Andrew Litten: Fragile Together

When 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 touched a nerve, forcefully evoking the physical and emotional fragility exposed by the Covid pandemic. On the strength of it, the gallery offered him a solo exhibition.

 

Litten is essentially self-taught. Like other self-taught artists, he was drawn to art because there were things he urgently wanted to say that couldn't be put into words. He wasn't interested in objective representation; he was searching for emotional expression.

 

Human frailties and compulsions explored in recent paintings like Nail Biting and Alcohol Now have always been a central theme of his work. But the support of others during this extraordinary year, in which he also suffered a personal bereavement, have made him suddenly aware of how sharing our vulnerabilities is a way of nurturing meaningful connection - a realisation that inspired the theme of this show, Fragile Together.