Callum Innes was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1962. After
attending the Gray's School of Art (1980-84), he graduated with a
Postgraduate Diploma in Art from The Edinburgh College of Art in
1985.
Innes began exhibiting in the mid-to-late 1980's and in 1992 had
two major exhibitions in public galleries, at the ICA, London, and the Scottish National
Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh. Since then he has had
numerous solo shows throughout Britain, Europe and North America,
and more recently in New Zealand.
Innes is now considered one of the foremost painters in a
generation of British artists who continue to explore both the
theoretical and painterly possibilities of abstraction. His works
are created through a process of addition and subtraction, and his
characteristic form of monochromatic abstraction - most
recognisable in his 'Exposed' series - has aptly been described
as "unpainting", alluding to Innes' subversion of the more
common painterly process of building abstract compositional
elements through the gradual layering of paint and his subsequent
inversion of the theoretical notion of painting as creation. In
contrast to traditional methods, Innes produces key elements of his
work not by the application of paint, but through its removal by
solvents that degrade the integrity of the medium.
In 1995 Innes was shortlisted for the Turner Prize, ultimately
won by Damien Hirst. In 1998 Innes won the NatWest Art Prize and in
2002 he was awarded the Jerwood Painting Prize.
His work is held in numerous public and private collections
including The Irish Museum of Modern Art, The Tate London, The San
Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The National Gallery of Australia,
and Deutsche Bank.