Mark Fairnington b.1957 ‘Fairnington distorts scale, rearranges species, creates new and dubious random couplings. He puts the mystery back into science and reminds us that we don’t know everything, that much can still not be explained. The tension between elements in his paintings is resolved pictorially, but leaves a subtle charge – a leaven of doubt – to be absorbed by the receptive viewer.’ Andrew Lambirth Previous exhibitions include Fabulous Beasts at the Natural History Museum (2004), A Duck for Mr Darwin at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art (2009), a solo exhibition Collected and Possessed at the Horniman Museum, London (2015). In October 2018 his exhibition Unheimliche Pastorale opened at Galerie Peter Zimmermann, Mannheim, Germany. In 2018 he worked on a newly commissioned series of paintings for the English Heritage property Cherryburn in Northumberland, the birthplace of the artist Thomas Bewick. These were shown in the exhibition The Landscape Room at Handel Street Projects, London, 2020. SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2020 The Landscape Room, Handel Street Projects, London 2020 Relics, Containing the figures of Saints, Martyrs, Sinners, Birds of Paradise, Beasts and Plants, Ushaw Museum, Durham 2018 Unheimliche Pastorale, Galerie Peter Zimmermann, Mannheim, Germany 2018 Walking Looking and Telling Tales, Cherryburn, Northumberland 2017 The Worm in the Bud, Handel Street Projects, London with commissioned short story by Mary Horlock 2015-16 Collected and Possessed, The Horniman Museum London 2015-16 A London Assembly, Delahunty, London 2014 of People, Galerie Peter Zimmermann, Mannheim, Germany 2012 Unnatural History, Mannheimer Kunstverein, Galerie Peter Zimmermann, Germany 2011 Flora, Oliver Sears Gallery, Dublin 2010 Bull Market, Bury St Edmunds Art Gallery, Suffolk 2009 Private Collection, Galerie Peter Zimmermann, Germany 2007 Dynasty, Art Agents, Hamburg 2006 The Raft, Fred, London 2004 Wunderkammer II, Wunderkammer I, Kunsthalle Mannheim and Galerie Peter Zimmermann, Germany 2002 Dead or Alive, Oxford University Museum of Natural History touring to Harewood House 2001 Staying Alive, Mobile Home, London 2000 Specimen, Gallery Axel Thieme, Germany 2000 Mantidae, Oxford University Museum & Ace Gallery, Los Angeles 1999 Peepshow, Mobile Home, London 1998 Gallery Axel Thieme, Germany 1998 Heavier Than Air, Imperial War Museum, London 1997 Todd Gallery, London 1996 A Gym and Six Portraits, Serpentine Gallery residency 1995 Hof en Huyser Gallery, Amsterdam, Holland 1994 Todd Gallery, London 1991 Todd Gallery, London 1991 121 Art Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2023-4 Reimag(in)ing the Victorians, Djanogly Gallery, Lakeside Arts, University of Nottingham 2023 Landscape of the Gods, Cross Lane Projects in Kendal, Lake District 2023 Arcadia for all? Rethinking Landscape Painting Now, The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery, University of Leeds 2023 London Calling 2.0, Galerie Peter Zimmermann, Mannheim, Germany 2023 Thomas Bewick and Contemporary Art, National Trust Cherryburn, 2022 Cross Lane Projects in Kendal, Lake District 2021 RA Summer Show curated by Yinka Shonibare 2020 Beast, Old Big School Gallery, Tonbridge 2019 Living Ruins, Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum 2019 Out of Place, Hatton Gallery, Newcastle 2019 Songs the Plants Taught Us, Anytime Dept, Cincinnati 2019 Painting Childhood: From Holbein to Freud, Compton Verney 2017 Accrochage, Galerie Peter Zimmermann, Mannheim, Germany 2017 Drawing Room Biennale, The Drawing Room, London 2016 In Residence, Oliver Sears Gallery 2016 Doppelgänger, Lewisham Art House, 2016 Master Paintings, Ben Elwes Fine Art 2016 The Abject Object, Wimbledon Space 2015 Drawing Room Biennale, The Drawing Room, London 2014 Ben Elwes Fine Art 2014 BP Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery, Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens, Scottish National Portrait Gallery 2014 Detail, H-Project Space, Bangkok, Transition Gallery, London and Usher Gallery, Lincoln 2013 Discerning Eye, The Mall Galleries 2013 SO Fine Art Editions, Dublin 2013 BP Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery 2013 The Nature of the Beast, New Art Gallery, Walsall 2013 Our Creatures, New Art Gallery, Walsall, curated by Mark Fairnington 2011 Auction Room, Globe Gallery, Newcastle, 2011 Drawing:Interpretation/Translation, The Drawing Gallery, Powys 2011 London Calling, Galerie Peter Zimmermann, Mannheim, Germany 2011 40 Artists - 80 Drawings, The Burton Art Gallery and Museum, Devon 2010 Miscellaneous, Galerie Peter Zimmermann, Mannheim, Germany 2010 The Moment of Privacy Has Passed, Usher Gallery, Lincoln 2010 Now and Then, Oliver Sears Gallery, Dublin 2010 21, Harewood House, Leeds 2010 Blood Tears Faith Doubt, Courtauld Gallery, London 2009 The Artist's Studio, Compton Verney 2009 A Duck for Mr Darwin, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Mead Gallery, Warwick Arts Centre, University of Warwick 2009 40 Artists - 80 Drawings, The Drawing Gallery, Powys, including Edward Allington, Jason Brooks, Adam Dant, Alison Wilding, Bill Woodrow 2008 War and Medicine, Wellcome Trust London, touring to The Museum of Hygiene, Dresden 2008 Farmer's Market, Handel Street Projects, London 2008 Darwin's Canopy, Natural History Museum, London 2008 IMPORT/EXPORT, Fred, Leipzig 2007 Bird Watching, The Fish Market, Haarlem 2007 Traditional But New, Galerie Binz & Krämer, Cologne 2007 London Assembly, Academie Royale des Beaux-Arts, Brusseles 2006 Royal Academy Summer Show 2005 Young Masters, 148a John Street, London 2005 Blumenstück.Künstlers Glück, Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany 2005 Infallible in Search of the Real George Eliot, Hatton Gallery, Newcastle 2004 John Moores 23, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool 2004 Fabulous Beasts, Natural History Museum, London 2004 The Goat, Medieval Modern 2004 Transmission Portfolio, Domo Baal Gallery, London 2003-05 Transmission Portfolio, Site Gallery, Sheffield 2003-5 The Human Zoo, Hatton Gallery, Newcastle 2003-5 Infallible in Search of the Real George Eliot, APT Gallery, London, Mead Gallery, Warwick Arts Centre 2003-5 Chockerfuckingblocked, Jeffrey Charles Gallery, London 2002 Like Gold Dust, Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham 2002 Alessandra Bonomo Gallery, Rome 2002 History Revision, Plymouth Arts Centre 2002 Intimacy, Russell-Cotes Art Gallery, Bournmouth 2001 Intimacy, Oriel Mostyn Gallery, Wales 2001 Bittersweet, Danielle Arnaud Gallery, London 2001 Foil, The Gallery, Falmouth College of Arts and The Herbert Read Gallery, Canterbury 2000 Foil, Gallery Westland Place, London 2000 Green Green Grass, Mobile Home 2000 British School at Rome 2000 The Saatchi Gift, Art Institute, Bournemouth 2000 The Wreck of Hope, The Nunnery Gallery, London, 1999 Gallery Axel Thieme, Germany 1999 Saatchi in Sheffield, Mappin Art Gallery 1999 The Flower Show, Harewood House, Leeds 1999 Mark Fairnington and Sharon Kivland, Wigmore Fine Art, London 1998 Elga Wimmer Gallery, New York 1998 Postcards on Photography, Cambridge Darkroom, touring to John Hansard Gallery 1998 Whitechapel Open, Whitechapel Gallery, London 1998 Relative Values, Harris Museum, Preston, touring to The Rangers House, London 1997 WHAT, Trinity Bouy Wharf, London 1995 Whitechapel Open, Whitechapel Gallery, London 1995 Connaught Brown Gallery, London 1995 London Stories, Galerie Edition Marie-Louise Wirth, Switzerland 1994 Connaught Brown Gallery, London 1993 Pet Show, 83 Union St, London 1993 Arthur Anderson Award for Figurative Painting 1993 In House Out House, U7 Gallery, London 1993 Re-Present, Todd Gallery, London 1993 An Undiscovered Country, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London 1993 5 Painters, 83 Union St, London 1992 Whitechapel Open, Whitechapel Gallery, London 1992 The Body as a Room, Ruskin School of Fine Art, Oxford 1991 Face to Face, Chisenhale Gallery, London 1991 Todd Gallery, London 1990 Whitechapel Open, Whitechapel Gallery, London 1990 Itineraire ‘90, Levallois-Perret, Paris 1990 Mind the Gap, Cultural Centre, Nantes 1989 Whitechapel Open, Whitechapel Gallery, London 1989 Picturing People - British Figurative Painting 1945-1988, a British Council international touring exhibition 1989 Territories, Chisenhale Gallery, London 1989 Six British Artists, Rijsakademie, Amsterdam 1988 Whitechapel Open, Whitechapel Gallery, London 1988 The Invisible Man, Goldsmiths Gallery, London 1998 Death, Kettles Yard, Cambridge 1987 Critical Realism, a national touring exhibition 1987 Athena Art Awards, Barbican Centre, London 1986 Spirit of London, Royal Festival Hall, London 1985 Whitechapel Open, Whitechapel Gallery, London |