Neil Haddon

NEIL HADDON (England, 1967).
Untitled, 1992.
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated on the back.
Measurements: 181 x 145 cm.
Neil Haddon studied at the West Surrey College of Art and Design, after which he graduated with a Master of Arts degree from the University of Tasmania. He has held solo exhibitions at Dianne Tanzer Gallery in Melbourne (2006-2011), Criterion Gallery in Hobart (2008-2010), Rex Irwin Gallery in Sydney (2009), Cast Gallery in Hobart (2004)... During his study residency in Barcelona, he exhibited at Carles Poy Gallery (1992-95) and at The British Council. Selected group exhibitions: 2012-Theatre of the World, MONA, Berridale; LA Platform, Los Angeles; The Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; The Glover Prize, Evandale; 2011 The Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; 2010-Contemporary Encounters, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Plimsoll Gallery, Tasmanian School of Art, UTAS, Hobart; In Partnership, The Academy Gallery, School of Visual and Performing Arts, UTAS, Launceston. Ongoing exhibitions: "Theatre of the World", La Maison Rouge, Paris; Australia Council Studio Residency: Greene Street, New York, 2014. He is represented in the collections: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart; University of Tasmania Fine Art Collection; Devonport Regional Gallery; Gold Coast Arts Centre Gallery, Surfers Paradise; Artbank, Sydney; Sunyol Collection, Barcelona; The British Council, Barcelona. Neil Haddon's (England, 1967) creative logbook has run between two poles: the revision of the abstract avant-garde (from suprematism to minimalism) and the iconographic paraphrase of newsreel sensationalism. Both lines of formal research coincide in the difficulty of separating the real from the ideal, the truth from the simulacrum. In the abstract series Haddon dialogues with the iconoclastic spirit of suprematism and minimalism in his desire to reach the zero degree of representation, but turning it around to note the derisory pretension of reducing reality to mathematical formulas, to regulable patterns.