2012 selectors
CHRISTOPHER LE BRUN
Painter, Printmaker, sculptor and current President of The Royal Academy of Art.
Born in Portsmouth and trained at the Slade and Chelsea Schools of Art in London he appeared early on in many group exhibitions, such as the influential Zeitgeist exhibition at the Martin-Gropius Bau, Berlin, and from 1980 on, in many solo exhibitions in Britain, Europe and America. He was a prizewinner at the John Moores Liverpool exhibitions in 1978 and 1980 and worked in Berlin during 1987-88 as guest of the DAAD artist’s programme.
Between 1990 and 2003 he served as a trustee of the Tate and subsequently of the National Gallery, a period which saw his involvement in the radical developments of Tate at Bankside, Liverpool and St. Ives as well as the masterplan and re-development of the east wing of the National Gallery.
In recent years he has been a trustee of the Dulwich Picture Gallery and the Prince’s Drawing School, which he helped to establish in 2000. In the same year he was elected Professor of Drawing at the Royal Academy.
At a time when artists frequently use traditional modes or quotations in a spirit of irony, the repertoire of motifs with which his work is especially associated makes patent his strong attachment to the imagery and emotional address of Romanticism and Symbolism. His paintings ask us to attend not only to the compelling imagery he employs, but also to the poetic and structural processes through which it is made visible.
He was elected President of the Royal Academy in December 2011. He is the 26th President since Sir Joshua Reynolds and the youngest to be elected since Lord Leighton in 1878.
(info from www.christopherlebrun.co.uk).
NATHANIEL PITT
Artist, Director, Division of Labour
Born in Wordsley, Black Country, Nathaniel trained at Falmouth School of Art, Wolverhampton University and De Appel in Amsterdam. He has facilitated many regional, national and international exhibitions and worked with a host of internationally recognised artists.
Between 1999 and 2006 Nathaniel taught fine art in New York, London and Oxford, he now owns and directs two galleries; PITT projects in Worcester and Division of Labour in Great Malvern.
He is chairperson for Worcestershire Contemporary Art and trustee with Meadow Arts, he is a member of the public art panel for Worcester City and has been awarded several grants for critically engaged art projects in the city.
In 2013 he is curating a project at Liste 18 in Switzerland, A performance programme for Artists Rooms: Joseph Beuys and has recently commissioned a public art project working with the artist Robert Barry.
Nathaniel is also an artist, once a year he participates in an artist residency that usually involves exploring art and the everyday with his partner and two children in tow.
www.divisionoflabour.co.uk
www.nathanielpitt.com
DAVID CLEATON-ROBERTS
Director, Alan Cristea Gallery
David Cleaton-Roberts is a board Director and partner of Alan Cristea Gallery, London, where he has been since 1998. Prior to joining the gallery he was a specialist in the picture department at Phillips Son & Neale Auctioneers and worked for the British Council in Venice. In his current role he oversees sales, art fairs and artists’ projects at the gallery, working closely with a number of internationally established artists and estates to help develop projects and manage their careers.
David has written for various publications including Art Review and Printmaking Today. He has written catalogue essays on Sam Francis, Jan Dibbets, Gillian Ayres, Ben Nicholson and Michael Craig-Martin. David has curated numerous exhibitions including a Michael Craig-Martin Drawing Retrospective currently on tour in Washington D.C.
David is the European Board member for the IFPDA (International Fine Print Dealers Association), an advisor to the IFPDA Foundation and serves on the selection committee for the Armory Show in New York. He was a founder selector for the Ludlow Summer Exhibition (now Ludlow Open). He holds a B.A (Hons) from the University of East Anglia and an M.A from Manchester University.
ANNE DE CHARMANT
Director, Meadow Arts
Anne de Charmant was born in Geneva. She trained as a cultural journalist and worked in Both Geneva and Paris for broadsheets, magazines, television and radio. She soon specialised in the visual arts and in particular contemporary art. From 1992 Anne worked as an art correspondent in London for French and Swiss publication.
In 1996 Anne also started to curate shows in Shropshire, where she was now based. The venue for these shows was Burford House, a large Georgian house with a highly regarded garden. As the exhibitions gathered momentum and funding from the Arts Council, Trusts and Foundations, the idea of an outdoor programme took shape. The Meadow Gallery was established by Anne in 2002 in 3 acres of arable land which was transformed, with hedges and wildflowers, as an outdoors gallery. The group shows were all curated by Anne de Charmant and included many new commissions.
In 2005 the organisation left Burford, and as Meadow Arts, started to produce exhibitions in highly regarded venues around the Midlands and beyond. In 2007 a partnership with the National Trust began at Hanbury House, followed by more ambitious projects in various National Trust venues. A series of six major shows, each accompanied by extensive engagement, educational and creative events, were seen by thousands of people.
Meadow Arts also began a programme of Public Commission base on an original new way of producing and siting public art.
At the end of 2011, under the leadership of Anne de Charmant, Meadow arts was chosen by the Arts Council as a National Portfolio organisation. This was based on the artistic excellence of the programmes as well as the strategic contribution of the organisation. Over the last few years Anne has attracted some talented colleagues. The Meadow Arts team is now formulating an ambitious four year programme.
