Bio | Deb Covell

Deb Covell (b.1966, Stockton on Tees) lives and works in Teesside.

Deb's practice is concerned with bringing a form into being by exploring the material potential of paint. She has omitted a traditional fixed support of a canvas and creates her own paint supports or ‘skins’ which she manipulates into three dimensional forms or uses as a base to apply geometric imagery onto.

‘As a child, I remember melting Crayola crayons onto old warm radiators and the feeling of delight as I watched these solid coloured sticks slip around and magically transform into a luscious liquid substance.’
Excerpt from ‘Hearing from Artists’ Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art ( MIMA) 2021

Academic Training

2001 - 2002 MA Fine Art University of East London

1985 - 1989 BA (hons) Fine Art Liverpool Polytechnic

Solo Exhibitions

2025 / Closer, Vessel, YSJ, York, UK

2022 / True, Atelier Melusine, La Trimouille, France

2020 / Mid-Career Retrospective, Kirkleatham Museum, Teesside, UK

2020 / Altered States, The Bellamy Pavillion, Kirkleatham Museum, Teesside, UK

2019 / Twenty One, Gray Contemporary, Houston, US

2016 / Here And Now, OBJECT / A, Manchester, UK

2016 / Real Lines, Gray Contemporary, Houston, US

2014 / From Nowt to Summat, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA), Middlesbrough, UK

2014 / Absolute Zero, PS2 MIMA, Middlesbrough, UK

2013 / Zero, Untitled Gallery, Manchester, UK

2005 / Recent Paintings, Redbox Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

Group Exhibitions

2024 / Szilvashi Circles in conjunction with Ukrainian Museum of Contemporary Art (UMCA) by invitation of Kyiv Non Objective (KNO), Kyiv, Ukraine

Beyond Other Horizons, Contemporary painting made in Britain and Romania, Blyth Gallery, London, UK

Assembly, CBP exhibition, Rye Creative Centre, Rye, UK

Sunny Blunts-Revisiting The Utopian Vision of Victor Pasmore, UK Satellite

Exhibition for the Biennale of Non Objective Art, Peterlee, UK

Last Shot, Pineapple Black Gallery, Middlesbrough, UK

Blink, Safehouse 1, London, UK

HARDPAPER, Phoenix Art Space, Brighton, UK

Small Things with Big Ideas, White Conduit Projects, London, UK

This is the Future of Non-Objective Art, Atlantic Gallery, New York, US

2023 / Open House, CoMA, London, UK

Paint Fiction, International Gallery of Contemporary Art, Alaska, US

Our Curated Self, debsaysyes Foundation, Werkpaard, Amsterdam, Netherlands

CENTURY.idee Bauhaus, A djr-dr. julius/ap & Stiftung Konzeptuelle Kunst partnership, Wilhelm Morgner Museum, Soest, Germany

X – Contemporary British Painting anniversary exhibition, Newcastle Contemporary Art, UK

Just Ideas, Cross Gallery, Bundaberg, Australia

2022 / Assemblage No.7 – Solidarity, EST Foundation, Leiden, Germany

White Circle, Saturation Point, London, UK

Everybody Knows This is Nowhere – Painting in the North East Now, Newcastle Contemporary Art, UK

A Woman’s Place is Everywhere, Cello Factory, London, UK

An Expanded Field, Gloam Gallery, Sheffield, UK

Vitalistic Fantasies, Elysium Gallery, Swansea, UK

Expanded Painting, Air Gallery, Greater Manchester, UK

Paradoxes, Contemporary British Painters show, Quay Arts Centre, Portsmouth, UK

2021 / Darkness at Noon, APT Gallery, London, UK

Border Crossing, Pineapple Black, Middlesbrough, UK

Painter Painter, Kunstrom Heidelberg, Germany

Yellow Archangel – Perceiving Anomalies, General Practice, Lincoln, UK

2020 / Beyond Other Horizons, Contemporary painting made in Britain and Romania National Museum Complex, Lasi, Romania

Vitalistic Fantasies, Contemporary British Painting exhibition, Cello Factory, London, UK

YES/NO, Contemporary British Painting online show, UK

Absolute, Boecker Contemporary, Germany

Image/Object, Poimena Gallery, Tasmania

Hard Painting x2, Phoenix Gallery, Brighton, UK

2019 / Slow Burn, The Auxiliary, Middlesbrough, UK

LEGACY – 50 years of Painting in the Tees Valley, The Auxiliary, Middlesbrough, UK

Similarities and Differences – 4 Positions, Galerie Wenger, Zurich, Switzerland

Immediate Effect,The Big Circle Initiative, M17 Centre for Modern Art, Ukraine

New Modern, RNOP, Five walls, Melbourne, Australia

Breathe, Museum Sankt Wendel, Germany

Black Squares, Saturation Point, London, UK

Intersdiscursive Non- Objective, Galeria Działań, Poland

Unfinished Business, Ex Libris Gallery, Newcastle, UK

World of Icons, Voloshyn Gallery, Ukraine

CENTURY.idee Bauhaus, djr-dr. julius/ap, Berlin, Germany

2018 / White Angles, 2 person show – Deb Covell & David Goerk, Gray Contemporary, Houston, US

Shaping, Kathryn Markel Gallery, New York, US

After an Act, Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast, Ireland

INOC 24 – Collective Painting, National Academy of Fine Art and Architecture, Kyiv, Ukraine

Assemblage no.7, RNOP & IS-Projects, Beton 7 Gallery, Athens, Greece

MIMA Collection Exhibition, MIMA, Middlesbrough, UK

New Modern 2, Saturation Point, London, UK

Crossings: Art and Christianity Now, Southwell Minster, Nottingham, UK

Fiction (With Only Daylight Between Us) v2, The Art Academy of Cincinnati, Ohio, US

Structures, Newlyn Art Gallery, Penzance, UK

Icons/Objects, Deb Covell, Don Voisine, Tiberiy Szilvashi, Kazimir Malevich, KNO.lab, Mikhail Bulgakov, Museum, Kyiv, Ukraine

The Ing Discerning Eye exhibition, Mall Galleries, London, UK

Black Box, Boecker Contemporary, Germany

2017 / Conversations In Painting, Crown Street Gallery, Darlington, UK

Painting Black, Raum Schroth, Museum Wilhelm Morgner, Soest, Germany

Assemblage No.4 Van Doseburg FC, AGNS at Concrete Store, Amsterdam

New Modern, RPNG, Saturation Point, London, UK

0/1, Kyiv Non Objective, Inaugural Exhibition, National Art Museum, Kyiv, Ukraine

Glitch – The Aesthetics of Failure, The Isherwood gallery, Wigan, UK

Painting, Installations, Objects, Gallery Kierat, Szczecin, Poland

Black Box, Künstlerhaus Saar, Saarbrücken, Germany

Black Box, Faux Mouvement Centre De-Art Contemporain, Metz, France

Extended Process, Saturation Point, London, UK

Off the Wall, RAUMX , London, UK

Eccentric Geometric, Arthouse 1, London, UK

Fiction (With Only Daylight Between Us), NIAD Art Center, Richmond, California, US

Combined, Gray Contemporary, Houston , US

2016 / The Fold, Blyth Gallery, London, UK

Kunstuten for Kunsten, Beat Art Collection, Agder Teater, Norway

Fiction (With Only Daylight Between Us), Divisible, Ohio, US

Bauhaus Babies, Odetta Gallery, New York, US

Secret, Royal College of Art, London, UK

Sixty, Lubomirov / Angus-Hughes Gallery, London, UK

Transparent Things, Vane, Newcastle, UK

2015 / We Insist, Biennale of Non Objective Art, Pont de Claix, Grenoble, France

Summer Salon, Angus Hughes Gallery, London, UK

Real Painting, Castlefield Gallery , Manchester, UK

Fall of the Rebel Angels, Riva Dei Sette Martiri, 55th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy

Fools Gold, CNB Gallery, London, UK

Secret, Royal College of Art, London, UK

2014 / Sha Boogie-Bop, Anonymous Gallery, New York, US

Inside Out, Surface 2 Air, New York, US

A5, Lubomirov-Easton & Platform Projects, Art Athina, Athens, Greece

Aesthetica Art Prize-Finalists exhibition, York St. Marys, York Arts Trust, UK

2013 / Dimensions Variable, Manchester Contemporary, Manchester, UK

North South Divine, Platform A Gallery, Middlesbrough & WW Gallery, London, UK

Secret, Royal College of Art, London, UK

Station to Station, Scope Art Show, New York, US

2012 / OWWO, Summerhall, Edinburgh, UK

Diamond Geezer, WW Gallery, London, UK

This, That and The Other, Deb Covell, Keith Coventry & Barry Flanagan, Platform A Gallery, UK

2011 / Secret, Royal College of Art, London, UK

Fuze, Inaugural group exhibition, Platform A Gallery, Middlesbrough, UK

We Are All In This Together, Bureau, Manchester, UK

Afternoon Tea, WW Gallery, Quaffers Pavilion, 54th Venice Biennale, Italy

Dander, Art Projects, London Art Fair, UK

2008 / Prelude, Saltburn Artists Projects, Teesside, UK

Monochrome – Excellence in Greyscale, Lund Gallery, York, UK

2006 / Glide, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK

Off The Shelf, Saltburn Artists Projects, Teesside, UK

2005 / Location, The Crypt, Middlesbrough, UK

A Common Cause, Christchurch, Redcar, Teesside, UK

2004 / Loveletter, Arts Council England, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

2003 / Muel, Docklands, UEL, East London, UK

Mythic, Sheridan Russell Gallery, London, UK

2002 / Made in England, Vortex Gallery, London, UK

2001 / Stranded, Old Aldwych station, London, UK

UEL MA Interim exhibition, AVA building, Docklands, London, UK

Collections

Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, UK

Schroth Collection – Foundation of Conceptual Art, Soest, Germany

Paintings in Hospitals, UK

Beat Art Collection, Norway

Kyiv Non Objective (KNO) Collection, Kyiv, Ukraine

EST Art Foundation, Leiden, Netherlands

Private Collections in Europe, Australia and US

Symposia / Judging Panels / Teaching Roles / Residencies

2024 / Play with Sally Taylor responding to Richard Serra’s Verb List, Vessel, YSJ, York, UK

2022 / Participatory Selector for Contemporary British Painting Prize, UK

2018 / Structures Residency – Participated with 25 artists from the UK, Europe, and the US, Newlyn Art Gallery, Penzance, UK

2015 / Participatory Judge for The Nottingham Castle Open Competition

Mentor for MIMA’s Creative Exchange Programme, UK

2014 / Louise Bourgeois Symposium: A Woman Without Secrets,

Artists Rooms, Panel member & Artist in Residence, MIMA, Middlesbrough, UK

2012 / Participatory Judge for the annual Solo Award, WW Gallery, London, UK

2001-2014 / Desired Futures – Implemented discussions on the promotion of artists working in the North East of England with partners

Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, MIMA and Platform A Gallery, UK

2011 / Co-Founder of Platform A Gallery, Middlesbrough, UK

2007 / Key education facilitator in delivering inaugural exhibition DRAW, MIMA, Middlesbrough, UK

DRAW Symposium – hosted contemporary drawing debate with Gavin Turk, MIMA, Middlesbrough, UK

1992-2000 / Fine Art and Visual Studies lecturer at The Northern School of Art and University of Teesside, Middlesbrough, UK

1989-2000 Community/Socially engaged artist – Working in health care settings, schools, colleges, prisons, community centres and galleries throughout North Wales and Teesside.

Awards and Bursaries

2022 / Winner of Air Gallery Competition – Expanded Painting, Manchester, UK

2019 / Recipient of major Arts Council England Award for my Mid Career Retrospective at Kirkleatham Museum, UK

2018 / Seedbed Trust Bursary, Navigator North, Middlesbrough, UK

2014 / MIMA Bursary for Artists Open Studio / Artist in Residence

Finalist - Aesthetica Art Prize, York Museums Trust, York, UK

2009 / NAN Bursary, CSDI Professional Practice Award, UK

2008 / Arts Council England Professional Practice Award, UK

2001 / Northern Arts, Research & Travel Bursary to India, UK

Selected Curatorial Practice

2024 / Sunny Blunts – Revisiting the Utopian Vision of Victor Pasmore, Peterlee, UK

2022 / White Circle, International group of Non Objective Artists exhibition in support of Ukraine artists, Saturation Point , London, UK