Mixing It Up: Painting Today – Hayward Gallery, London

A review of Mixing it Up: Painting Today at the Hayward Gallery. This statement of confidence in the country’s contemporary painting scene shows the full range of artists living and working in the UK. And with minimal curatorial input, viewers must work out exactly what this statement means.

Mixing It Up: Painting Today

I like the exhibition space at the Hayward. It’s big, it’s brutalist (not to everyone’s taste but I like it), and what’s on display is often bold. In the last year or so I’ve seen an exhibition dedicated to trees, and art by Igshaan Adams and Matthew Barney. The Hayward Gallery’s current exhibition, Mixing it Up: Painting Today, casts a wider net, but is no less interesting.

The exhibition displays the work of 31 contemporary artists. By focusing specifically on painting, it’s possible to compare and contrast. There are figurative and abstract painters. Painters who work in oil, acrylic and gouache. Works on canvas, linen, paper, even carpet. Subjects that are intimate and personal, and others which are universal or impartial, mathematical. This is really quite a comprehensive survey.

The other way the curators have focused this exhibition is by looking at artists living and working in the UK. In that sense it feels like the overall message is one of confidence in the UK art scene. More on this after we take a closer look at what’s on view.

Contemporary Painting In The UK

Something that I liked about this exhibition was its systematic approach. 31 artists. Each represented by a handful of works. And for each artist, one text panel that describes a bit about their work and a deep dive into a particular painting. Otherwise just basic information like title, date and medium. The result of this is that you get to learn the formula so visiting the exhibition is a smooth experience. And the paintings also speak for themselves. There is relatively little curatorial intervention to tell us “These artists work in this style” or “The following works all have this theme.” To the extent that this curatorial voice does exist, it’s in the sense that the exhibition starts figurative, before getting more abstract and conceptual upstairs.

In terms of the artists, there is as broad a range as the criteria of living and working in the UK will allow. Some names you may recognise – Peter Doig comes to mind, or Hurvin Anderson. Others will be new. The age range runs right up to Rose Wylie who is 87. The artists live/work in a variety of places in the UK, and are in these places for various reasons. For me, it brought to mind the centralised/decentralised nature of art. While the business or consumption of art tends to gather in main centres like London, its creation is very personal. Some artists want to be where the action is. Others are inspired by nature, or a particular light, or need studio space with certain criteria. As someone whose work is in the art business and who is therefore tied to those bigger cities, I found myself reflecting on that freedom and independence to follow what works for you in terms of lifestyle and working space.

Any Favourites?

The brilliant part about this exhibition is that its breadth makes it quite hard to decide what your favourites are. I liked the very delicate pencil and gouache works by Graham Little. The paintings by Lisa Brice of female models and artists exuded confidence and poise. I think the grouping which has stuck with me the most, so was a definite highlight, was a room of paintings by Jadé Fadojutimi, Oscar Murillo, and Rachel Jones. These are big works, largely abstracted, full of colour and texture. Rachel Jones describes the act of looking at her paintings as ‘feeling with your eyes’, and I can see why. I sat and looked at the work of these three artists for quite a while. There was something really vibrant and inspiring about it, brought into sharper focus by putting them together. Maybe that curatorial vision is discernable after all!

Other than the artists already mentioned, the other aspect of this exhibition that particularly inspired me was seeing the broad variety of techniques at play. Paintings by Alvaro Barrington on carpet in box-like concrete frames. Samara Scott, who makes works out of household liquids behind plexiglass. The objects imbedded in them settle over time in sometimes unexpected ways. She describes them as ‘elixirs’ or ‘broths’. Pushing the boundaries of painting in these ways is immensely creative, and utterly fascinating.

Final Thoughts

To come back to what I was saying earlier, Mixing it Up: Painting Today feels like a statement of confidence. I don’t know how long this exhibition has been in the works. But post-Brexit, and mid-pandemic, this exhibition is like a reassurance that the UK painting scene is still strong, and London is still an important city globally for art. Maybe that was just what I projected onto it as I walked around and looked at the works, but that was certainly how it felt to me. I can only hope that it continues to be possible for such a broad range of artists from different backgrounds to make a living here doing what they love. The outlook on that is currently uncertain.

I think the ideal audience for this exhibition already knows a fair bit about art. If you are still learning and like to be guided in what you’re looking at, then maybe pick something else. Plenty of recommendations over here! But if you are more confident and want to see art from right now, from all over the UK, then head to the Hayward Gallery. Not long left to catch this exhibition though, so get booking.

Salterton Arts Review’s rating: 3.5/5

Mixing It Up: Painting Today on until 12 December 2021