, Basel, Switzerland
2017
Origins (SOLO), Moyshen Gallery, San Miguel De Allende, Mexico
New Territory, Unix Gallery, New York, USA
Asi Se Siente Mexico - Group Exhibition, Palacio Nacional de Guatemala, Guatemala
VIA Arts Prize - Group Exhibition, Brazilian Embassy, London, UK
Future Anesthetics - Group Exhibition, UNIX Gallery, New York, USA
Artefax - Group Exhibition, Shoreditch Platform, London, UK
2016
Aesthetica16, Aesthetica Art Prize, York St Mary's, York, UK
Summer Show, Moyshen Gallery, San Miguel De Allende, Mexico
You Can't Always Get What You Want, UNIX Gallery, New York, USA
Art Miami, UNIX Gallery, Miami, Florida, USA
Art Southampton, UNIX Gallery, New York, USA
2015
Show Business, Stanley Picker Gallery, London, UK (curated by Isobel Harbison)
Bittersweet Christmas,Trispace Gallery, Bermondsey, London, UK
2014
Escorts, MFA Show 2014, Centre for Useless Splendour, London, UK
Render Useless, Stanley Picker Gallery, London
Metamorphosis, Knights Park, London, UK
2013
Flat White Wall Machine, Collaborative Publication, X-Marks the Bokship, Matt’s Gallery, London, UK
KU13, Degree Show Exhibition, Kingston University, London, UK
2012
Swanage, Centre for useless Splendour, London, UK
SEED, 02 Centre, Finchley Road, London, UK
Everything Is Amazing, Meanwhile Space Gallery, London, UK
Public Collections
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy
Contemporary Art Collection, Kingston University, London, UK
Gregorian Foundation, Washington DC, USA
Min Art Museum, Guadalajara, Mexico
Hotel Matilda Contemporary Art Collection, San Miguel De Allende, Mexico
Private Museum, Santa Fe, USA
Prizes and Residencies
Dentons Art Prize 9.0, London (Winner)
VIA Arts Prize 2017 - Public Choice Award Winner, London, UK
Moyshen Gallery Residency - Summer 2017, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
Aesthetica Arts Prize 2016 - Finalist, York, UK
Publications
Future Now - 100 selected contemporary international artists from 2016, published by Aesthetica
Education
2016
MFA Fine Art, Kingston University, London, UK, (1st Class)
2013
Art Criticism: Central Saint Martins, Short Course, London, UK
2013
BA Fine Art (Hons), Kingston University, London, UK (1st Class)