Robert Montgomery
October 11 – October 17, 2023 at TM Gallery
By appointment only
TM Gallery, in collaboration with MTArt Agency, proudly announce a new exhibition by renowned artist Robert Montgomery. The exhibition will unveil never-before-seen works that blend the realms of art and poetry, reflecting Montgomery’s signature vision where language is transmuted into tangible expressions.
“Everything I do is an investigation of where art and poetry might meet, and how to make poetry physical, how to make it concrete,” says Robert Montgomery. “So I’m trying to make paintings that are poems, light works that are poems, billboards that are poems. I’m always trying to hit the magic point where something is an art object and a poem at the same time, where there is no separation between those two things.” The exhibition will highlight the modern tradition of ‘Concrete Poetry,’ a movement pioneered by French poet Guillaume Apollinaire in the early 1910s. Montgomery sees his work as a natural extension of this tradition, with the show featuring a blend of poem-paintings and new light poems.
Montgomery’s deep-rooted connection to poetry stems from his belief that poetry is a religion—a sanctuary providing solace and healing. In today’s world, dominated by materialistic languages of news media and advertising, poetry stands as a refuge for the soul. Poetry, with its ability to reconcile the material and the immaterial, offers a way to rediscover the magic hidden within the ordinary.
The exhibition will also coincide with the release of Montgomery’s new book, titled after a line from Apollinaire’s poem ‘Zone.’ “‘THE BILLBOARDS ARE ALL WE ARE LEFT WITH POETRY THIS MORNING AND THE SIGNS ON THE WALLS SHRIEK LIKE PARROTS” inspired Montgomery during his art college days, planting the initial seed of putting poetry on billboards. As part of this artistic venture, new billboard poems will be scattered around London, inviting viewers to contemplate a city adorned with poetic neon signs. “What if you wandered through a city and all the neon signs had been changed to poetry? What if every morning people wrote their dreams from the night before on their bedsheets and hung them outside their window as laundry?” Montgomery muses, inviting us to ponder how such transformations could influence our collective consciousness and redefine our understanding of love, peace, happiness, and kindness.
As art lighting specialists, we consider the TM Gallery a natural location to discover noteworthy art, so Montgomery’s work feels like a natural fit for the space and for our mission to celebrate art in its best light. We are delighted to be hosting a collection of previously unreleased works by the artist. TM Gallery is a collaborative not-for-profit space for collectors, and a curated platform for accomplished career artists, or those with a celebrated body of iconic works. We believe that when art is lit to its best, it has the power to transform an individual artwork or an entire collection. Our museum-quality art lighting helps us to achieve this, be it for an exhibition, an art fair, in our gallery, or your own home.
TM Lighting is the leading specialist in art lighting. TM Lighting believes that when art is lit to its best advantage it has the power to transform, helping the observer to fall in love with the object or subject. The business helps its clients to understand the impact that great lighting can have on an individual work or an entire collection. Using its own British designed and manufactured products, it provides tailored solutions to an international client base that includes globally acclaimed artists, private and public collections, museums and historic houses along with retail and hospitality brands. The company adheres to its unique Three Cs methodology to bring art to life: Colour Rendition (a benchmark of 95+ CRI); Colour Temperature (warmth of light to suit the environment); and Colour Consistency (using LEDs which deliver a full colour spectrum and provide consistent colour characteristics).
Founded in 2015, MTArt Agency is a certified B Corp®️ award-winning talent agency for the most exciting up-and-coming visual artists worldwide and a creative agency that delivers exciting art-driven projects for brands, public bodies and cultural organisations. While the art industry typically concentrates on selling art on walls, MTArt’s visionary approach focuses on investing in and supporting the person behind it. The agency specialises in sustainable art production and partnerships and is part of the Gallery Climate Coalition.