Featured Artist: Nathan Coley

Nathan Coley was born in Glasgow in 1967, and he currently lives and works in Glasgow.  He also received a BA in Fine Arts at (of all places) the Glasgow School of Art.  He has had numerous solo and group exhibitions in the UK and internationally.  In 2007, Nathan was shortlisted for the prestigious Turner Prize.  For more images of Nathan’s interesting work, please visit his catalogue at Doggerfisher gallery’s website.

Much of Nathan’s work might be classified as site-specific installations.  His pieces often have the effect of drawing our attention to a particular place and time.  And yet, in spite of his common use of text that appears to “state the obvious” there is an interesting relationship between what is apparent and what is hidden, between what is on the surface and what is invisible.  Through controversial and blunt statements about the supernatural, or through refigurations of religious architecture, Nathan’s work raises interesting questions about the nature of the world that we inhabit and the place for religious belief within that world.

Heaven is a Place Where Nothing Ever Happens.  2008.  Installation view at Folkestone Triennial, Kent.

286 Places of Worship, Edinburgh 2004. 2004.  Installation view the Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh.

Camouflage Church.  2006.  Santiago de Campostela, Spain.

Annihilated Confessions (White).  2007.  Black and white photograph and enamel spray paint.  Each 100 x 75 cm.

Author

  • Jim Watkins is the assistant editor and a regular contributor at Transpositions. Originally, Jim is from southern California and southeastern Texas, but sometimes he feels most at home in the landscape and coffee shops of the Pacific Northwest. He met his wife Emily at Wheaton College in Illinois, where he studied Studio Art (concentration in painting). For his PhD research, he is examining the relationship between divine and human creativity from the perspective of divine kenosis.

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