CHRISTOPHER LE BRUN REDISCOVERD
MAJOR EXHIBITION OPENS AT NEW ART GALLERY WALSALL

21 January 2008: Christopher Le Brun, one of the most influential figures to emerge in British art in the 1980s, will present his first major UK show in 20 years at The New Art Gallery Walsall from 8 February - 6 April.

Press Lunch:	Thursday 7th February 13.00hrs - 14.30hrs
Press Preview:	Thursday 7th February 14.30hrs - 16.00hs. Christopher Le Brun will lead a short tour around the exhibition at 14.30hrs. Transport provided from London.

The exhibition will bring together over 100 works ranging from early paintings such as Grand Island (1979), to large-scale sculpture, watercolours and prints as well as a new series of works, Day Paintings, which have been conceived, created and completed in a matter of hours. The exhibition, curated by The New Art Gallery's Director Stephen Snoddy, will allow for a fuller appreciation of Le Brun's art than has previously been possible, and for an in-depth exploration of his complex, serious and challenging body of work built up over a thirty year period.

Since his beginnings as an artist, Le Brun has investigated the relationship between figuration and abstraction, and explored the tension between what is painted and how it is painted. His work shows a repertoire of symbolic forms derived from nature, myth, poetry and music: horses, wings, towers and cypress tress, often set within semi-abstract, dark, luminous, landscapes. For Le Brun these are motifs that help him to explore formal problems within painting as well as carrying direct references or meanings. As such his work remains highly enigmatic and continuously open to re-interpretation and discussion.

The exhibition will take place throughout the gallery building including the 3rd and 4th floor galleries and entrance area. A selection of Le Brun's paintings will also sit alongside works in the gallery's Garman Ryan Collection.

Christopher Le Brun studied painting at the Slade and Chelsea schools of Art. Following his first solo exhibition at the Nigel Greenwood Gallery in London in 1980, he rapidly established an international reputation exhibiting world-wide. His work is in many public collections both in the UK and abroad including the Tate, the British Museum, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Stephen Snoddy, Director, The New Art Gallery Walsall, said: "Christopher Le Brun's work has fascinated me since I came across it at art school. His work resists easy categorisation and simplistic definitions, and defiantly stands apart from the mainstream. This exhibition will undoubtedly reveal him to be one of the most inventive, intelligent and highly emotive artists working in Britain today and will bring his work to a wider audience than has previously been possible."

A fully illustrated catalogue will accompany this exhibition featuring essays by Stephen Snoddy and the art critic JJ Charlesworth.

The New Art Gallery Walsall is run and maintained by Walsall Council and also receives significant financial support from Arts Council England.

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To attend the press lunch or press preview or for further press information please contact:

Kallaway
Anna Cusden
020 7221 7883
anna.cusden@kallaway.co.uk

New Art Gallery Walsall
Hollie Latham
01922 654402
lathamh@walsall.gov.uk

About Christopher Le Brun
Christopher Le Brun (b.1951) studied at the Slade School of Fine Art London and at Chelsea School of Art.

Le Brun has exhibited in many significant surveys of international art, including Nuova Immagine Milan 1981, Zeitgeist Berlin 1982, and Avant-garde in the Eighties, Los Angeles 1987. Most recently he was included in Contemporary Voices, at the Museum of Modern Art New York in 2005.

From 1987-88 he received the D.A.A.D. award from the German government, living and working in Berlin for a year.

He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1996 and in 2000 became the Academy's first Professor of Drawing.

Le Brun is a former trustee of the Tate, the National Gallery, and the Dulwich Picture Gallery. He is currently a trustee of the Prince's Drawing School and a member of the Council of the Royal Academy.

He is married to the painter Charlotte Verity. They have three children. He lives and works in London and Suffolk.

About The New Art Gallery Walsall
The New Art Gallery Walsall opened in February 2000 in the heart of Walsall town centre. The £21 million world-class gallery was made possible by £15.75 million Arts Lottery and commissioned by Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council.

On permanent display is The Garman Ryan Collection which was donated to the people of Walsall by Lady Kathleen Garman, widow of sculptor Sir Jacob Epstein, in 1973. This unique collection is displayed in a series of intimate, interconnecting rooms, each with a window, making a house for the collection over the first and second floors of the gallery. The Gallery is also home to the Discovery Gallery, an interactive space for everyone to look, touch, explore, create, puzzle and play.

The temporary exhibition galleries on floors 3 and 4 are dedicated to exhibiting a changing programme of exhibitions.

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