Andrew Litten
Biography
Andrew Litten is a British artist, born in Aylesbury, 1970. He is self-taught and currently works from his studio in Fowey, Cornwall.
Andrew Litten’s work explores raw human existence. He is searching the poetry of living, loving, hurting, and dying through depicting the powerful, the vulnerable, and the human. His work articulates anxieties surrounding the fragility of life, unguardedly exploring complex states of our contemporary condition through a multifaceted body of work; this includes large scale figurative paintings, bronze sculpture, and mixed media work, created using everything from gouache and oil paint to hair and screws.
Litten’s base aim is to define issues of contemporary social conditioning and private confusion, and place this within a wider humanistic context. He wants to create “art that speaks of the love, anger, loss, personal growth and the private confusions we all experience in our lives. To create stories of authenticity that compress a sense of endurance of the human spirit.”
He dropped out of art college as a teenager, finding it restricting and claustrophobic. He is inspired by the commonplace, stimulated by the many works in his studio and by the activity of art making, assembling, collaging, scoring texture into surfaces, and manipulating the material qualities of paint. His portraits are characterised by a challenging intensity, used to represent dependence, breakdown, faith, mourning, and responsibility. Litten peels back civility to uncover animal instincts and fears, it forces us to confront the uncomfortable.
Works
Exhibitions
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Journeys – 'On Paper'
5 Jun - 13 Jul 2024JD Malat Gallery is thrilled to announce 'Journeys', an online exhibition showcasing nine artists' works on paper. The medium of paper serves as a vital bridge, seamlessly connecting the intangible...Read more -
Contemporary Figuration: Between Body & Metaphor
14 Dec 2023 - 27 Jan 2024The body is a physical and material being. However, it can also reflect a person's spirit, sense of 'self' or embrace metaphors of our contemporary age. This exhibition seeks to...Read more -
Andrew Litten: Connect
9 Mar - 8 Apr 2023JD Malat Gallery is pleased to present “Connect”, the second solo exhibition by British artist Andrew Litten, on view in Mayfair from 9 March until 8 April 2023. The exhibition...Read more -
Summer Exhibition 2022
25 Jul - 3 Sep 2022JD Malat Gallery is delighted to present its Summer Exhibition of 2022 featuring artworks by Andrew Litten, Andy Moses, Ed Moses, Conrad Jon Godly, Zümrütoğlu, Georgia Dymock, Georg Óskar, Katrin...Read more -
Summer Exhibition 2021
21 Jul - 4 Sep 2021JD Malat Gallery is pleased to present its 'Summer Exhibition 2021' featuring works by Anotherview, Jean-Pierre Cassigneul, Petra Cortright, Ian Cumberland, Katrin Fridriks, Wesley George, Georg Óskar Giannakoudakis, Conrad Jon...Read more -
Andrew Litten: Fragile Together
12 May - 6 Jun 2021When JD Malat had the idea, last summer, of giving isolated artists a London showcase in the exhibition Isolation Mastered, Andrew Litten was one of the artists selected. His work...Read more
Press
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Contemporary Figuration: Between body & Metaphor
Meer, January 16, 2024 -
BBC RADIO LONDON: Gallery director discusses 'Contemporary Figuration: Between Body & Metaphor'
Jumoké Fashola, BBC Radio London, January 7, 2024 -
A Refreshing Take on Figurative Painting at JD Malat Gallery
Lee Sharrock, CULTURALEE, December 18, 2023 -
ART PLUGGED: Contemporary Figuration: Between Body & Metaphor
Art Plugged, December 15, 2023
Publications
Video