Project Native Informant

Sean Steadman

British artist Sean Steadman is first and foremost a painter. Steadman is invested in the medium’s specificities and its ability to draw out new visual forms. His practice arises from research into the history of image production, from the prehistoric to contemporary visual culture. His process is essentially intuitive and dialectical: after an initial drawing phase, Steadman works on the entirety of the canvas’ surface, applying, erasing, layering until a suitable starting point is achieved.  This initial phase is deliberately fast and decisive, so as not to allow critical reflection. The actual making of the image occurs through what Steadman refers to as the “digging down, where the painting is as much uncovered as it is built up from the outside”.

As seen in his solo exhibitions 1,000,000,000,000 and Cascade, all at once, the paintings appear corseted, perforated, entangled, swollen, or torn, insisting on aggregation through anarchic exposure. Through multiple phases over many months, the final composition can often deviate wildly from the original starting point; however this first phase anchors the works later developments. Steadman’s paintings marshal space, even if their structures are utterly mercurial. They are dialectics of schisms, sediments, breakages, the pulverulent and protuberant of colour and composition.

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Solo Exhibitions
2024Devonshire Collective, Eastbourne
Project Native Informant at Art Basel Hong Kong, Hong Kong
2022Axioms, Painters Painting Paintings, Online
2021Sting Cell Spike Lens Loop, Project Native Informant, OnlineCascade, Project Native Informant, London20201,000,000,000,000, Project Native Informant, London2019The Burrow, Project Native Informant, London
2018Aqbar, London
2015The Earth Is the Earth Because It is Nothing But the Earth, Project Native Informant, London
2014Sean Steadman, Jackie Reynal, News of the World Gallery, London
Group Exhibitions
2024Dispatches, Sans Titre, Paris
2023PNI @ 10, Project Native Informant, London
Project Native Informant at Dallas Invitational, Dallas
2022The Other Side of the Door, Super Super Markt, Berlin
2020After Image, Mamoth, London
2019Gubbinal, Project Native Informant, London
CONDO NY, New York
All That The Rain Promises and More, Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh
2018Unearthing, Becky's, London
2017Lived In, Galleri Opdahl, Stavanger
The Sleeping Procession, Cass Sculpture Foundation, Goodwood
Veronika Pausova, Sean Steadman, Sojourner Truth Parsons, 11R, New York
CONDO, Project Native Informant, London
2016Silleteros, Kinman Gallery, London
A Rose Is Without A 'Why', It Blooms Because It Blooms Carl Freedman, London
Cut, Shapes, Breaks and Scrapes, Seventeen, London
Cybernetic Meadow, Slate Projects and Averard Hotel, London
2015Chimp Cracks Nut with Rock (To What Extent Is It Asking a Question?), The Kennington Residency, London
2014At Home Salon, Marcelle Joseph Projects, London
Art After the Internet, Andor Gallery, London
2012Matters of Translation, Boetzelaer Nispen Gallery, London
Exposure Award, Parasol Unit, London
2011Each Day We Live Happier, Hatch Space, London
Projects
2019Curation - Gubbinal, Project Native Informant, London
2017Curation - The Sleeping Procession, Cass Sculpture Foundation, Goodwood
2016Curation - A Rose Is Without A 'Why', It Blooms Because It Blooms Carl Freedman, London
2015Curation - Chimp Cracks Nut with Rock (To What Extent Is It Asking a Question?), The Kennington Residency, London
Public Collections
Credit Suisse Art Collection, Zurich
Zabludowicz Collection, London

Sean Steadman

Fable

2023
Oil on canvas, framed
165 x 184 x 6.5 cm
65 x 72 1/2 x 2 1/2 in

Sean Steadman

Firmament

2021
Oil on canvas, framed
98.5 x 124 x 6 cm
38 3/4 x 48 7/8 x 2 3/8 in

Sean Steadman

Tetrice

2023
Mezzotint on paper, framed
47 x 37.5 x 2.5 cm
18 1/2 x 14 3/4 x 1 in

Installation View

Sean Steadman
Cascade, 2021
Project Native Informant, London

Sean Steadman

Bluff

2021
Oil on canvas, framed
99 x 124 x 6 cm
39 x 48 7/8 x 2 3/8 in

Installation View

Sean Steadman
Cascade, 2021
Project Native Informant, London

Sean Steadman

Stupa

2021
Oil on canvas, framed
99 x 124 x 6 cm
39 x 48 7/8 x 2 3/8 in

Sean Steadman

Mantel

2021
Oil on canvas, framed
99 x 124 x 6 cm
39 x 48 7/8 x 2 3/8 in

Installation View

Sean Steadman
Cascade, 2021
Project Native Informant, London

Sean Steadman

Bay

2021
Oil on canvas, framed
46.3 x 57 x 3.7 cm
18 1/4 x 22 1/2 x 1 1/2 in

Sean Steadman

Vault

2021
Oil on canvas, framed
46.3 x 57 x 3.7 cm
18 1/4 x 22 1/2 x 1 1/2 in

Installation View

Sean Steadman
Cascade, 2021
Project Native Informant, London

Sean Steadman

Terminal

2022
Oil and charcoal on canvas, framed
113.5 x 203 x 6 cm
44 3/4 x 79 7/8 x 2 3/8 in

Installation View

Sean Steadman
1,000,000,000,000, 2020
Project Native Informant, London

Sean Steadman

Rive

2020
Oil on canvas, framed
203 x 113.5 x 6 cm
79 7/8 x 44 3/4 x 2 3/8 in

Installation View

Sean Steadman
1,000,000,000,000, 2020
Project Native Informant, London

Sean Steadman

Gibbous

2020
Oil on canvas, framed
123.5 x 98.5 x 6 cm
48 5/8 x 38 3/4 x 2 3/8 in

Sean Steadman

Nape

2020
Oil on canvas, framed
123.5 x 98.5 x 6 cm
48 5/8 x 38 3/4 x 2 3/8 in

Installation View

Sean Steadman
1,000,000,000,000, 2020
Project Native Informant, London

Sean Steadman

Lune

2020
Charcoal and pastel on paper, framed
38 x 29.5 x 4 cm
15 x 11 5/8 x 1 5/8 in

Sean Steadman

Canto

2020
Oil on canvas, framed
244 x 194 x 6 cm
96 1/8 x 76 3/8 x 2 3/8 in

Installation View

Sean Steadman
After Image, 2020
Mamoth, London

Sean Steadman

Allegory

2020
Oil on canvas, framed
98.5 x 123.5 x 6 cm
38 3/4 x 48 5/8 x 2 3/8 in

Sean Steadman

Spire

2020
Oil on canvas, framed
203 x 113.5 x 6 cm
79 7/8 x 44 3/4 x 2 3/8 in

Installation View

Sean Steadman
After Image, 2020
Mamoth, London

Sean Steadman

Infant

2018
Oil on canvas, framed
124 x 99 x 6 cm
48 7/8 x 39 x 2 3/8 in

Sean Steadman

Parade

2018
Oil on canvas, framed
254 x 204 x 6 cm
100 x 80 1/4 x 2 3/8 in

Installation View

Sean Steadman
The Burrow, 2019
Project Native Informant, London

Sean Steadman

The Crossing

2019
Oil on canvas, framed
244 x 194 x 6 cm
96 1/8 x 76 3/8 x 2 3/8 in

Installation View

Sean Steadman
The Burrow, 2019
Project Native Informant, London

Sean Steadman

Tanta

2019
Oil on canvas, framed
124 x 99 x 6 cm
48 7/8 x 39 x 2 3/8 in

Installation View

Sean Steadman
The Burrow, 2019
Project Native Informant, London

Installation View

Sean Steadman
The Earth is the Earth, 2015
Project Native Informant, London

Installation View

Sean Steadman
The Earth is the Earth, 2015
Project Native Informant, London

Group Shows

Adam Gordon, Alan Miller, Andrew Stahl, Clémentine Bruno, ...

Gubbinal, co-curated with Sean Steadman

PNI, London

åyr, Kevin Cosgrove, Lulou Margarine, Sean Steadman, ...

CONDO 2017

PNI, London

Michael Andrew Page, Sean Steadman

The Sleeping Procession

Cass Sculpture Foundation, West Sussex

Flo Brooks, Morag Keil, Sean Steadman

Frieze London 2018

Frieze, London

Sean Steadman, Sophia Al-Maria

Dallas Invitational 2023

Fairmont Hotel, Dallas

DIS, Morag Keil, Sean Steadman

Independent New York 2016

Independent, New York

Units 1 and 3
48 Three Colts Lane
London E2 6GQ
United Kingdom

write@projectnativeinformant.com+44-20-8133-8887

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