Introduction

Lawrence Carroll belongs to that group of visual artists that concentrate on the process of coming into existence of a painting, than on its result as an object. Already in 1985 the artist wrote: ‘It is not about the survival of the materials. It is about the survival of their meaning’. Much attention is also given to the positioning of the work(s) in their spatial environment. In the newsletter about the first solo show of Lawrence Carroll at Deweer Gallery his work was described as follows: ‘The essence of Lawrence Carroll’s work can be considered as a visual meditation about the daily practice of a painter, about the making and presenting of paintings. His paintings however completely escape what we normally and spontaneously image to be a painting. His paintings usually exceed the two dimensions, they do not render a broad spectrum of colours, neither is their ideal place on the wall or on eye-level and they tell us more about the tension between the image and its support and thus about their own reality, than that they instruct us about the reality that surrounds us. It is a painting of modesty, of serenity.

To Carroll’s most important individual museum exhibitions belong doubtlessly his shows at Museo Correr, Venice (2008, with monographic catalogue) , Hôtel des Arts, Toulon (2007), Folkwang Museum, Essen (1994) and Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach (1993). Carroll also exhibited his works in important galleries in Europe and the US. Deweer Gallery introduced the artist in 1994 in its thematic exhibition ‘A Painting Show’ and with a first solo show (with catalogue) in 1996; a second solo show followed in 2000, equally with catalogue. In 2004 and on invitation of Deweer Gallery, the artist made as part of the ECLiPS-portfolio the exceptionally figurative photolithography ‘Untitled’. Lawrence Carroll also participated at a.o. Documenta IX, Kassel.