Grieder Contemporary is pleased to present the first solo show by British painter Ross Chisholm (*1977), whose works were already included in last year's group show “Kaminzimmer.”

In his paintings, executed with a painstaking precision reminiscent of the Old Masters, Ross Chisholm combines found imagery from English high and low culture, thus creating surreal tableaux. Figures and folds from paintings by English masters like Gainsborough or John Everett Millais are juxtaposed with old ladies and workers from family photographs that Chisholm purchased in garage sales, while mysterious mushrooms, reproduced from botanical handbooks, keep resurfacing in his paintings. While the figures are elaborated in great detail, the backgrounds often remain shrouded in a chiaroscuro reminiscent of Turner or Constable. Chisholm uses the tension between the disparate visual elements to develop a cosmos of subliminal menaces and invisible abysses that combines precise observation of everyday life with playful references to art history.

Paintings, drawings, and slide projections provide an exhaustive insight in Chisholm's visual universe and his working process. While the drawings explain how Chisholm develops his motifs, the slide projections show another aspect of Chisholm's work with found material. On slides with innocuous family pictures that he discovered in flea markets, the artist scratches new elements, creating a hybrid form between painting and photography.

On the occasion of the exhibition an artist's book will be published, edited by Grieder Contemporary, Küsnacht and Ibid Projects, London. The publication is designed by Christian Boros with texts by Martin Herbert and Martin Jaeggi.

Ross Chisholm (*1977) lives and works in London. He studied Painting at Brighton University and did his postgraduate diploma in Fine Art with Goldsmith University in London. His works have been on show in numerous exhibitions in England, Lithuania and Australia.