Vardaxoglou is pleased to present an exhibition of early mosaics by Robyn Denny (1930-2014). It is the first time these works have been exhibited since their inclusion in the artist’s Tate retrospective in 1973.

Denny began a series of mosaics in 1955 after taking classes on the technique while studying at the RCA. He was so driven by the process that he published an article on the technique in his final year. The series that he completed during this time formed his first one-person show at Gallery One, London in January 1958. Denny subsequently took the opportunity to expand his process with a commission to create a mosaic mural at London County Council’s primary school at Abbey Wood. Mosaics interested him, like collage, as a medium for building up a structured composition, piece by piece.

“Landscapes, really,” is how Denny described these works. With the mosaic facets both protruding and being covered by layers of grit and what appears like rubble, a post-war London landscape is evoked. The unearthed, torn-up appearance of the city in reconstruction was a dramatic subject that impressed itself upon many British artists of the time; however, despite the heavy density of the materials in these works, Denny manages to achieve a quiet stillness and calm within a slowly tumbling surface, comparable to ancient Greek ruins.

Unlike historical mosaics, which are characterised by their even surface, Denny has built up the surface with the pieces, devising a sculptural assemblage of an image. With his process of addition and removal of the material, his own discovery of losing and finding the structure within the work as it unfolds becomes clear, yielding a tension that oscillates between stability and collapse. Layers are built up and then excavated again to reveal a face or a landscape. Working rigorously to disrupt the repetition of the mosaic square, with plaster, concrete, and resin, Denny achieves an organic and dense, undulating surface; where, as in late Cubist paintings, he renders the subject, the architecture, and the space in-between all as concrete matter.

For further information, please contact info@vardaxoglou.com.

About the Artist
Born in Surrey, England, Robyn Denny (1930–2014) was one of an internationally acclaimed group who transformed British art in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Inspired by the scale and energy of Abstract Expressionism emerging from the US, Denny developed his own unique language of painting and printmaking, which drew from popular culture, urban modernity and American films.

Graduating from the Royal College of Art in 1957, Denny was one of the organisers of the now legendary 1960 exhibition Situation which marked a dramatic shift away from the mainstream abstraction of the St Ives School to a new style of painting. In 1966, Denny represented Britain at the Venice Biennale and in 1973 was the recipient of a Tate retrospective, the youngest artist at the time to receive this honour.

In 1981 Denny moved to Los Angeles where he lived for much of that decade, the influence of the Southern Californian light bringing about a profound change in his work. From the 1990s until his death in 2014, Denny worked intensely on groups of monumental canvases and works on paper, many of which have never been exhibited before. In 2018, Denny was the subject of a posthumous exhibition at the Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange in Penzance.

Robyn Denny’s work can be found in the collection of public institutions such as Tate, London; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Arts Council of England; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Arts Institute, Chicago; the National Gallery of Australia, Sydney; the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; the Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven; the Scottish National Gallery for Modern Art, Edinburgh and the British Council.

Vardaxoglou Gallery represents the Estate of Robyn Denny.