This autumn, the Fruitmarket will present an exhibition of new and existing work by Glasgow based artist Hayley Tompkins that examines the metamorphic materiality of paint and colour. Tompkins, who was born in Leighton Buzzard, England, studied at The Glasgow School of Art and is now based in Glasgow. Her career spans over 25 years so now is timeous for what will be her most extensive solo presentation in a public UK context to date. The exhibition brings together in an installation across both floors of the Fruitmarket a suite of digital films unseen in a group until now, a new group of paintings commissioned specially for the exhibition and a selection of the painted commonplace objects for which the artist is best known.
On the ground floor, Tompkins’s digital films are projected onto suspended screens, inviting the audience to move through the space and engage with each individually. The films examine everyday movement and connectivity in familiar objects and sounds. Defying obvious categorisation, the works focus on the process of selection and play between these things.
Upstairs, a new sequence of densely painted acrylic paintings on gesso panels reveals Tompkins’ particularised approach to colour and experimental brushwork. Instead of beginning with a preconceived plan or meaning, each work reflects the encounter with the object and materiality of the act of painting itself.
Director of Fruitmarket Fiona Bradley said “Iam excited to bring to our audience Hayley Tompkins’s particular way of paying attention to things. Hayley Tompkins is one of Scotland’s most interesting artists, and I am proud to have her work in the Fruitmarket’s spaces and programme.”
As with all Fruitmarket exhibitions, a new book will be published to celebrate the exhibition, with new photography and an essay by Camila McHugh Barshee.
Listing information:
Hayley Tompkins 22nd October 2022–29th January 2023
Open 7 days. 11am–6pm
Irene Brown
Radio Summerhall Arts 