Joy Gerrard

Protest and Remembrance. Four person exhibition at Cristea Roberts Gallery. March 2019.

At this exhibition Joy showed two large paintings and six ink on paper drawings. All works were representations of huge Anti Brexit protests in London in 2018.

The text below is from Cristea Roberts website

Protest and Remembrance brings together four artists, Miriam de Búrca, Joy Gerrard, Mary Griffiths and Barbara Walker, who use drawing to examine elements of protest and/or remembrance through a range of subjects that include war, political demonstration, burial sites and lost industry, set in both the urban and the rural, past and present.

As a society we often come together, in times of celebration, in times of crisis, to protest or to mourn, or simply to remember. Whether we are reflecting on our past or trying to change our future, these artists are telling us the story of something that should not be forgotten.

cristearoberts.com/exhibitions/202/

Cross (Protest against Brexit, London, June 2018 ) 2019. Japanese ink on linen. (290 x 190 x 5 cm ) Installation view. Courtesy Cristea Roberts Gallery and photography-Jack Hems

Flag (Protest against Brexit, London, June 2018 ) 2019. Japanese ink on linen. (220 x 130 x 5 cm ) Installation view. Courtesy Cristea Roberts Gallery and photography-Jack Hems.

Installation view. Courtesy Cristea Roberts Gallery and photography-Jack Hems

Protest Crowd, London ( Brexit 1, June 2018 ) 2018. Ink on paper mounted on aluminium. Image dimensions 40 x 23cm. White box frame (approx. 45 x 55 cm )

Protest Crowd, London ( Brexit 2, June 2018 ) 2018. Ink on paper mounted on aluminium. Image dimensions 40 x 23cm. White box frame (approx. 45 x 55 cm )

Protest Crowd, London (Trump Protest, Trafalgar square, July 2018 ) 2018. Ink on paper mounted on aluminium. Image dimensions 40 x 23cm. White box frame (approx. 45 x 55 cm )

Protest Crowd, London ( Brexit 4, Peoples Vote, October 2018 ) 2019. Ink on paper mounted on aluminium. Image dimensions 40 x 23cm. White box frame (approx. 45 x 55 cm )

Protest Crowd, London ( Brexit 3 Peoples Vote, September 2018 ) 2019. Ink on paper mounted on aluminium. Image dimensions 40 x 23cm. White box frame (approx. 45 x 55 cm )

Protest Crowd, London ( Brexit 5, Peoples Vote, October 2018 ) 2019. Ink on paper mounted on aluminium. Image dimensions 40 x 23cm. White box frame (approx. 45 x 55 cm )

Work in progress on drawing . 2019

Work in progress on drawing . 2018

And The Ground Shook

These three wall based works show aerial views of pivotal protest moments and junctures from 2011, 2016 and 2017. The images are print versions of drawings and paintings, with added painted marks. The paintings have dynamic compositions, of street-scapes and squares; while the crowds they show are materially depicted as more delicate and fragile. They show a rally from Sanaa in the Yemen from 2011 (Arab Spring) and a protesting crowd that stopped a Trump Rally going ahead in Chicago during the US election campaign, 2016. The largest wall shows an amalgam of two drawings of the worldwide women’s marches from January the 21st 2017. These are from Chicago and Montpellier.

Wall laminated giclee prints on 3 walls
Facebook, Floor 1. Rathbone square London. Installed. 2018
Commissioned by Facebook.

Photography: Installation views: Joy Gerrard. Details of drawings: Justin Pipberger and Ros Kavanagh. Graphic Design: Julie Rafalski.

Installation views. Facebook, Floor 1. Rathbone square London.

Drawing for long wall.

Drawing for Wall 2

Shot Crowd

This solo exhibition presented an abstract film work alongside monochrome paintings and drawings of the Arab risings of 2011, anti-Trump demonstrations and ‘Black Lives Matter’ protests from 2016.

‘shot crowd’ was installed at the Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin in January 2017.

Installation View. ‘shot crowd’ at the RHA, gallery, Dublin.
Images courtesy of the artist. Photography Ros Kavanagh. January 2017

Protest Crowd, Chicago, USA, Trump Rally 2, (2016), 2017
Japanese ink on linen, 195 x 300cm, Courtesy of the artist

Protest Crowd, Charlotte, USA, Black Lives Matter (2016), 2017

Installation View. ‘shot crowd’ at the RHA, gallery, Dublin.
Film work ‘shot crowd’. HDV. Duration 4.00 minutes.

Installation View of drawings. ‘shot crowd’ at the RHA, gallery, Dublin.

Protest Crowd

This solo exhibition presented three large monochrome paintings from, Russia, Kiev and Occupy, New York alongside a series of drawings from 2012-15.

‘Protest Crowd’ was installed at Peer, London in October, 2015.
Link to PEER Gallery page.

Installation View. ‘Protest Crowd’ at Peer, London. October 2015.
Images courtesy of Peer and the artist.

Protest Crowd, Kiev, Ukraine, 2015
Japanese ink on linen, 130 x 190cm.

Protest Crowd, Moscow, 2015
Japanese ink on linen, 165 x 255cm.

Protest Crowd, Rio De Janeiro ( Austerity March, 2011), 2015.
Ink on paper. 52cm x 35cm.

Details of Protest Crowd, Kiev, Ukraine, 2015.

Selected Drawings 2009-2012

This series of monochrome ink and pencil drawings reproduces a selection of contemporary media photographs. In each, the protesting crowd is contained within the built environment and overviewed consistently from above. Ink drawings position crowd scenes in subtly presented, shifting contexts: though mostly that of protest. These images attend closely to the visual forms that have emerged through the ‘Arab Spring’, as well as mass actions in European cities and occupations in New York and London. The background research of this project is a huge archive of thousands of media images to which I add to on a daily basis, constantly sifting and selecting, until there is a final image to re-work. The drawings themselves exist as single pieces, but are strongest as grouped objects; themselves a multitude.

Protest Crowd, London (1), 2011. Ink on paper, 40cm x 58cm

Protest Crowd, Tahrir Square (3), 2011. Ink on paper, 40cm x 58cm

Protest Crowd, Beirut (3), 2009. Ink on paper, 40cm x 58 cm

Protest Crowd, Tahrir Square (6), 2011. Ink on paper, 40cm x 58cm

Protest Crowd, Tahrir Square (5), 2011. Ink on paper, 40cm x 58cm

Protest Crowd, Tahrir Square (4), 2011. Ink on paper, 40cm x 58cm

Protest Crowd, Beirut (2), 2009. Ink on paper, 40cm x 58cm

Worship Crowd, Mecca (1), 2009. Ink on paper, 40cm x 58cm

Support Crowd, New Zealand, 2009. Ink on paper, 40cm x 58cm

Shelter Seeking Crowd, New Orleans, 2009. Ink on paper, 40cm x 58cm

Selected Drawings 2013-17

These small but immensely detailed drawings of crowds have provided the backbone and base for larger paintings made from 2015 onwards. My working processes and the final product reflect the volatility and unpredictability of the crowd – and, conversely, the permanence of the architectural site within which it gathers. Through drawing and painting I try to capture and reflect the human and affective power which condenses – and explodes – in these architecturally framed spaces. I think about aftermath; where might these images bring us? The events that brought us the images often still affect us in many and unexpected ways. How do we respond?

Image List:

1. Protest Crowd, (Womens March, Chicago, January 21, 2017) Ink on paper, mounted on aluminium, white box frame, 40cm x 58 cm. 2017.

2. Protest Crowd, (BLM, Oakland, July 08, 2016) Ink on paper, mounted on aluminium, white box frame, 40cm x 58 cm. 2017.

3. Protest Crowd, (BLM, Minneapolis, April 29, 2015) Ink on paper, mounted on aluminium, white box frame, 40cm x 58 cm. 2017.

4. Protest Crowd, Chicago, Trump Rally (2016), Ink on paper, mounted on aluminium, white box frame, 40cm x 58 cm. 2017.

5. Protest Crowd, Charlotte, Black Lives Matter (2016) Ink on paper, mounted on aluminium, white box frame, 40cm x 58 cm. 2017.

6. Protest Crowd, Moscow, Russia (2011) Ink on paper, mounted on aluminium, white box frame, 40cm x 58 cm. 2015.

7. Protest Crowd, Occupy NY (6), Ink on paper, mounted on aluminium, white box frame, 40cm x 58 cm. 2014

8. Protest Crowd, Occupy NY (3), Ink on paper, mounted on aluminium, white box frame, 40cm x 58 cm. 2013.

9. Protest Crowd, Tokyo (Version 4) Ink on paper, mounted on aluminium, white box frame, 40cm x 58 cm. 2013

10. Protest Crowd, Occupy NY (4), Ink on paper, mounted on aluminium, white box frame, 40cm x 58 cm. 2013

11. Protest Crowd, Yemen (street view) Ink on paper, mounted on aluminium, white box frame, 40cm x 58 cm. 2014

12. Protest Crowd, Yemen (version 5) Ink on paper, mounted on aluminium, white box frame, 40cm x 58 cm. 2016.

13. Protest Crowd, Tokyo (Version 5) Ink on paper, mounted on aluminium, white box frame, 40cm x 58 cm. 2013

14. Protest Crowd, (Occupy 2011) San Francisco (1) Ink on paper, mounted on aluminium, white box frame, 40cm x 58 cm. 2013.

15. Protest Crowd, Tahrir square (3) Ink on paper, mounted on aluminium, white box frame, 40cm x 58 cm. 2013

Protest Crowd, (Womens March, Chicago, January 21, 2017) Ink on paper, mounted on aluminium, white box frame, 40cm x 58 cm. 2017.

Protest Crowd, (BLM, Oakland, July 08, 2016) Ink on paper, mounted on aluminium, white box frame, 40cm x 58 cm. 2017.

Protest Crowd, (BLM, Minneapolis, April 29, 2015) Ink on paper, mounted on aluminium, white box frame, 40cm x 58 cm. 2017.

Protest Crowd, Chicago, Trump Rally (2016), Ink on paper, mounted on aluminium, white box frame, 40cm x 58 cm. 2017.

Protest Crowd, Charlotte, Black Lives Matter (2016) Ink on paper, mounted on aluminium, white box frame, 40cm x 58 cm. 2017.

Protest Crowd, Moscow, Russia (2011) Ink on paper, mounted on aluminium, white box frame, 40cm x 58 cm. 2015.

Protest Crowd, Occupy NY (6), Ink on paper, mounted on aluminium, white box frame, 40cm x 58 cm. 2014.

Protest Crowd, Occupy NY (3), Ink on paper, mounted on aluminium, white box frame, 40cm x 58 cm. 2013.

Protest Crowd, Tokyo (Version 4) Ink on paper, mounted on aluminium, white box frame, 40cm x 58 cm. 2013.

Protest Crowd, Occupy NY (4), Ink on paper, mounted on aluminium, white box frame, 40cm x 58 cm. 2013.

Protest Crowd, Yemen (street view) Ink on paper, mounted on aluminium, white box frame, 40cm x 58 cm. 2014.

Protest Crowd, Yemen (version 5) Ink on paper, mounted on aluminium, white box frame, 40cm x 58 cm. 2016.

Protest Crowd, Tokyo (Version 5) Ink on paper, mounted on aluminium, white box frame, 40cm x 58 cm. 2013.

Protest Crowd, (Occupy 2011) San Francisco (1) Ink on paper, mounted on aluminium, white box frame, 40cm x 58 cm. 2013.

Protest Crowd, Tahrir square (3) Ink on paper, mounted on aluminium, white box frame, 40cm x 58 cm. 2013.

Mediated Crowds, contested spaces

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Protest Crowd, Yemen (3), 2013. Ink on paper, Paper size - 40cm x 58cm

Right: Installation View of Protest Crowd, Yemen ( Version 4), 2015. Ink on Paper mounted on aluminium. Dimensions 200cm x 150cm
Left: All things splinter and collapse (Version 1), 2015. Grouped Drawings. Ink on paper. Dimensions 174cm x 94cm

All things splinter and collapse (Version 2), 2015. Grouped Drawings. Ink on paper. Dimensions 232 cm x 94cm

Protest Crowd, San Francisco (1), 2013. Ink on paper, Paper size - 40cm x 58cm

Details; All things splinter and collapse (Version 2), 2015. Ink on paper, Paper size - 40cm x 58cm

Space, Fear and the Multitude

Millenium Court Arts Centre, Portadown. NI, 2009

This solo exhibition included a range of drawings, paintings, small scuptures, models and films. Fiona Kearney, Director; Glucksman Gallery, Cork wrote in the exhibition publication;

“In this complex meditation on the crowd, urban space, and on the natural and metropolitan currents that shape our existence, Gerrard identifies a series of forces that control the scope of individual expression. The crowd subsumes the individual voice, the city controls the flow of the crowd, and the tempest and flood overwhelm the built environment. A cyclical pattern that drives the making and remaking of civilizations. This absorbing body of work invites us to consider our own part and place in the constant reconstruction of self and world. Gerrard’s perceptive study positions the crowd in a range of media, testing the way in which drawing, animation, sculpture and photography can express the shifting meaning of the many. The artist does not allow her subject to settle in any one form so that the exhibition is as restless and multiple as the congregations she depicts. It is a crowd of crowds”

Selected Archive

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Protest Crowd, San Francisco, 2003

Image Table 2007

Flood 1 & Flood 2
C-type photographic print mounted on aluminium, Dimensions 120cm by 170 cm