WESTFIELD.- The Hepworth Wakefield began a major solo exhibition of paintings and drawings by Hurvin Anderson, including new works. The exhibition focuses on Anderson’s Barbershop series as a lens through which to understand Anderson’s wider practice and unique sense of history, memory and place.

Anderson first painted a Birmingham-based barbershop in 2006. For more than 15 years, Anderson has repeatedly reworked the same barbershop in a multitude of ways to experiment with key concerns in modern and contemporary painting, such as the tension between abstraction and figuration, and the painterly possibilities of capturing memories and experiences. By deconstructing and recreating the scene with objects derived from photographic documentation, Anderson explores the resonance of an image, raising questions about seeing, history, authenticity and the nature of experience.

To reveal Anderson’s creative process, a section of the exhibition will evoke his studio, displaying the sketches and drawings from his planningstages and other archival material, relating to the Barbershop series.

The exhibition will present the most comprehensive presentation of the Barbershop series, from the very first painting and initial studio drawings made in 2006 to a new body of work begun in 2022, which will be the largest and final works in the Barbershop series. On display will be some of the most political works within this series, such as Is it OK to be Black? 2015, which was a 70th Anniversary Commission for the Arts Council Collection with New Art Exchange, Nottingham and Thomas Dane Gallery. This work includes depictions of significant figures in the Civil Rights movement, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, whose ideas and legacy remain important in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement. The title responds to a mis-hearing of the typical barbershop question ‘is it ok at the back?’ and highlights the underlying social context of the Barbershop.

Alongside the Barbershop exhibition, Anderson will curate an exhibition of Modern British painting that will take visitors on a journey through his formative influences and highlight visual conversations between these works. On display will be paintings from throughout the 20th century to the present day which reveal points of dialogue with his own practice, including work by Michael Andrews, Frank Auerbach, Francis Bacon, Sonia Boyce, Patrick Caulfield, Prunella Clough, Duncan Grant, Denzil Forrester, Claudette Johnson, Leon Kossoff, Therese Lessore, Walter Sickert, Stanley Spencer and more.

About the exhibition, Hurvin Anderson said: ‘I am looking forward to unveiling the final works in the Barbershop series at The Hepworth Wakefield. The Barbershop is a subject that I have returned to throughout my career, as a site that was a point of connection to Caribbean culture. In repeating the image, deconstructing it and putting it back together again, the series has also become a meditative exploration of painting itself. Presenting this series alongside Hurvin Anderson Curates feels like the perfect moment to pause and reflect on how I reached this point, considering influences, references and conversations with British painters past and present’.

Eleanor Clayton, Senior Curator, said: ‘Hurvin Anderson is one of the most captivating painters working in Britain today. His works manage to be both visually beautiful and poetically poignant, capturing moments of experience and asking questions about memory and identity through his unique process of image-making. It is a huge honour to show for the first time the final works of his most celebrated series. We are grateful to Hurvin for his generosity in revealing his layered and intricate processes – something we know will be fascinating to our audiences and hope will encourage and inspire young and aspiring artists.’

Anderson was born in Birmingham in 1965 to Jamaican parents. He completed his BA at the Wimbledon School of Art in 1994, before receiving his MA from London’s Royal College of Art in 1998. Anderson was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 2017 and his work is represented in public collections around the UK, USA and Europe.

A new book, edited by Eleanor Clayton and Isabella Maidment and published by The Hepworth Wakefield, will accompany the exhibition. Anderson is also creating a limited edition print, titled ‘International Cut’, to support The Hepworth Wakefield’s work. It will be released for sale in May 2023, starting from £995. As is traditional in edition publishing, the price of the work will increase as the edition sells out.

The exhibition will tour to Hastings Contemporary (17 November 2023 – 3 March 2024) and then onto Kistefos, Norway in Spring / Summer 2024.