Sam Carvosso (b.1992 UK)
My practice is research-led and informed by research trips to National Parks, nature reserves, and forests. Using these trips as a point of departure, the work is enveloped in landscape and all the elusive experiences it comes with. The work references the collaboration between on-site research, memory, nostalgia, fictions, online platforms (google images, social media, tourist information websites), and their combined role in creating versions of reality. Can these fragments build an authentic model for place to exist?
Online platforms provide access to an incredible amount of coverage of wild spaces. Images hiding the presence of people and buildings, and blurry images of folkloric creatures in forest and lakes, mystify the reality of these spaces, confirming a desire for an untouched and unknown wilderness. From this, my practice attempts to recognise the ambiguous stance between reality and fantasy, and the impact this has on the way we perceive and interact with wilderness.
Education:
MA Sculpture, Royal College of Art (2015 - 2017)
Fine Art Sculpture at University of Brighton: BA First Class Honours (2011 – 2014)
Exhibitions:
2024:
The Land and Us | La Terre et Nous, ArtHouse Jersey, Jersey
2023:
Two For Joy, San Mei Gallery, London
Winter Exhibition, Piccalilli Gallery, London
2022:
Amber Rooms, Bow Arts, London
Lovely View, Way Out East, London
Re-Wild Ilford, Ilford Spark, Ilford
2021:
Terrestrial Act III, Thames-Side Studios Gallery, London
Terrestrial Act I&II, Theatre Royal, Newcastle - produced by Hot Desque
Off Trail, curated by Sam Carvosso, AIR Gallery, Altrincham
2020:
Always Winter, Brooke Benington, London
Invitational I, Unit 1 gallery, London
Mantel, Monitor, Ledge, ADAM, London
Lucky Dip, AIR Gallery, Altrincham
2019:
Out of the Wood, Bleddfa Centre, Knighton
Radical Residency III, Unit 1 Gallery, London
2018:
Artworks Open 18, Barbican Arts Group Trust, London
Gilchrist Fisher Award 2018, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London
2017:
The Worst Seats In The House, SET Studios, London
Moon, When the Calves Grow Hair, Art Licks - Bunkhouse, London
LANDSLIDE, DegreeArt, London
Royal College of Art Degree Show, London
On The Line, The Aram Gallery, London
2016:
You Have Not Been Honest, Arsenal, London
Cuticle, Royal College of Art Garden, London
What’s The Point Of It All? 5th Base Gallery, London
Not As We Know It, The Royal Standard, Liverpool
HOUSE, Lily Brooke Gallery, London
WIP Show, Royal College of Art, London
2015:
Xerxes Sculpture Prize 2015, London
Contemporary Collective - Affordable Art Fair, Battersea
Emulate, Phantom Factory Virtual Gallery, 2015
CORRESPONDENCE, Brighton, 2015
2014:
Longitude 80.34, Latitude 0.13, Brighton, Circus Street
Casting Steel, A Click of a Shutter, Brighton Photo Fringe 2014
Creative Tomorrows Open 14, Dencora Court, Southend-On-Sea
East Sussex Open, Towner Gallery, Eastbourne
Work Programme: Sam Carvosso, Community Arts Centre, Brighton
GROW London, Hampstead Heath, London
Sculpture Degree Show 2014, Grande Parade, Brighton
Signature Art Prize 2014, Old Spitalfields Market, London
Prizes and Residencies:
The Land and Us, Residency and Workshops with ArtHouse Jersey 2023-2024
Re-Wild residency, Ilford, 2022
Winner of AIR Gallery Award, 2020
Restless Practice: Plugged In, Online Residency, 2020
National Park Research, Yosemite National Park, 2019
Rendezvous Residency, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming 2019
Radical Residency, Unit 1 Gallery, London, 2019
National Park Research, Yellowstone National Park 2018
Winner of the Gilchrist Fisher Award 2018
Firstsite Collectors’ Group Bursary Award, 2017
Villiers David Travel Award, 2017
British Council South East Asia Research Residency, Myanmar 2016
Gilbert Bayes Sculpture Grant 2016
Kurt Schwitters Merz Barn Residency, Elterwater, Lake District, 2014