Counterpoint

Counterpoint, a term that refers to musical harmony, explores how successive generations of international artists, from the 1950s to the present day, have articulated abstraction through series, creating interlinked works underpinned by a consistent visual element, such as colour, orientation, density or repetition.

New series of prints by Polly Apfelbaum, Cornelia Thomsen and Odili Donald Odita, exhibited for the first time in the UK, and works by their contemporaries including Rana Begum, Ian Davenport and Julian Opie, will be displayed together with prints by pioneers of the mid-twentieth century, including Naum Gabo, Josef Albers, Bridget Riley and Donald Judd.

Counterpoint takes its title from the relationship between two or more musical lines in a composition that are played at the same time. Although dependent on each other to create a harmony, they remain independent in rhythm and melodic contour. The works on show in this expansive exhibition constitute masterclasses in technical printing. All of the artists, be they past or present, demonstrate how seemingly simple formulas can be used to generate complex groups of artworks and that articulating abstraction through series has evolved into a universal language that can engage any viewer.

Exhibiting artists: Anni Albers, Josef Albers, Polly Apfelbaum, Rana Begum, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Ian Davenport, Naum Gabo, Patrick Heron, Tess Jaray, Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, Odili Donald Odita, Julian Opie, Bridget Riley, Sean Scully, Cornelia Thomsen and Richard Woods.

To register your interest in the works that will be exhibited in Counterpoint please contact us directly via [email protected].

Click here to download the press release

The records in this playlist have been compiled from music and scores collected by Donald Judd, such as Scottish bagpipe music, and Sol LeWitt, whose vast music collection includes Mozart, Bach and John Cage. Further selections feature a record by Miles Davis that has long inspired Sean Scully, Beethoven’s Symphony 6 which Tess Jaray plays in her studio and tracks selected by Rana Begum.

Listen here

To register your interest in the works that are exhibited in Counterpoint please contact us directly via [email protected].