Glenn Goring

STATEMENT 

“I believe artists, writers, creative people in general don’t accept the world as it is. They feel reality is not enough or it’s not satisfying in some way. Or maybe, in some cases, it’s too much for them.  So they need to create, to invent new things to incorporate into the world; to stimulate, to excite, to entertain and somehow alter it to suit themselves. The vast majority of people, regular people, don’t need that, they’re mostly content in the world as it is.” (Anonymous)

Glenn’s art is concerned mainly in trying to re-define the familiar. Taking an everyday object he tries to work-out a way of re-inventing it and turning it into something surprising.  The once familiar object – be it an electric iron, a portable CD player,  a three piece suite – is given a new identity.  Glenn attempts to strip his subjects of their accepted meaning so they radiate like props in an alternative reality.

Glenn also finds the medium of plaster a fascinating and versatile material. With the addition of colour, he can achieve startling, abstract results. It can also be sculpted, cast, and made to appear like cracked rock. The bowls are a practical solution to displaying the beauty of the material’s decorative qualities.

Contact: info@glenngoring.com

Biography

1967: Began training as picture restorer.
1970: Designed and painted inner gatefold for Comus’s album “First Utterance”.
1973-1976: Gained a BA in Fine Art at Ravensbourne College of Art.
1981: Began career as a freelance picture restorer, copyist and portrait painter.
1983: Designed and made ceramic relief tiles.
1989-1990: Became member of the International Institute of Conservators and nominated as official copyist for the National Portrait Gallery.
1990: Began experimenting with Alpha plaster as a painting and 3D medium.
1995: Began using tinted Alpha plaster as material for decorative bowls and furniture.
1995: Worked on a series of 3D objects/sculptures using domestic appliances.
2007: Commenced series of paintings depicting insects and the unexpected.

SELECT EXHIBITIONS
1988: Exhibition of surrealist sculptures with D.Truzzi-Franconi at the Tilt Factory Framlingham, Suffolk
1992: Exhibition of sculptures and plaster paintings at the Altamira Gallery, Banbury.
1995: Exhibition of paintings at Swan House Gallery, Beccles.
2006: Exhibition at the Norwich Arts Fringe Festival’s City Trail.
2008: Exhibitions of paintings and objects at: Regatta Fine Art, Burnham Market, Norfolk & 6 Artists at the United Reformed Church, Norwich

OTHER ARTISTIC AND CREATIVE ACTIVITIES
1969-1972: Played guitar and composed songs with the band Comus. Recorded the album ‘First Utterance”.
1982-1984: Wrote, produced and designed 2 stage plays performed by Norwich Experimental Theatre in Norwich.
1985-1986: Designed and built 2 shop interiors in London and Norwich.
1986-1987: Completed an MA in Creative writing, University of East Anglia.
1990-2005: Wrote short stories and a screenplay, as well as a 30 minute television drama produced by East Anglia TV.
2008: Performed with the reformed Comus for the first time in 37 years at the Stockholm-Helsinki Melloboat Music Festival.

2012: Comus release EP “Out of the Coma”