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

2020 Mid-Career Retrospective, Kirkleatham Museum, Teesside (UK)

2020 Altered States , The Bellamy Pavilion , Kirkleatham Museum, Teesside, (UK)

2019 Twenty One , Gray Contemporary, Houston, (USA)

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

2016 Real Lines, Gray Contemporary, Houston, Texas (USA)

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

2014 Absolute Zero, PS2 Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, Middlesbrough (UK)

2013 Zero, Untitled Gallery, Manchester (UK)

2005 Recent Paintings, Redbox Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne (UK)

2004 Nuance, Saltburn Artists Projects, Teesside (UK)

Group Exhibitions

2022 Assemblage No.7- Solidarity, EST Foundation, Leiden (DE)

2022 White Circle , Saturation Point Projects , London (UK)

2022 Everybody Knows This is Nowhere- Painting in the North East Now, Newcastle Contemporary (UK)

2022 Woman's Place is Everywhere, Cello Factory , London (UK)

2022 Expanded Painting, Air Gallery, Greater Manchester (UK)

2022 Paradoxes, CBP annual members show , Quay Arts Centre, Portsmouth (UK)

2021 Darkness at Noon, APT Gallery , London (UK)

2021 Border Crossing, Pineapple Black , Teesside (UK)

2021 Painter Painter, Kunstrom Heidelberg , Germany (DE)

2021 Beyond Horizons, National Museum Complex, Lasi (RO)

2020 Yellow Archangel- Perceiving Anomalies, General Practice, Lincoln (UK)

2020 Vitalistic Fantasies,Cello Factory, London (UK)

2020 YES/NO Contemporary British Painting online show (UK)

2020 Absolute, Boecker Contemporary, Germany (DE)

2020 Image /Object, Poimena Gallery, Tasmania (AUS)

2020 Hard Painting x2, Phoenix Gallery, Brighton(UK)

2019 Slow Burn , The Auxiliary, Teesside, (UK)

2019 LEGACY - 50 years of Painting in the Tees Valley, The Auxiliary, Teesside (UK)

2019 Similarities and Differences - 4 Positions, Galerie Wenger, Zurich (CH)

2019 Immediate Effect - The Big Circle Initiative, M17 Centre for Modern Art, Ukraine (UA)

2019 New Modern, RNOP Melbourne, Five walls Australia (AUS)

2019 Breathe, Museum Sankt Wendel, Germany (De)

2019 Black Squares , Saturation Point Projects , London (UK)

2019 Interscursive Non- Objective, Galeria Działań , Poland (PL)

2019 Unfinished Business , Ex Libris Gallery, Newcastle (UK)

2019 World of Icons , Voloshyn Gallery, Ukraine (UA)

2019 CENTURY.idee Bauhaus, djr-dr. julius/ap, Berlin, Germany (DE)

2018 White Angles, 2 person show : Deb Covell & David Goerk, Gray Contemporary, Houston (USA)

2018 Shaping, Kathryn Markel Gallery, New York (USA)

2018 After an Act; Golden Thread Gallery. Belfast, Ireland (IE)

2018 INOC 24 - Collective Painting, National Academy of Fine Art and Architecture, Kiev, Ukraine (UA)

2018 Hellenikon; Assemblage no.7 RNOP & IS-Projects, Beton 7 Gallery, Athens, Greece (GR)

2018 The London Works, Cross Gallery, Australia (AUS)

2018 MIMA Collection Exhibition, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art , Middlesbrough (UK)

2018 New Modern 2, Saturation Point Projects, London (UK)

2018 Crossings, Southwell Minster, Nottingham (UK)

2018 Fiction (With Only Daylight Between Us) v2, The Art Academy of Cincinnati, Ohio (USA)

2018 Structures, Newlyn Art Gallery , Penzance (UK)

2018 Icons/Objects, Deb Covell, Don Voisine, Tiberiy Szilvashi, Kazimir Malevich, KNO.lab, Mikhail Bulgakov, Museum, Kiev (UA)

2018 The Ing Discerning Eye exhibition, Mall Galleries, London (UK)

2018 Black Box, Boecker Contemporary, Germany (DE)

2018 Painting Black, Raum Schroth, Museum Wilhelm Morgner (DE)

2017 Conversations In Painting, Crown Street Gallery, Teesside (UK)

2017 Land/Line/Sea, Cross Gallery at Artlacuna Space, London (UK)

2017 Painting Black, Raum Schroth, Museum Wilhelm Morgner, Soest ,Germany (DE)

2017 Assemblage No.4 Van Doseburg FC, AGNS at Concrete Store, Amsterdam (NL)

2017 New Modern, RPNG, Saturation Point Projects, London (UK)

2017 Secret, Royal College of Art, London (UK)

2017 0/1, Kiev Non Objective, Inaugural Exhibition, National Art Museum, Kiev, Ukraine (UA)

2017 Glitch - The Aesthetics of Failure, The Isherwood gallery, Wigan (UK)

2017 Painting, Installations, Objects, Gallery Kierat, Szczecin, Poland (PL)

2017 Black Box, Künstlerhaus Saar, Saarbrücken, Germany (DE)

2017 Black Box, Faux Mouvement Centre De-Art Contemporain, Metz (FR)

2017 Postcards to Alaska, International Gallery of Contemporary Art, Anchorage, Alaska (USA)

2017 Extended Process, Saturation Point Projects, London (UK)

2017 Off the Wall, Raumx London Projectspace, London, (UK)

2017 Eccentric Geometric, Arthouse 1, London (UK)

2017 Fiction (With Only Daylight Between Us) v2, NIAD Art Center, Richmond, California (USA)

2017 Combined, Gray Contemporary, Houston, Texas , (USA)

2016 The Fold, Blyth Gallery, Imperial College, London (UK)

2016 Kunst utenfor Kunsten, Beat Art Collection, Agder Gamle Teater, Norway (NO)

2016 Fiction (With Only Daylight Between Us) v2, Divisible, Ohio (USA)

2016 Bauhaus Babies, Odetta Gallery, New York (USA)

2016 Secret, Royal College of Art, London (UK)

2016 Sixty, Lubomirov / Angus-Hughes Gallery, London (UK)

2016 Transparent Things, Vane, Newcastle (UK)

2015 We Insist, Biennale of Non Objective Art, Pont de Claix, Grenoble, France (FR)

2015 imima, Gallery Number Three Carlisle (UK)

2015 Summer Salon, Angus Hughes Gallery, London (UK)

2015 Real Painting, Castlefield Gallery , Manchester (UK)

2015 Fall of the Rebel Angels, Riva Dei Sette Martiri, 55th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy (IT)

2015 Fools Gold, CNB Gallery, London (UK)

2015 Secret, Royal College of Art, London (UK)

2014 Sha Boogie Bop, Anonymous Gallery, Soho, New York (USA)

2014 Inside Out, Surface 2 Air, Soho, New York (USA)

2014 A5, Lubomirov-Easton, Platform Projects @ Art Athina, Athens, Greece (GR)

2014 Aesthetica Art Prize, York St. Marys, York Arts Trust (UK)

2014 Secret, Royal College of Art, London (UK)

2013 Dimensions Variable, Deb Covell, DJ Simpson & Tony Charles. Manchester Contemporary (UK)

2013 North South Divine, WW Gallery, London & Platform A Gallery, Middlesbrough (UK)

2013 Secret, Royal College of Art, London (UK)

2013 Station to Station, Scope Art Show, New York (USA)

2012 OWWO, Summerhall, Edinburgh (UK)

2012 Diamond Geezer, WW Gallery, London (UK)

2012 This, That and The Other, Deb Covell, Keith Coventry & Barry Flanagan. Platform A Gallery (UK)

2012 Drawing Show, Constantine Gallery, Middlesbrough (UK)

2011 Secret, Royal College of Art, London (UK)

2011 Fuze, Inaugural Show, Platform A Gallery, Middlesbrough (UK)

2011 We Are All In This Together, Bureau, Manchester (UK)

2011 Afternoon Tea, WW Gallery, Quaffers Pavillion, 54th Venice Biennale, Italy (IT)

2011 Dander, Art Projects, London Art Fair (UK)

2010 Secret, Royal College of Art, London (UK)

2008 Prelude, Saltburn Artists Projects, Teesside (UK)

2008 Monochrome Excellence in Greyscale, Lund Gallery York (UK)

2006 Glide, hosted at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead (UK)

2006 Off The Shelf, Saltburn Artists Projects, Teesside (UK)

2005 Location, The Crypt, Middlesbrough (UK)

2005 A Common Cause, Christchurch, Redcar, Teesside (UK)

2004 Loveletter, Arts Council England, Newcastle upon Tyne (UK)

2003 Muel, Docklands, UEL, East London (UK)

2003 Mythic, Sheridan Russell Gallery, London W1 (UK)

2002 Made in England, Vortex Gallery, London (UK)

2001 Stranded, Old Aldwych station London, curated by Grenville Davey (UK)

2001 Glimpse, Stockton Visual Arts Festival, Teesside (UK)

2001 Onto Land Into Light, Arc, Stockton on Tees (UK)

Symposia/Debates/Judging Panels

2022 Participartory Judge for Contemporary British Painting Prize, Huddersfield and London exhibitions.

2018 Structures Residency; Participated with 25 artists from the UK, Europe, and the US whose practice is informed by networks, frameworks and systems, Newlyn Art Gallery, Penzance

2015 Participatory Judge for The Nottingham Castle Open Competition

2015 Mentor for Mima's Creative Exchange Programme, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art

2014 Artists Open Studio, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art

2014 Louise Bourgeois: A Woman Without Secrets, Artists Rooms, Panel member on a discussion about Louise Bourgeois & artists reaching success in later life, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art

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

2011 - 2014 Desired futures, Organised and implemented a series of discussions about artists working in the North of England, funded by Turning Point Northeast Baltic, hosted by Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art and Platform A Gallery

2007 Draw Symposium, hosted contemporary drawing debate with Gavin Turk, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art

2006 Seeds of Change, Institute of Contemporary Art, London

2006 Road Show, East Street Arts, Leeds

Awards and Bursaries

2022 Winner of Air Gallery Competition , Manchester (UK)

2019 Recipient of major Arts Council England Award

2018 Seedbed Trust Bursary, Navigator North, Middlesbrough

2014 Mima Bursary for Artists Open Studio

2014 Finalist for the Aesthetica Art Prize

2009 NAN Bursary, CSDI Professional Practice Award with artist Simon Grennan

2007/2008 Arts council England Professional Practice Award DJ Simpson, Art Lab, Brighid Lowe, Mike Stubbs, Richard Forster

2001 Northern Arts, Research & Travel Bursary