Neil Zakiewicz

Paint on folded sheet steel, 2020

Acrylic on paper 2021

My practice revolves around setting up formal systems that intentionally break down to create serendipitous results. It is a way to let go of my ego. I am influenced by Surrealistic games of chance in order to uncover images. In this sense, my abstraction, rather than being reductive, is open and indulgent. Illusions are received with open arms.

I spend a considerable time drawing and producing colour studies in preparation of the realised works. Balanced with this planning, I allow spontaneity and a certain surprise when it comes to finishing the work. I can never fully know how my works will turn out and this sense of jeopardy keeps me engaged.

My materials tend to be hard-edged steel or wood and flatly painted with a spray gun. By using industrial materials such as these, the work has the superficial appearance of a factory-finished product, like automotive parts or flat-pack furniture. However, the work also accommodates imperfections - happy accidents - as clues to the hand-built production of the work.

Viewers of my work seem to intuitively recognise that there is a process that can be unpicked and rewound. In this sense the work is a kind of puzzle. I try to keep production methods on the surface, like a coder of open-source software, that can be scrutinised. I enjoy artworks that are uncompromisingly simple and economic, such as Marcel Duchamp's Readymades or Jiro Takamatsu's wooden sculptures and shadow paintings, similarly uncanny and summon a multitude of questions.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

Come Alive, Domobaal, London (2022)

Made Good, CIMCOT Space, London (2019)

Working, Domobaal, London (2018)

MDF Paintings, Divus, Deptford, London (2014)

Fruits of the Palette, Gone Tomorrow Gallery, London (2007)

Selected Group Exhibitions

Twenty-nineteen, Campbell Works, London (2023)

Boot, Terrace Gallery, London (2022), touring to Platform A, Middlesborough (2023)

New Forms, Saatchi Gallery, London (2022)

Skewed Logic, Coleman Project Space, London (2022)

Mass, Saatchi Gallery, London (2021)

Night School (with Dominic Beattie), Fold Gallery, London (2020)

The Collector's Room, JGM Gallery, London (2020)

Backyard Sculpture, Domobaal, London (2019)

Not Dream Of Islands, Palfrey, London (2018)

Shut Up, Campbell Works, London (2017)

Kit Shrines (with Hiroe Komai), Divus, London (2014)

Pile, Surface Gallery Nottingham (2010), touring to Chapter Art Centre, Cardiff, Wales (2011)

Dawnbreakers, John Hansard Gallery, Southampton (2010)

Residency

Middlesex University, Artist in Residence 2011 – 2012

God of the Gaps, lino print, 2020

Time At Hogchester Arts

Residency period - 2023

Hogchester Residency was a productive time for me, where I was able to develop a new series of paintings. I appreciated the peace to get on with my work, with no strings attached. The residency exceeded my expectations in terms of what I could achieve in ten days, especially as I was experimenting with painting on canvas for the first time.

As a Londoner, the country life took some getting used to! I arrived without my own transport, which meant I stayed for the majority of the time at the farm where I was immersed in the sounds of wildlife chatter and was greeted daily by the friendly goats. The studio, a large converted barn, is almost next to the the yurt where I slept. My work was broken up by mealtimes that I made in the farm kitchen and brought back to the studio.

I did some excursions with Chantal in her car. Our sightseeing highlights were Cannington Viaduct - a massive structure that is hidden from view in a valley until it dramatically looms ahead - and the ancient church at Whitchurch Canonicorum, with its rare Medieval healing shrine. I'm grateful to Chantal for looking after me and taking an interest in my work and I'll fondly remember our walks with her dog, Piper.