Featuring four recently acquired Thomas Gainsborough portraits and 18 contemporary artists.
The four Gainsborough paintings will be presented as key components of a kaleidoscopic group exhibition of portraiture featuring 18 contemporary British artists selected by guest curator Ingrid Swenson MBE. The title for the exhibition, Being There is intended to invite visitors to reflect on the experience of artists and their sitters or subject in the act of making the artwork, and to consider what similarities and differences there may be for the role of the artist in Gainsborough’s time and today. Artists in Being There are Michael Armitage, Frank Auerbach, Sarah Ball, Richard Billingham, Glenn Brown, Brian Dawn Chalkley, Kaye Donachie, Paul Graham, Maggi Hambling, David Hockney, Claudette Johnson, Chantal Joffe, Lucy Jones, Joy Labinjo, Melanie Manchot, Celia Paul, Gillian Wearing, Shaqúelle Whyte
