Ivan Seal
- Associate lecturer
- Painting MA
Ivan Seal is a Berlin based English artist who works with a variety of mediums, including oil paint on canvas and computer-generated sound. His practice delves into the notions of memory and the formation of imaginary entities within the still life genre.
Ivan Seal's work offers an alternative perspective on still life, suggesting that the very act of being depicted or remembering may shape our memories of that moment, challenging the traditional approach to still life as a faithful depiction of a moment in time.
Rather than focusing on the melancholy reflection of the inevitable passage of time, Seal chooses to depict a memory in a way that approximates the integrated totality of a recollection in the process of becoming, rather than an imperfect representation of the negated subject in a singular form.
It could be said that objects serve as documents of the process of "becoming" and residue of one's glitched psychology, rather than attempting to replicate a moment.
Additionally, Seal has the opportunity to work with the electronic musician James Leyland Kirby, also known as The Caretaker. This collaboration has resulted in a number of critically acclaimed albums, including: An Empty Bliss Beyond This World and the six-part album series Everywhere at the End of Time. Both explore the challenging theme of memory loss through the lens of long-term mental decline, as experienced by those living with dementia.
More information
Publications, exhibitions & other outcomes
2024 Perhaps Sunny Days, PODO Museum, Seogwipo, South Korea
2023 Positions, Alma Pearl, London [Curated by John Slyce]
2023 30 Years, Monica De Cardens, Milan, Italy
2023 Polyreality, Hive Gallery, Beijing
2022 Today Rots Through Tomorrow, Richard Heller Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
2022 I wake up fresh and rested most mornings, Allouche Benias, Athens, Greece
2022 MANSCAPING, The Hole, Los Angeles and New York, USA
2021 Three Rooms, Carl Freedman Gallery, Margate, UK
2021 Nature Morte, The Hole, New York, USA
2020 GENERATIONGAME, James Fuentes, New York, USA
2019 Holds No Warranties About the Completeness, Reliability and Accuracy, Kennedy van der Lanan, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2019 Ivan Seal and the Caretaker: Cukuwruums, Unsound, Kraków, Poland
2019 IVAN SEAL + THE CARETAKER: everywhere, an empty bliss, FRAC Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France [catalogue]
2019 Ivan Seal, Galleria Monica De Cardenas, Milan, Italy
2018 Ivan Seal feat. The Caretaker, Cabinet, Milan, Italy
2018The Caretaker, The Barbican, London
2016 Ivan Seal: Some of These One of Those and That, Åplus, Berlin
2016Chevette in dub, RaebervonStenglin, Zürich, Switzerland
2016 Lucio Fontana, Caroline Achaintre, Ivan Seal: A conversation about Ceramics, Monica De Cardenas, Milan, Italy
2016 Background/Foreground, Galerie Nordenhake, Stockholm, Sweden
2016Kollision, Kunstraum Kreuzberg / Bethanien, Berlin, Germany
2015 Ivan Seal, Carl Freedman Gallery, London
2015 Ivan Seal: Showroom, RaebervonStenglin, Zürich, Switzerland
2015 Magnetic Leakage Fluxes, The Brno House of Arts, Brno, Czech Republic
2015 The Painter of Modern Life, Anton Kern Gallery, New York, USA
2015 Blue Pink Black, Carl Freedman Gallery, London Five Years, RaebervonStenglin, Zurich, Switzerland
2014 Mean What You See, Daniel Marzona, Berlin, Germany
2014 A Tale of Two Cities, Gallery Huit, Hong Kong
2013 Ivan Seal / RaebervonStenglin / Zürich / CH
2013 Ivan Seal / Contemporary Art Society at 59 Central Street / London / UK
2013 Ivan Seal / Carl Freedman Gallery / London / UK
2012 In Here Stands It / Spike Island / Bristol / UK
2011 The Object Hurts The Space / RaebervonStenglin / Zurich / CH
2011 Ivan Seal / Carl Freedman Gallery / London / UK
2011 True As Applied To You / False As Applied To You / Krome Gallery / Berlin / DE
2010 I Learn By Osmosis / CEAAC / Strasbourg / FR