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Exhibition

Celia Hempton: Transplant

5 Oct-9 Nov 2024
PV 4 Oct 2024, 6-9pm

Phillida Reid
London WC2H 8DY

Overview

A new series focuses on imagery of kidneys and views of kidney transplants, whilst another is painted on sites of construction and demolition, combined with selected recent Surveillance paintings, Hempton's works painted from live security cameras around the world.

Hempton's work both challenges and acknowledges historical painting genres – the nude, portrait, landscape – painting from life (either with models in the studio or 'en plein air', on sites imbued with a sense of disturbance or instability, from construction sites to active volcanoes) and from live webcam streams.

Transplant sees themes of trauma and salvage interspersed with reflections on how we engage with the world around us, both remotely - in digital darkness - and in 'real life'. The cool distance of experiences online can be abruptly punctuated by intensely visceral interactions and imagery. Hempton's work, across series, mirrors this fragmented spectrum of emotional perception.