

Portrait of Hurvin Anderson, courtesy the artist
Hurvin Anderson
Hurvin Anderson often works from photographs and his own memories to create works that range from delicate paintings on vellum to large canvases that can consume an entire wall. His paintings and works on paper "depict places where memory and history converge" and engage with issues of identity and representation. While works such as Studio Drawing 15 (2016) mark a shift toward abstraction in his oeuvre, the motifs of the barbershop, densely layered trees, and Caribbean landscapes have been consistently featured throughout most of his career.
Turner Prize nominee, Hurvin Anderson's contribution for Cure3, Sound Clash, continues his exploration of his Jamaican heritage and his desire to reconnect with his familial roots. As an intimate departure from his two- dimensional works, we are presented with a model for a painting featuring four sound system speaker boxes in each corner of the composition: Anderson describes Jamaica as "the home of sound systems". The biographical elements incorporated in the artwork add to its nature as a very personal piece: Anderson has used the shoebox for his daughter's new pair of Clarks, a very popular brand in Jamaica. The chequered floor of the cube alludes to the historical love of board games, such as draughts, in the country. By reconstructing used items belonging to his family, Anderson presents us with a work that is at once highly individual but also taps into the inevitable link to one's lived but also collective past. He sites that this, his first 3D work could play into future paintings.
Exhibitions
Cure3, Bonhams, London, 2020