TAPPAN in London

Los Angeles-based online platform, TAPPAN, is very pleased to present its first international pop-up exhibition featuring new works by London-based artists Daniel Fletcher and Michael Wall at the design concept space, Béton Brut in East London.

Inspired by the craftsmanship of modernist sculpture and the Neo Geometric Abstraction of the 1980s, artist Michael Wall playfully explores ideas of form, shape, and color through a vast range of printing, painting, and sculptural techniques.

Working primarily with pastel, acrylic, and powdered pigment on hand crafted wood panels or paper, Wall’s simple yet articulately balanced compositions of abstract forms seek to engage the viewer, both individual and collective. As this dialogue develops, the works reach their fullest potential. It is in this dialogue that Wall feels his work reaches its full potential.
Wall’s works further illustrate the complexity and simplicity of minimalist abstraction as a universal language throughout history and as a subjective reflection on contemporary society.
Spatial and temporal engagement is also key to the artist’s process, in which the subtle texture and depth of visible overlay is informed by the interaction of powder pigment with the materials at hand as well as the particularities of his surrounding environment.
For this exhibition, Wall continues his exploration of abstract form and the juxtaposition of shapes in large scale diptychs and single paneled works incorporating a distinct new hue of green to his predominantly black, blue yellow, red, and nude palette.

Daniel Fletcher’s considered process begins with crafting maquettes to explore composition alongside the attentive mixing and testing of colors. Working with the most basic components and features of his subject matter, whether the motifs on fruits and vegetable packaging or, in this latest series, the human face, Fletcher’s new monoprints on paper and canvas transform facial features into ambiguous forms, obscured beneath a facade of soft imagery.
Rooted in the desire to express feelings and emotion through through the personification of marks and form, the artist creates a familiar and accessible language through which to address the exhilarations and anxieties of his own life as well as the universal insecurities and optimisms of a collective society. Seeking to engage with the viewer on multiple levels, the artist echoes society’s tendency to project a vision or front of happiness and satisfaction in daily life.
Fletcher’s work is a poignant reflection of contemporary preoccupation with the public stage and the use of comic icons to express emotion.

Michael Wall (b. 1992 Norwich, UK) received a BA in Illustration from Norwich University of the Arts in 2014. Wall has exhibited at Tsuru+LIM, London (2016), TAPPAN, Los Angeles (2017), LFW The Apartment, London (2016) Loewe Raum, Berlin (2016), And Ings, London (2016). Wall's work has been featured in Cereal (2017), AnOther (2017), MAPS Korea (2017).

Daniel Fletcher (b. 1993 Guildford) received a BA from the University of the Arts in London, a UAL Art and Design Foundation from the University College Falmouth in 2012 and an MFA from the University of the Arts London in 2015. Daniel has had solo exhibitions at Tom Greyhound, Paris (2015), Stuarts, London (2015), Peckham Print Studio Space, London (2015), Well Gallery, London (2014), Untitled Gallery, Falmouth (2013), The Apothecary, Bristol (2013).
Group exhibitions include Well Gallery, London (2013) and The Royal Polytechnic Society, Falmouth (2013). TAPPAN, Los Angeles (2016 and 2017). Fletcher completed a residency at the University of the Arts London LCC in 2016 and the Peckham Print Studio, London (2015). He received the Print Futures 'Graduate of the Year' award in 2014 and has recently been featured in Its Nice That (2015) and So Young Magazine.

In 2017, Fletcher founded Foolscap Editions, an independent publishing and printing house that collaborates with emerging artists to create printed matter and special editions.
For further information please contact Tappan at info@thetappancollective.com or at +1.646.872.1446. All images are subject to copyright. Approval must be granted prior to reproduction.
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