John Riddy: Half-light

Modernity and the light we see it in is a long-standing theme in John Riddy's work, ranging from the modernist architecture of 1930s Britain through to the architecture of Corbusier in Chandigarh. This exhibition of new works from the past two years consists of large-scale colour photographs that depict disparate views characterised by notions of progress – London’s Victorian railway arches, a tree local to Riddy’s studio newly lit with led lighting, a view across Lower Manhattan encompassing the High line, the new Whitney Museum of American Art and Ground Zero. The evidence of historical progress etched on structures that surround us has been a constant concern for Riddy and it is closely related to his long-standing determination to make photographs that chime with everyday urban experience.

As with other recent series, every aspect of these works is managed and made by Riddy himself. He sees the researching, taking and printing of the photograph as part of one process that can only be intuitive if he himself is the author of all its aspects. The final print is intended to be a resolution and distillation of that process.

John Riddy (b. Northampton, 1959) studied Painting at Chelsea School of Art. Recent group exhibtions include A Certain Kind of Light, an Arts Council Touring Exhibition, Schlaflos/Sleepless: The Bed in History and Contemporary Art, 21er Haus, Vienna, 40 Years–40 Artists, UMCA University of Massachusetts and Ruin Lust, Tate Britain. Riddy’s works are held in major collections, including: Tate, The Government Art Collection, Arts Council Collection, The V&A Museum, The Stedelijk and De Pont, Tilburg.