Output details

EAST International - 19 paintings and 6 book covers as part of the 25 artist exhibition, July-August 2009

This output consists of nineteen paintings and six book covers for EAST International 2009 (http://www.eastinternational.net/). Cranston was selected as one of 25 artists from 2000 applicants within an open competition . The output was selected by Art + Language (Baldwin and Ramsden) and Raster Gallery, Warsaw (Gorczyca and Kaczynski) and includes an A4 Full colour catalogue 156pp. ISBN 1872482 90 2 with texts from Lynda Morris (curator), and the selectors .

A key thematic of East 2009 sought to locate the individual between the domains of the visual and theoretical. Cranston researched and constructed scenarios derived from a close reading of texts where interior space is a significant factor in the story (Kafka, Genet, Borges, Perec). His representation of the individual in an interior constitutes a narrative of the isolated persona of the artist (Lack 2009 Artist of the Week http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/apr/15/artist-andrew-cranston).The aesthetic aim is to move beyond the intellectual, opening up a more ambiguous, surreal space that parodies the trope of the artist while allowing the viewer to empathise with it. His approach seeks to draw a new relationship between text and the visual, close to book illustration but fundamentally differently, visually, inflected. The convergence sets out to challenge the theory and practice of both textual and visual narrative.

Cranston’s work was reviewed:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/jul/20/east-international-biennial-norwich

Frieze (online), https://www.frieze.com/shows/review/east_international/

Art Monthly, Artists Newsletter http://www.a-n.co.uk/interface/reviews/single/556921

The exhibition was funded by Arts Council England, Norwich University College of the Arts, Contemporary Art Norwich, and Norfolk & Norwich Festival. Cranston was supported by a Scottish Arts Council Artists Award (£15,000 January 2009). As a result of this EAST International, this work was selected by Marc Camille Chaimowitz for a new exhibition which responded to the work and life of the writer, Jean Genet at The Norwich Gallery (19. Apr - 21. May 2011)