The Thousand Year Kingdom is the first solo museum exhibition in London of work by artist, writer and curator Cedar Lewisohn.
LONDON, UK, 13 October 2021— Saatchi Gallery will open an exhibition of works by Cedar Lewisohn in one of its main gallery spaces on 29 October 2021. The exhibition will be open to the public from 29 October to 28 November with free admission.
The Thousand Year Kingdom features a series of large scale woodblock prints primarily made throughout 2013; a group of works that have not previously been shown together. These prints combine images relating to African and Mesopotamian objects from museum collections in the UK and Europe with recognisable details and depictions of contemporary life. The works are the antecedent to much of the visual language that Lewisohn’s current practice focuses on. The brutal yet delicate method of production plays with the idea of “primitivism” and the connotations of labelling artworks as primitive. In these works, images are repeated, and new contexts and meanings are created with the addition or subtraction of colours or abstract landscapes. These repetitions play with the medium of printing, and the ways in which the viewer receives and processes visual information.
The exhibition includes a selection of prints from Lewisohn’s acclaimed comic book The Marduk Prophecy published in 2020. Produced from handmade woodcuts and Lino prints, the images portray objects found in the British Museum – whose Benin Bronzes were looted and whose ownership is contested – as well as other museums such as the Pitt Rivers Museum and the Petrie Museum. These depictions of objects from ancient civilisations are mixed with symbols of the contemporary world that refer to youth culture in the UK, such as Drill Music creating an abstract narrative that references social, ethical and political issues.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a series of limited edition artists publications.
Press Preview: Thursday 28 October, 10AM-1PM
NOTES TO EDITORS
Space: Gallery 4, Ground Floor
Dates and Opening Hours:
Open to the public: Friday 29 October – Sunday 28 November 2021
10am – 6pm, Monday – Sunday (last admission 5.00pm)
Closed Christmas Day & Boxing Day
Admission:
Free entry, pre-booking not required
Images:
A selection of images is available for use. Please email press@saatchigallery.com to request these. Images may only be reproduced to illustrate a review or criticism of a work or report as defined by section 30 (i) and (ii) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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School Visits & Community Groups:
With the generous support of all our patrons, for Gallery exhibitions there are opportunities to engage with creative projects and workshops whether that be in-gallery, virtually, in the classroom or at home. education@saatchigallery.com I +44(0)20 7811 3087
Safety Measures:
The health and safety of visitors and staff is paramount. Safety measures for visitors can be found on the Saatchi Gallery website: www.saatchigallery.com/visit/covid-19-compliance
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Cedar Lewisohn (b. London 1977) is an artist, writer and curator. He has worked on numerous projects for institutions such as Tate Britain, Tate Modern and The British Council. In 2008, he curated the landmark Street Art exhibition at Tate Modern and recently curated the Museum of London’s Dub London project. In 2020 he was appointed curator of Site Design for The Southbank Centre. He is the author of three books (Street Art, Tate 2008, Abstract Graffiti, Merrell, 2011, The Marduk Prophecy, Slimvolume, 2020), and has edited a number of publications. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally for over twenty years and belongs to a number of collections. In 2015 he was a resident artist at the Jan Van Eyke Academie in Maastricht. Lewisohn has been included in numerous group exhibitions and had solo projects at the bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht (2015), Joey Ramone, Rotterdam (2016), in VOLUME Book Fair at ArtSpace Sydney (2015) and Exeter Phoenix, (2017). Most recently he participated in the group exhibition UNTITLED: art on the conditions of our time at Kettles Yard, Cambridge where his work was named by The Guardian as “the highlight of the show”. Lewisohn lives and works in London.
ABOUT SAATCHI GALLERY
Since 1985, Saatchi Gallery has provided an innovative platform for contemporary art. Exhibitions have presented works by largely unseen young artists, or by international artists whose work has been rarely or never exhibited in the UK. This approach has made the Gallery one of the most recognised names in contemporary art. Since moving to its current 70,000 square feet space in the Duke of York’s Headquarters in Chelsea, London, the Gallery has welcomed over 10 million visitors. The Gallery hosts over 5,000 schools visits annually and has over 6 million followers on social media. In 2019 Saatchi Gallery became a charity, beginning a new chapter in its history.
www.saatchigallery.com
Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York’s HQ, King’s Rd, Chelsea, London SW3 4RY
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For PRESS information and images please contact:
Helena Zeidler
helena@saatchigallery.com or +44 (0) 20 7811 3091