Sam Porritt
Grist To The Mill
2016
Aluminium, motor, bearings, steel, paint, pigment ink
95 x 260 x 25 cm
VITRINE, London
Photographer Jonathan Bassett
Sam Porritt
Out of Place
2019
Installation view
Paradise Works
Video by Gwen Evans
Sam Porritt is an artist living and working in Zurich, Switzerland. Referencing both individual and shared histories, his work in drawing, sculpture, text and the moving image is largely concerned with human agency and its associated ethical implications. What can at first appear to be unconnected ideas and questions articulated in disparate ways are in fact often the same intractable problems only viewed from different perspectives. Added to this is his underlying interest in producing things that stand-alone, artworks that require little if any corroborating information outside of themselves.
Porritt’s recent works, including ‘Grist To The Mill’ (2016), focus his parallel investigations into sculpture and drawing and have been preoccupied with the idea of progress, what progress means for an individual and the society in which they live.
Sam Porritt (b. 1979, London, UK) graduated with a BFA in sculpture from the Chelsea School of Art and Design (2002). In 2005 he received his Post Graduate Diploma from the Royal Academy Schools, London. He was selected for the Swiss Art Awards 2017 and his book ‘ASSEMBLY – Cast of Characters’ was published by SIDE ISSUES, Zurich, CH (2015).
Solo exhibitions include: ‘Out of Place’, Paradise Works, Manchester, UK (2019); ‘A Certain Change’, VITRINE, Basel, CH (2018); Vevey Positive’, INDIANA, Vevey, CH (2018); ‘The Golden Rule’, CIRCUIT, Lausanne, CH (2017); ‘The Lonely Target’, c.o.m.p.o.s.i.t.e, Brussels, Belgium (2017); ’Grist To The Mill’, VITRINE, London, UK (2016); ‘Hidden In Plain Sight’ (with Fabio Pirovino), Frutta, Rome, IT (2016); ‘Falling Gets Me Down’, Naming Rights, London, UK (2015); ‘The More You Look, The More You Look’, 100 plus, Zurich, CH (2014); ‘Captive Audience’, MOK, Rotterdam, NL (2013); ‘Heads & Faces’, PEER, London, UK (2013); and, ‘Going Forward…’ Anne Mosserie-Marlio Gallery, Zurich, CH (2013).
Recent group exhibitions include: ‘The Replacements’ at Museum Bellpark, Kriens, CH (2019); 17th Tallinn Print Triennial ‘Cloudbusters: Intensity vs. Intention’ at EKKM, Tallinn, EE (2018); ‘Tipping the Scales‘ at Paradise Works, Manchester, UK (2018); ‘A Journey from a sweeping gesture to a lasting effect’, VITRINE, Basel, CH (2016); ‘Being Boring’, Living Art Museum, Reykjavik, IS (2016); ‘L’Hospice des Mille-Cuisses’ CAN, Neuchâtel, CH (2015); ‘Works on Paper by Sculptors’, The Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK (2015); ‘Hairy Plotter and the Polygrapher’s Tones’, Toves, Copenhagen, DK (2015); ‘Kunstvlaai’, solo presentation with Q. Projects, Amsterdam, NL (2014); ’Pleasure Principles’, Foundation d’entreprise Galeries Lafayette, Paris, FR (2014); ‘Enjoy The Squares & Triangles You Know. Discover The Squares & Triangles You Don’t Know’, Arcade Fine Arts, London, UK (2013); ‘The Red Queen’ MONA, Tasmania, AUS (2013); ‘Emmy Moore’s Journal: An Exhibition Based on a Letter in a short Story by Jane Bowles,’ SALTS, Basel CH (2013); and ‘Nothing is Forever’ at the South London Gallery, London, UK (2010).
He has curated the exhibitions ‘What’s in a Band? Eyes, Ears, Mouth & Nose!’ at Corner College, Zurich, CH (2012) and ‘Oneself As Another’, at K3 Project Space, Zurich, CH (2011).
VITRINE recently presented new work by Porritt at DAMA 2019, Turin, IT.