E: gallery@velorose.com


Marc Atkins, Equivocal Form, Ambiguous Function: Drawings and Photo-Drawings
Velorose, 16 November - 21 December 2018


The latent forms which become my images can be seen as the lost frames of a film, the few discovered pages of a missing tome, or depictions of an ever-mutable scene, each suggesting a story which continues beyond its borders

Marc Atkins brings to all his work a touch which discerns the essential nature of things. Equivocal Form, Ambiguous Function presents a recent body of work (drawings and photo-drawings) that suggests a new point in the artist’s journey, a place which is at once unfamiliar and recognisable; a deceit of stillness and unease, redolent of both the universal and the particular

Atkins’ works are at once memories and visions; they have consistently conveyed the impression of travel, of movement through the variability of time and the imprecision of space, and in this new collection of drawings and photo-drawings the senses are calmed and disturbed, drawing us in, inducing us to inhabit their erratic temporality and unquiet expanse. Here is the divide between indoors and out, within and without; the works take us to the safety of home, its shelter, comfort and privacy, but also disturbance and unease. Further, they venture to the outside world, with its multifarious imposition of structures of the unfamiliar, washes of sensory confusions, and a translucent system of disquietude

Ultimately, Atkins brings to this new work a great humanity, a pervading sense of melancholy suffused with an uncanny optimism. Our own inner and outer worlds are full of multiple valencies; few artists capture that layering of meaning, yet Atkins has both the sensitivity and deftness to identify and reveal how something can simultaneously be many things. These artworks are neither ends nor beginnings; they are moments, or lacunae, fluid enticements to which we need repeatedly to return

Adding to these thoughts of the recognisable but novel, all works have been framed by the artist in a show-case; each work becomes a treasure, a world of and in a box. The drawings are framed by the artist with old skirting board from his own residence, and the photo-drawings with reclaimed timber

All works are for sale; to make a purchase online, visit the gallery shop





Marc Atkins, Table Building #474 (2017), Pastel, pencil, charcoal, on watercolour paper, (signed by the artist), 21.5cm x 28cm (Unique)





Marc Atkins, Photo-drawing #6322 (2018), Gelatin silver photographic print, pastel, ink, watercolour paint, (signed by the artist), 20.2cm x. 25.2cm (Unique)





Marc Atkins, Table Building #733 (2017), Pastel, pencil, charcoal on watercolour paper (signed by the artist), 21.5cm x 28cm (Unique)





Marc Atkins, Photo-drawing #6326 (2018), Gelatin silver photographic print, pastel, ink, watercolour paint (signed by the artist), 20.2cm x 25.2cm (Unique)





Marc Atkins, Table Building #777 (2017), Pastel, pencil, charcoal, wax crayon on watercolour paper (signed by the artist), 21.5cm x 28cm (Unique)





Marc Atkins, Photo-drawing #6324 (2018), Gelatin silver photographic print, pastel, ink, watercolour paint (signed by the artist), 20.2cm x 25.2cm (Unique)





Marc Atkins, Table Building #434 (2018), Pastel, pencil, ink, charcoal on watercolour paper (signed by the artist), 21.5cm x 28cm (Unique)





Marc Atkins, Photo-drawing #6325 (2018), Gelatin silver photographic print, pastel, ink, watercolour paint (signed by the artist), 15.5cm x 21.5cm (Unique)





Marc Atkins, Table Building #444 (2017), Pastel, pencil, wax crayon, charcoal, on watercolour paper (signed by the artist), 21.5cm x 28cm (Unique)





Marc Atkins, Photo-drawing #6328 (2018), Gelatin silver photographic print, pastel, ink, watercolour paint (signed by the artist), 15.5cm x 21.5cm (Unique)





Marc Atkins, Table Building #645 (2017), Pastel, pencil, charcoal, watercolour paint on watercolour paper (signed by the artist), 21.5cm x 28cm (Unique)





Marc Atkins, Photo-drawing #6323 (2018), Gelatin silver photographic print, pastel, ink, watercolour paint (signed by the artist), 20.2cm x 25.2cm (Unique)





Marc Atkins, Table Building #4441 (2017), Pastel, pencil, charcoal, wax crayon on watercolour paper (signed by the artist),19.5cm x 29.5cm (Unique)





Marc Atkins, Photo-drawing #6327 (2018), Gelatin silver photographic print, pastel, ink, watercolour paint (signed by the artist), 20.2cm x 25.2cm (Unique)





Marc Atkins, Table Building #753 (2017), Pastel, pencil, charcoal on watercolour paper (signed by the artist), 23cm x 29.3cm (Unique)





Marc Atkins, Photo-drawing #6321 (2018), Gelatin silver photographic print, pastel, ink, watercolour paint (signed by the artist), 20.2cm x 25.2cm (Unique)


I look to make manifest the characters and elements I see occupying the place, the pause, the exact point of crossover between states

Marc Atkins is an English artist, photographer, videographer and poet; he has lived and worked in London, Rome, Detroit, New York, Warsaw and Paris, and has exhibited widely in the UK and Europe, including the Royal Academy of Arts, the Royal British Society of Sculptors, and the National Portrait Gallery

Atkins has presented his work and ideas on the image at the RA, UEL, RCA, The Photographer’s Gallery, CRASSH at Cambridge University, Université de Liège, and Instytut Mikołowski. His images have been acquired for public and private collections including the National Portrait Gallery, Tate, and the University of Cambridge

Publications include several solo books of his images, such as Liquid City (with text by Iain Sinclair), and three prose poetry collections including Silent Street; other books include collaborations with writers such as Stella Duffy and Bill Drummond. Atkins’ work can also be found in a number of international compilations of photography, alongside Brandt, Bourdin, Mapplethorpe, and Rankin






Marc Atkins, Table Building #424 (2017), Pastel, pencil, charcoal, Conté crayon, wax crayon on watercolour paper (signed by the artist), 19.5cm x 29.5cm (unique)





Marc Atkins, Photo-drawing #7144 (2018), Gelatin silver photographic print, pastel, ink, watercolour paint (signed by the artist), 20.2cm x 25.2cm (unique)





Marc Atkins, Table Building #425 (2017), Pastel, pencil, charcoal, Conté crayon, wax crayon watercolour paint on watercolour paper (signed by the artist), 21.5cm x 28cm (unique)





Marc Atkins, Photo-drawing #7424 (2018), Gelatin silver photographic print, pastel, ink, watercolour paint (signed by the artist), 20.2cm x 25.2cm (unique)





Marc Atkins, Table Building #442 (2017), Pastel, pencil, charcoal, Conté crayon, wax crayon ink, watercolour paint on watercolour paper (signed by the artist), 23cm x 29.3cm (unique)





Marc Atkins, Photo-drawing #7434 (2018), Gelatin silver photographic print, pastel, ink, watercolour paint (signed by the artist), 20.2cm x 25.2cm (unique)





Marc Atkins, Table Building #443 (2017), Pastel, pencil, charcoal, Conté crayon, wax crayon, watercolour paint on watercolour paper (signed by the artist), 23cm x 29.3cm (unique)





Marc Atkins, Photo-drawing #7440 (2018),Gelatin silver photographic print, pastel, ink, watercolour paint (signed by the artist), 20.2cm x 25.2cm (unique)





Marc Atkins, Table Building #446 (2017), Pastel, pencil, charcoal, Conté crayon, wax crayon, watercolour paint on watercolour paper (signed by the artist), 21.5cm x 28cm (unique)





Marc Atkins, Photo-drawing #7442 (2018), Gelatin silver photographic print, pastel, ink, watercolour paint (signed by the artist), 20.2cm x 25.2cm (unique)





Marc Atkins, Table Building #447 (2017), Pastel, pencil, charcoal, Conté crayon, wax crayon, watercolour paint on watercolour paper (signed by the artist), 23cm x 29.3cm (unique)





Marc Atkins, Photo-drawing #7443 (2018), Gelatin silver photographic print, pastel, ink, watercolour paint (signed by the artist), 20.2cm x 25.2cm (unique)





Marc Atkins, Table Building #454 (2017), Pastel, pencil, charcoal, Conté crayon, wax crayon, watercolour paint on watercolour paper (signed by the artist), 23cm x 29.3cm (unique)





Marc Atkins, Photo-drawing #7444 (2018), Gelatin silver photographic print, pastel, ink, watercolour paint (signed by the artist), 20.2cm x 25.2cm (unique)





Marc Atkins, Table Building #455 (2017), Pastel, pencil, charcoal, Conté crayon, wax crayon, watercolour paint on watercolour paper (signed by the artist), 23cm x 29.3cm (unique)





Marc Atkins, Photo-drawing #7445 (2018), Gelatin silver photographic print, pastel, ink, watercolour paint (signed by the artist), 20.2cm x 25.2cm (unique)





Marc Atkins, Table Building #462 (2017), Pastel, pencil, charcoal, Conté crayon, wax crayon, watercolour paint on watercolour paper (signed by the artist), 19.5cm x 28cm (unique)





Marc Atkins, Photo-drawing #7446 (2018), Gelatin silver photographic print, pastel, ink, watercolour paint (signed by the artist), 20.2cm x 25.2cm (unique)





Marc Atkins, Table Building #472 (2017), Pastel, pencil, charcoal, Conté crayon, wax crayon on watercolour paper (signed by the artist), 19.5cm x 29.5cm (unique)





Marc Atkins, Photo-drawing #7447 (2018), Gelatin silver photographic print, pastel, ink, watercolour paint (signed by the artist), 20.2cm x 25.2cm (unique)





Marc Atkins, Table Building #477 (2017), Pastel, pencil, charcoal, Conté crayon, wax crayon on watercolour paper (signed by the artist), 19.5cm x 29.5cm (unique)





Marc Atkins, Photo-drawing #7448 (2018), Gelatin silver photographic print, pastel, ink, watercolour paint (signed by the artist), 20.2cm x 25.2cm (unique)





Marc Atkins, Table Building #484 (2017), Pastel, pencil, charcoal, Conté crayon on watercolour paper (signed by the artist), 21.5cm x 28cm (unique)





Marc Atkins, Photo-drawing #7449 (2018), Gelatin silver photographic print, pastel, ink, watercolour paint (signed by the artist), 20.2cm x 25.2cm (unique)