A Town Without Pity

18 April – 11 May 2013

“No it isn’t very pretty what a town without pity can do.”

Gene Pitney, A Town Without Pity (1961)

“It never goes on, it never comes off” (2013), C-type print on aluminium

4 Windmill Street presents A Town Without Pity by British artist Robin Footitt. The title, which derives from the Gene Pitney pop song, strikes a particular chord with Footitt’s multi-disciplinary approach, drawing parallels and conflicts within painting, sculpture and installation. It is a melody of romantic tragedy, urgency and bewilderment when Pitney sings, “we need an understanding heart” against the backdrop of metaphors for young love. This presentation of recent work tunes into the substance of celebration and marks the conclusion of a recent award that has seen the artist frequently travel between London and New York over the past three years.

There is an element to Footitt’s use of focal subject that can provoke unending resolution – being as the general purpose to ‘make sense’ is extracted from almost any potential medium. It never goes on, It never comes off (2013) is a series of photographs which account for the meeting point between opening and closing down, boxes are present and objects appear new inside a shop of some description, but these objects are also stripped of purpose, something that was once a ceiling fan has hit the ground and become a mangled chrome mess. Similarly other works pass through a contrasting filter; a pair of deflated yellow balloons stretched to hold a sheet of paper become a monochromatic surface in Yellow Moon (2013) and a print of Emilie Floge and Gustav Klimt in a rowboat is re-edited to make the bow and stern of the vessel romantically linked in Lovers (2013).

Robin Footitt (b. 1982, Sutton) studied at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design and the Royal College of Art, lives and works in London. Footitt has been selected for Acme Studios’ Fire Station Residency in Bow, London (2010 – 2015) and is a former resident of The Florence Trust, London (2009) and Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris (2008). He was awarded British Airways Great Britons Travel Bursary (2009) and selected by Matthew Higgs for White Columns Curated Artist Registry, New York (2010). Recent exhibitions include Mains, COLE, London (solo, 2011); Part of a Collection: Outset / RCA Acquisitions 2009-11, Royal College of Art, London (2012); SUNDAY, Ambika P3, (with Ian Homerston 2011); Radiaal Moderne: Art Rotterdam, Rotterdam (with Simon Mathers 2011) and SCREENING, Old Brompton Road, London (2010). His work is held in private collections worldwide.

A specially commissioned ice cream and accompanying lid has been made for the opening courtesy of the artist and Minghella Ice Cream.