Andrew Litten 'Concerning the Fragile'

Andrew Litten 

Concerning the Fragile

“All you have to do is write one true sentence. 

Write the truest sentence that you know.” 

Ernest Hemingway

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‘Concerning The Fragile’ is a solo exhibition of large scale 

figurative paintings, bronze sculpture and mixed media 

works on paper by British artist Andrew Litten. 

The exhibition reflects the fragility of life with a succinct 

and inescapable relevance to the recent world crisis, 

unguardedly exploring complex states of our contemporary 

condition through a multifaceted body of work. As Litten 

states “The work itself is intended to be unguarded, full 

of raw nerves and emotionally varied. I look to create art 

that speaks of the love, anger, loss, personal growth and the 

private confusions we all experience in our lives. Where 

our vulnerability is made apparent, there is then a 

potential to relate to others. I want this exhibition to nurture 

a life affirming sense of our shared humanity and encourage 

wider readings of compassion. Empathy is powerful.” The 

profundity of this endeavour is all the more notable as it has 

been completed and assembled following the tragic passing 

of his wife Emma last year, which both overshadows and 

prescribes a subtext for this exhibition. 

Litten speaks of his hopes and objectives for the show: “Our 

shared need to connect, to engage with others, to share 

emotion and express protective feeling towards others who 

are vulnerable is such an essential and fundamental part of 

our basic nature. We want to feel moved, yet in a world that 

has become increasingly dominated by social media hits, 

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disturbing pointless image overload and divisive 

identity posturing; the truly sensitive nuanced reflections 

can become rarer and sidelined. Through these works I seek 

to create stories of authenticity and to explore the part of 

us that wants to care - to compress a sense of endurance of 

human spirit.” 

The work itself expresses firm commitment to the 

power of hand manipulated media, carrying a prolonged 

focus of energy and intensity to the viewer. For Litten, 

reassessment, manipulation and exploration of the 

unfamiliar are intrinsic to finding artistic articulacy. 

Traditional portraiture becomes a format for the 

representation of dependence (‘Alcohol Now’ and ‘Drugs 

Combination 1,2,3’), breakdown (‘Emma - With Noise’), faith 

(‘Blessed’ & ‘Praying’), passing (‘Head of a Dying Man’) and 

responsibility (‘Father and Child’). Larger scale allegorical 

compositions (‘Seated Man With Animals’ & ‘Discredited’) 

ambitiously tackle wider anxieties of the uncomfortable 

animal instincts within us that are often thinly veiled 

by civility. 

‘Concerning the Fragile’ is imbued with the raw aim of 

defining issues of contemporary social conditioning and 

private confusion within a wider context that is 

neither judgemental or sensationalist but humanistic 

in essence. 

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Whispering 

bronze (edition of 5), 46 x 21 x 20 cm 

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Seated Man with Animals 

oil on canvas, 180 x 200 cm each 

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Seated Man with Animals Study 

mixed media on paper, 79 x 59 cm 

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Seated Man with Animals Study 


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The Condition 

oil on canvas, 151 x 120 cm 

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Animals 


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Orange Table 


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Gender Scramble 


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Liminal Stage 


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Drugs Combination 1 


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Her Desire for Order 


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Tired 


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Alcohol Now 


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Discredited 


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Thinking of Flight 


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Thinking of Flight 


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The Clouds 


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Being Nowhere 


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Rain 


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Nail Biting 


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Emma (With Noise) 


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Remnants 


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Praying 


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Head of a Dying Man 


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God Spot 


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Blessed 


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Blessed 


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The Territory 


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Street Pose 


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Street Shrine 


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Regenerate 

oil on canvas 

220 x 170 cm / 220 x 120 cm / 220 x 170 cm 

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Father and Child 


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Andrew Litten is a British artist, born in Aylesbury, 

Buckinghamshire in 1970. He currently works from his studio in 

Fowey, Cornwall in the UK. 

His dynamic and gestural figurative paintings express 

a strong interest in the universal complexity of everyday 

existence. Dealing with humanistic themes such as love, 

sensuality, fear, anger, loss, nostalgia, mundanity, personal growth 

and perceived identity normality or disturbance. Paintings are 

created with an unguarded, empathetic attitude, like so many 

expressionistic artists, a rawness of approach combined with 

an often viscous application of paint is also key to the extreme 

experience felt from the work. Gesture and nuance inspire 

extreme emotive reading, perhaps subversive, tender,passionate, 

ambivalent, malevolent or compassionate, our response becomes 

one of allure or repulsion. 

Litten is a self-taught artist. Early success came when his work 

was included in an exhibition titled ‘Nudes’ in New York City, 

(along with Jacob Epstein and Pierre-Auguste Renoir), where 

his work was highlighted and reviewed by the New York Times. 

Shortly after he had four consecutive solo exhibitions each 

of which included publications at Goldfish, Cornwall. Other 

notable exhibitions included ‘Move’ at Vyner Street, London, 

during Frieze Art Week 2007, where his work ‘Dog Breeder’, 

created a twisted and emphatic statement. He was also included in 

‘No Soul For Sale’ at Tate Modern Turbine Hall, London in 2010. 

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In 2012 he held a major solo exhibition at Millennium in St 

Ives, Cornwall and that year was given a guest solo exhibition 

at L13 Light Industrial Workshop, London. He has also held 

large-scale solo exhibitions at Spike Island and Motorcade 

FlashParade in Bristol. Ordinary Bodies, Ordinary Bones 

was conceived with support from The Arts Council, UK and 

exhibited at Anima Mundi in 2018, his follow up solo 

exhibition ‘Concerning the Fragile’ at Anima Mundi in 2020. 

Works have been included in numerous international curated 

mixed exhibitions in Berlin, Dublin, Siena, Milwaukee and New 

York City and in Venice during the 54th Biennale. Most recently 

paintings have been exhibited in four major museums in China. 

Andrew Litten paintings feature in numerous international 

collections including the Milwaukee Art Museum Collection. 

‘Concerning the Fragile’ will be linked to the charity Mind 

Cornwall, fundraising and gaining feedback regarding how 

resources can be developed to offer further support to help 

people in Cornwall. 

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Published by Anima Mundi to coincide with Andrew Litten ‘Concerning the Fragile’ 

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or 

by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publishers 

Anima Mundi . Street-an-Pol . St. Ives . Cornwall . +44 (0)1736 793121 . mail@animamundigallery.com . www.animamundigallery.com

www.animamundigallery.com

Andrew Litten 'Concerning the Fragile'

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