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

Robyn Denny began a series of mosaics in 1955 after taking classes on the technique while studying at the Royal College of Art, London. He was so driven by the process that he published an article on the technique in his final year. The series of mosaics that he completed during this time formed his first one-person show at Gallery One, London in January 1958. Denny subsequently took up 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 evoked. The unearthed, torn-up landscape 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 achieves 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 the 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 undulating dense surface. Where, like late cubist works, he renders the subject, the architecture, and the space in-between all as concrete matter.

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