Fa c a d e sE d K l u z

18 September – 5 OctOber

E d K l u z Fa c a d e s

John Martin Gallery

18 Sept – 5 Oct 2019

INTRODUCTION

Designs for pageantry, celebration and pleasure form the inspiration for Ed Kluz’s next exhibition, Facades. From the Arches of Triumph constructed for the Coronation of James I in 1604, to the Ranelagh Rotunda and Inigo Jones’s unexecuted plans for a new Whitehall Palace, each occupies a significant place in London’s cultural history despite being either short-lived or existing only as engravings and drawings. Elaborate architectural schemes giving an effect of magnificence and opulence were often no more than fragile, temporary facades. In recreating these lost splendours, Ed Kluz’s paintings set out to capture the sense of celebration for which they were designed, pleasures as fleeting and impermanent as their architecture.

Ed Kluz is an artist, illustrator and printmaker. His work explores contemporary perceptions of the past through the reimagining of historic landscapes, buildings and objects. The ideas of early Romanticism, the Picturesque movement and antiquarian representations of topography and architecture underpin his approach to image making. He has a particular interest in the eccentric, uncanny and overlooked – follies, lost country houses and ruins provide a constant source of inspiration, becoming the haunting subject matter of his distinctive collages. Kluz studies old engravings, plans and descriptions in order to build a full mental picture, comparing the act of creating a collage to that of model-making, with each architectural element meticulously cut from paper and pasted, layer upon layer, on a background of inks. His recreations conjure up the vanished buildings in all their pomp, existing not in the re-createdlandscape, but rather illuminated by theatrical lighting. As a designer and illustrator Ed has recieved commissions from the V&A, Faber, Folio Society, John Murray publishers, Little Toller Books and St Jude’s fabrics. In 2017 Merrell published The Lost House Revisted with texts by Olivia Horsfall Turner and Tim Knox in which Kluz recreated the lost palace of Holdenby House, the magnificent mansion of Hamstead Marshall, Vanbrugh’s Eastbury Park, and the grandiosely Gothic Fonthill Abbey.

Ed was born in 1980 and grew up in Swaledale, North Yorkshire. He studied fine art at the Winchester School of Art between 1999 – 2002. He lives in Yorkshire.

2. Uncompleted Design for Winchester Palacepaper collage and oil on board, 34 x 47 ins, 87 x 120 cm

6. The Royal Fireworks, Green Park, 1748paper collage and oil on board, 33 x 39 ins, 84 x 100 cm

A grand firework display was held in Green Park in late 1748 to mark the end of hostilities between France and Britain. Giovanni Niccolo Servandoni designed a classical arch of triumph from which to

launch the fireworks in a dazzling pyrotechnic display. Sevendoni was furious when part of the structure accidentally caught light and was consumed by fire during the performance. He was so enraged that he

attacked the event’s organiser, the Duke of Montagu, with a sword.

13. Arch of Londinium paper collage on board, 48 x 37 inches, 102 x 79 cms

the triumphal archeS fOr the cOrOnatiOn Of JameS i, 1604

James I’s intended procession through London following his Coronation on the 25th of July 1603 was delayed until March 1604 due to a major outbreak of plague which had claimed 30,000 Londoners within a few short months. The seven Arches of Triumph were designed by the architect and joiner Stephen Harrison and situated at key points along the King’s processional route from the Tower of

London to Westminster Abbey. Each arch displayed a complex collection of symbols and visual devices which spoke of the glories of the nation and the monarchic responsibilities and virtues which were

expected to be fulfilled by the new King. These highly ornate and ingenious temporary buildings which varied between 40-90 feet in height, were painted and gilded in a riot of colour and constructed of

timber, canvas and plaster. Animated parts or ‘engines’ were worked by stage-hands hidden within the body of the arches - the Arch of the New World depicted a tableau containing a vast globe at its centre

which rotated with the aid of four people. At each arch the King would stop (albeit very briefly and with a small amount of indifference according to contemporary accounts) and witness performances of music and prose written by the great and the good of the time including poetry by Ben Johnson. It is possible that Shakespeare also took part in the masques as the King’s Players, of which he was a member, are listed as having being engaged to perform. Following the procession the arches were quickly dismantled. A series of engravings made at the time are the sole record of their appearance.

12. Arch of the New Worldpaper collage on board, 48 x 37 inches, 102 x 79 cms

12. Arch of the Italianspaper collage on board, 48 x 37 inches, 102 x 79 cms

3. The Ranelagh Rotunda, Chelseapaper collage and oil on board, 34 x 47 ins 87

‘…we went to Ranelagh. It is a charming place; and the brilliancy of the lights, on my first entrance, made me almost think I was in some inchanted castle or fairy palace, for all looked like magic to me.’.

From Evelina, 1778 , Fanny Burney

The Ranelagh Gardens were opened in 1741 on a site directly to the east of the Chelsea Hospital as a more refined rival to the baudier and older Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. The centrepiece to the

elaborate gardens was a huge rococo rotunda measuring 120 feet in width which housed a lofty circular assembly hall bordered by two tiers of boxes. The focus of this elaborate and theatrical

space was a vast central support which contained a chimney and fireplace. The Rotunda closed in 1803 and was demolished two years later.

In 1622 Inigo Jones’ new banqueting hall for James I at Whitehall Palace opened its doors. It represented the first phase of the ambitious and vast planned reworking of the rambling and untidy

tudor palace complex which had evolved piecemeal over the previous century. In 1638 Charles I commissioned new plans from Jones as enthusiasm for a more palatial reworking of the old site

gained fresh support. Jones’s proposed palace was a classical goliath stretching along the riverside to the south and St James’ Park to the north. It’s multitude of wings stretched over six courtyards and a circular ‘circus’. Today the Banqueting Hall represents a mere 5% of what was originally intended

by Jones for the new palace.

1. Unexecuted Design for Whitehall Palace by Inigo Jonespaper collage and oil on board, 39 x 59 inches, 100 x 150cms

9. Old Royal Naval College, Greenwichpaper collage and oil on board, 14 x 48 ins, 35 x 122 cm

4. Pitzhanger Manor, Ealingpaper collage and oil on board, 33 x 39 ins, 84 x 100 cm

5. Sir John Soane Museumpaper collage and oil on board, 39 x 33 ins 100

the lOndOn city GateS

All but one of the old city gates of London still stand. The Temple Bar made a triumphant return to the city in 2004 from Theobald’s Park in Middlesex where it had stood since 1880. The gate attribut-ed to Wren now stands rebuilt adjacent to his other great masterpiece, St Paul’s Cathedral, in the new

Paternoster Square development. As London has grown so has the congestion which exerts a daily pressure on the arterial roads and ways through the city. The old routes in and out of the city have

required widening and redevelopment over the centuries. The old city defensive gates simply stood in the way of the changing and ever moving progress of the city, however their memory still endures in

the names of streets and roads.

22. The Temple Bar ink on gesso panel, 11¾ x 9 inches, 30 x 23 cms

17. Moorgate ink on gesso panel, 11¾ x 9 inches, 30 x 23 cms

23. Whitehallgate ink on gesso panel, 11¾ x 9 inches, 30 x 23 cms

24. Bridgegate ink on gesso panel, 11¾ x 9 inches, 30 x 23 cms

19. Aldersgate ink on gesso panel, 11¾ x 9 inches, 30 x 23 cms