Nathan Coley

Nathan Coley (born 1967 in Glasgow, Scotland, where he currently lives and works) is a contemporary British artist who was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 2007 and has held both solo and group exhibitions internationally, as well as his work being owned by both private and public collections worldwide. He studied Fine Art at Glasgow School of Art between 1985 and 1989 with the artists Christine Borland, Ross Sinclair and Douglas Gordon amongst others.
Coley is interested in the idea of 'public' space, and his practice explores the ways in which architecture becomes invested - and reinvested - with meaning. Across a range of media, Coley investigates what the built environment reveals about the people it surrounds and how the social and individual response to it is in turn culturally conditioned. Using the readymade as a means to take from and re-place in the world, Coley addresses the ritual forms we use to articulate our beliefs - from hand-held placards and erected signs to religious sanctuaries.
Nathan Coley's luminous installation entitled We Must Cultivate Our Garden, is currently exhibited outside of the Tate Modern. The words are taken from the satirical novella Candide (1759) by the French writer and philosopher Voltaire (1694-1778). Standing in the landscape, opposite the high-rise buildings in the City of London, the words seem to be urging us to act.
Moreover, Coley's most recent solo show entitled Nathan Coley: No Golden Rules, concluded in July 2023 at The Page Gallery in South Korea. The exhibition featured a selection of important works emblematic of his practice: a series of signature large-scale illuminated text works; related small-scale lightbox works, and a group of sculptures representing buildings from different faiths. The exhibition's title is taken from a phrase by the humanist playwright, critic and philosopher George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), who said that 'The Golden Rule is that there are no golden rules'.
Life and work
In 2004, Coley exhibited at The Fruitmarket Gallery Coley, the artist constructed a series of scaled down, cardboard replicas of all of the religious buildings in Edinburgh. InLamp of Sacrifice, 286 miniature sites of worship are placed in direct confrontation with one another, exploring how religious buildings are characterised by competing social ideologies.
In 2007, Coley was nominated for the Turner Prize for his exhibition at Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute, the public installation Camouflage Church, Santiago de Compostela, Spain and his contribution to the group exhibition 'Breaking Step – Displacement, Compassion and Humour in Recent British Art' at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade, Serbia.
For his exhibition at Mount Stuart in 2006, Coley displayed an illuminated text, There Will Be No Miracles Here, on a scaffolding framework high by wide erected within the house's 18th century landscaped garden. Investigating the relationship between the rational and the spiritual, Coley's sculpture went on to be exhibited at Tate Liverpool and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, where it became part of the collection in 2010.
In 2010–2011, The Ballast Project was built for the Government Buildings Agency as a commission for the National Maritime Museum (Het Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum) in Amsterdam. This installation groups together a collection of bricks which were originally used as ballast for ships departing from the Netherlands for the West India Company during the 17th century.
In 2011, Coley exhibited at the ACCA (Australian Centre for Contemporary Art) in Melbourne. Appearances consisted of vast concrete platforms elevated off of the floor with adjoining steps. Inspired by Oscar Niemeyer's architectural designs, Coley's Landings]are characterised by a sense of theatricality which renders the viewer, or participant, aware of his or her interaction with the work.
In Memory is an installation which was created in 2011 in Edinburgh at Jupiter Artland. In Memory]consists of an enclosed, artificial graveyard on the edge of an area of Scottish woodland. By chiselling out the names on the salvaged tombstones, Coley draws our attention to the manner in which we invest architectural objects with individual meaning.
Coley's exhibition A Place Beyond Belief showed at Haunch of Venison in 2012 and included a range of photographic and sculptural work relating to the ritualised nature of protest and mourning. Included in the show was an illuminated, scaffolded text, A Place Beyond Belief, which was originally sourced from the testimony of a New Yorker describing a subway journey she made in the days following the 9/11 attacks. An edition of the work was also unveiled outside Kosova Art Gallery in Prishtina, Kosovo on the occasion of their independence from UN supervision .
Coley's solo exhibition at Parafin in 2017 included a range of sculptural works and large illuminated text works. The centrepiece of the show was a major new sculptural work called, Tate Modern on Fire (2017). While the work questions the status of the institution, as with all of Coley's work, a rich and complex ambiguity pervades. Is the fire a proposal or a warning?
In 2019, Coley returned to Parafin with a solo exhibition entitled The Future Is Inside Us, It's Not Somewhere Else. This show featured new work from Coley consisting of a series of large-scale custom-made lightboxes which combine original wallpaper from Zuber & Cie with short texts selected by the artist. The sources for the texts vary from classic American literature such as Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) and JD Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye (1951) to a contemporary CNN news report about migrants at the US/Mexico border. Puncturing the idealised landscapes with words and phrases 'borrowed from the world', Coley invites the viewer to reflect on ideas of utopia, identity and our relationship to place.
Coley has had many international solo exhibitions including those at Centro Cultural de Belem, Lisbon in 2001 and Westfalischer Kunstverein, Munster in 2000. His work was also included in Days Like These, a group exhibition at Tate Britain in 2003, and his film Jerusalem Syndrome was on view at the Cooper Gallery in Dundee in 2005.
Coley has been awarded with the Artist Award, Scottish Arts Council (2003, 1996), Henry Moore Fellowship (Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, University of Dundee (2001), Creative Scotland Award, Scottish Arts Council (2001), Scottish Cultural Enterprise, 'Scotland's Year of the Artist,' Public Art Initiative Scheme, Scottish Arts Council (2000) and the RSA, Art for Architecture Award (1997).
Exhibitions
Selected Solo Exhibitions & Projects
2023 No Golden Rules, The Page Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
2022 The World Without, The World Within, Perth, Scotland
2022 Burn the Village..., Tasmania, Australia
2022 Tentative Words Change Everything, Charleston, East Sussex
2022 Utopias, the Whitworth, Manchester
2020 From Here, Mann Island, Liverpool, commissioned by Liverpool Biennial and Culture Liverpool
2019 The Future Is Inside Us, Its Not Anywhere Else, Parafin Gallery, London
2019 The Future Is Inside Us, Its Not Anywhere Else, Parliament Hall, Edinburgh
2017 Palace, The Dick Institute, Kilmarnock
2017 For Other People and Other Works, Kunstmuseum Magdeburg, Germany
2017 Nathan Coley, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
2017 Nathan Coley, Parafin Gallery, London
2017 The Same for Everyone, Arhus
2015 You Create What You Will, New Art Centre, England
2015 Portraits of Dissension, House Festival, Brighton
2014 You Imagine What You Desire, Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh
2014 The Lamp of Sacrifice, 286 Places of Worship, Edinburgh, Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow
2014 From the People, to the People, for the People, Future Perfect, Singapore
2013 A Place Beyond Belief, NDSM-Werf/Neuw Dakota, Amsterdam
2013 Burn the Village, Feel the Warmth, The Pier Arts Centre, Orkney
2013 Nathan Coley, Kunstverein Freiburg, Germany
2012 Knowledge, Kindness and Courage, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver
2012 A Place Beyond Belief, Haunch of Venison, London
2011 Appearances, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne
2010 in Memory, Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh
2008 De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea, East Sussex, UK
2007 Nathan Coley, Doggerfisher Gallery, Edinburgh
2006 Nathan Coley, Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute, Scotland
2005 Jerusalem Syndrome, University of Dundee Cooper Gallery, Dundee, UK
2004 Nathan Coley, Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, UK
2003 Black Tent, Portsmouth Cathedral, Portsmouth, UK (catalogue)
2002 Ruskin's Road, Leidsche Rijn, Netherlands (as part of 'Super Utrecht')
2001 Nathan Coley and Bas Jan Ader, Vilma Gold, London, UK
2000 International Style, Architectural Association, London, UK
1999 Der Standard, Museum in Progress, Vienna, Austria
1998 A Public Announcement, The Changing Room, Stirling, UK (catalogue)
1997 Urban Sanctuary: a public artwork, Stills Gallery, Edinburgh, UK (catalogue)
1996 Nathan Coley, Galleri Index, Stockholm, Sweden (catalogue)
1992 Pure Ideas in a Wicked World, Crawford Arts Centre, St Andrews, UK (catalogue)
Selected Group Exhibitions
2022 Resurrection, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
2020 Miracles, Museum Catharijne Convent, Utrecht
2020 Utopias, The Whitworth, Manchester, UK
2019 Sculpture in the City, City of London
2019 The Aerodrome, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK
2018 Possibilities for a Non-Alienated Life, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India
2018 Artists who make music, Musicians who make art, Queens Park Railway Club, Glasgow
2018 Actions - The Image of the World can be Different, Kettle's Yard, Cambridge, UK
2017 Age of Terror - Art since 9/11, Imperial War Museum, London
2017 Totale Symbiose, Salle Marcel Baudoin, Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, France
2017 Behold the Man, Kunstmuseum, Magdeburg
2017 The Book of the World, Helsinki Contemporary, Finland
2017 Karin Sander: ZEIGEN. Eine Audiotour durch die Sammlung der GfZK Leipzig, Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig
2016 Glow, Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven
2016 Just Hanging Around, Center for Openness and Dialogue, Tirana, Albania
2016 That Which Remains, Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute, Scotland
2016 Daydreaming with Stanley Kubrick, Somerset House, London
2016 La Ville au Loin, Les Turbulences Frac Centre, Orleans
2015 Art Prize, The Fed Galleries, KCAD, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
2015 Devils in the Making: Glasgow School of Art & The Collection, Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow
2015 Out There, Thataway, Centre for Contemporary Art, Derry
2015 Contemporary Art and Architecture in Brugge, Triennale Brugge 2015
2014 As if, Kings Artist Run, Melbourne, Australia
2014 information, Paisley Museum and Art Gallery, Paisley
2014 Small Happiness in Times of Abundance, Art Festival Watou 2014, Belgium
2014 The Theatre of The World, Museo Tamayo, Mexico
2014 You Imagine What You Desire, 19th Biennale of Sydney
2013 Mom, Am I Barbarian, 13th Istanbul Biennial, Turkey
2013 12. Triennale Kleinplastik, Fellback, Germany
2013 Call of the Mall, City of Utrecht, Holland
2013 Homelands, The Harrington Street Arts Centre, Kolkata, India
2012 Daydreaming with... The Hong Kong Edition, Artistree, Taikoo Place, Hong Kong
2012 Miracles, Art, Science, Religion, Kunsthalle Krems, Austria
2012 Mixed Media, Haunch of Venison, London
2012 Crisis Commission, Somerset House
2011 Communities without Propinquities, Milton Keynes Art Gallery, London
2009 Mythologies, Haunch of Venison London, UK
2008 Tales of Time and Space, Folkestone Triennial, Folkestone, UK
2007 The Turner Prize, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
2006 Northern City (Between Light & Dark), The Lighthouse, Glasgow and Florence, Italy
2005 British Art Show 6, BALTIC, Gateshead, UK (catalogue)
2004 The Stars Are So Big, The Earth is So Small….Stay As You Are, Schipper & Krome, Berlin,
2003 Independence, South London Gallery, London, UK
2002 Recent Acquisitions, City Art Centre, Edinburgh, UK
2001 Audit, Casino Luxembourg, Luxemburg (catalogue)
2000 Jahresgaben 2000, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster
1999 Blue Suburban Skies, Photographers' Gallery, London, UK
1998 in Visible Light, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden (catalogue)
1996 Girls' High, Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, UK (catalogue)
1995 Swarm, Travelling Gallery, Edinburgh, UK (catalogue)
1994 New Art in Scotland, CCA, Glasgow, UK; Aberdeen Art Gallery, Aberdeen, UK (catalogue)
1993 Pure Fiction, Intermedia Gallery, Glasgow, UK
1992 Love at First Sight, The Showroom, London, UK
1991 Speed, Transmission Gallery, Glasgow, UK
1990 Fem fra Glasgow, Hordaland Kunstner Centrum, Bergen, Norway
Residencies
2002 Lockerbie, The Scottish Court in the Netherlands, Holland (unofficial)
2000 Paisley University, Chemistry Department
1992 Crawford Arts Centre, St Andrews
Publications
Nathan Coley, to the Bramley Family of Frestonia, a publication documenting his public art project in London. 2015
Nathan Coley, Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute, Scotland 2006
Fiona Bradley, Building the Imagination by Politics of Space: Architecture, Truth and other Fictions in the work Nathan Coley by Susanne Gaensheimer
Nathan Coley – There Will be no Miracles Here, Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh/Locus +, Newcastle upon Tyne
Natalie Rudd, Nathan Coley, in Days Like these (Exhibition catalogue), Tate Britain. 2003
Judith Nesbitt, On being Sane in Insane Places, in Days Like These (Exhibition catalogue), Tate Britain, 2003
Isabel Carlos, Caci n’est pas un…, in From Work to Text. Dialogues on Practise and Criticism in Contemporary Art, Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon
Natalie Rudd, In the City, in Fabrication (Exhibition catalogue), Cube Gallery Manchester 2002.
Here + Now (Exhibition catalogue). Dundee Contemporary Arts 2001
Elisabeth Price, Small Gold Medal, Bookworks, London 2001
Magda Kardasz, Happy Outsiders (Exhibition catalogue) Zachenta Pañstwowa Galeria Szuki, Warsaw 2002
A Maifesto for Bournville, in In the Midst of Things. Edited by Nigel Prince and Gavin Wade, August Media 2000
A Republican Heaven on Earth. An interview with Boris Kramer, Audit Casino Luxembourg Forum d’art contemporain
See also
PARAFIN
Turner Prize
British art
Notes and references
External links
Nathan Coley's Official Website
PARAFIN
Turner Prize Profile
The Page Gallery
1967 births
Living people
British installation artists
Scottish contemporary artists