neal beggs - TAG Fine Arts

NEAL BEGGS
Lives and works in Paris, France
Education
1996 – 1998
1992 – 1995
MFA Glasgow School of Art
BA (Hons) Sheffield Hallam University
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2011
2011
2011
2010
2009
2008
2008
2008
2008
2007
2006
2006
2004
2004
2004
2004
2003
2002
2001
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
Shortcut, Petit Kursaal, Besançon
From our house to the summit of Europe, Maison populaire, Montreuil
Still not out of the woods, Gallery Aliceday, Brussels
if muhammad, FRAC des Pays de la Loire, Carquefou, Nantes
Lonesome in the desert, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Château-Gontier
Children of the voyage, Elisa Platteau Gallery, Brussels
Belgium is not a road, Netwerk, Center for contemporary art, Aalst
The Périades Bivouac, White Office, Tours
Neal Beggs, Rayon Frair, Tours
Dear Prudence [pac], Place Royale, Mont des arts Kunstberg, Brussels
Starman, Le Bonheur, Brussels
The Social Contract, 48 rue de Montmorency, Galerie Jean Brolly, Paris
Real Time, FRAC des Pays de la Loire, Nantes
Five problems in Art Today [pac], Domaine Chamarande, Chamarande
The Suburb [pac], Fontenay-Le-Comte, Pays de la Loire
Why do you look at me, Transpalette, Emmetrop, Bourges
There are no mountains in Saint Nazaire, Le Grand Café, Centre d’art Contemporain,
Saint Nazaire
Surfaceaction, Galerie La Sous-sol, Paris
Adult Pass, Zoo Gallery, Nantes
Bike Race, King Tuts, Glasgow
Corridor, CCA, Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow
Dead Flat Vertical, Transmission Gallery, Glasgow
Take a running leap, Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow
Track Error, Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow
Selected Group Exhibitions
2011
2011
2011
2011
2011
2011
2011
2011
2011
The Art of Mapping, TAG Fine Arts, London
Between the devil and the deep blue sea, Galerie Melanie Rio, Nantes
Tracing Mobility, Haus Der Kulturen Der Welt, Berlin
l’Espace n’était … dimension intérieure, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Meymac
La cabane au bout du jardin, l’Orangerie, Parc Elisabeth, Bastogne
Pour une république des rêves, Crac Alsace, Altkirch
Un vide noir grésille, RIVP, Paris
The Survivors, itsourplayground.com, internet exhibition
Hors Pistes 2011, Centre Pompidou, Paris
2011
2011
2010
2010
2010
2010
2010
2010
2010
2009
2009
2009
2009
2009
2008
2008
2008
2008
2008
2008
2008
2008
2007
2007
2007
2007
2007
2007
2007
2007
2006
2006
Mappamundi, Berardo Museum - Foundation, Lisbon
Plutôt que rien, Maison populaire de Montreuil, Paris
Death to Delawab (Shipsides & Beggs), Delawab, Belfast
Nomadisme, Hangar á Bananes, Nantes
Geopoetiques, College Guillaume Apollinaire, Le Tholy
Collective, Gallery Aliceday, Brussels
Preview 2010, White Corners, Bourges
Concourse de monuments 2, ENSA Paris-Malaquairs / Espace Callot, Paris
Copacabana n’existe pas!, Galerie de l’École Régionale des Beaux-arts, Besançon
Surfaceaction, Pôle culturel Intercommunal, Pau
Let’s pick the cherries first, Elisa Platteau Gallery, Brussels
Surfaceaction, MacVal, Paris
Faux Frères and… Galerie In Situe and Galerie InSi2, Aalst
Dialogue, CRAC: Languedoc – Roussillon, Sète
Seven, Elisa Platteau Gallery, Brussels
The Hanging, Galway Arts Centre, Galway
Users End, Be-Part, Waregem
Pilot / 101 Art Fair, Tokyo, Japan
Pilot, Yokahama, Japan
It’s not fair – Le monde, CC Belgica, Huis van Winckel, Dendermonde
Afinitats Electives, Centre d’Art la Panera, Spain
Attention avant d’entrer, École des beaux-arts de Tours, Tours
Stardust, MAC/VAL, Paris
4 jours du volupük, Le Lolupük, Tours
Biennale de Lyon, Lyon
AIDS benefit exhibition, Yvon Lambert Galerie, Paris
Mouvements d’égarement, Mains d’Œuvres, Paris
Pilot 3, Chelsea School of Art & Design, London
Pilot 3, Fondazione Bevilaqua la Masa, Venice
Nebuleuses, Lieu d’Image et d’Art, Grenoble
Antipodes, FRAC Lorraine, Metz
Noir, Sainte-Croix-Vallée-Française, Cévennes
Public Collections
Frac Lorraine, Metz | Frac des Pays de la Loire, Carquefou (Nantes) | Frac Franch-Compte,
Besancon | Domaine Chamarande, Paris
About the Artist
Neal Beggs refuses to separate art and life: for him, the processes that structure his own
experiences can be directly brought to bear on his work. Much of his art is informed by his
love of mountaineering. The discipline of climbing demands an intimate understanding of
the landscape and our connection to it, and these concerns recur throughout his creative
work.
Beggs’ Star Maps question our understanding of the world, and the way we see and
document it. The paintings look like records of the night sky. In fact, they are terrestrial maps
of our Earth, systematically painted over so that only the peaks of hills and mountains show
through. Beggs was inspired by the Dead Sea Scrolls, whose ancient characters reminded
him simultaneously of mountain maps and star system diagrams. His work picks out the
geographical summits where earth and sky meet, reminding us that we navigate by both
(seamen historically relied on constellations and the North Star, as much as worldly maps.)
They also deliberately disrupt the cartographic systems that we have evolved and relied
upon over centuries, forcing us to see the world from a new perspective without our
standard referents.