CULTURE

Hurvin Anderson’s New Paintings Have Dual Citizenship

In his new solo exhibition at Michael Werner Gallery, the London-based artist draws on both his childhood in England and his Jamaican heritage.

by Andrew Russeth

November 3, 2016

Like memories, Hurvin Anderson’s paintings are by turns lush, layered, and occasionally patchy. They depict quiet, sometimes hidden places, like abandoned tennis courts, barbershops, and dense jungles. Such locales hint at the private experiences of the 51-year-old artist, who was born to Jamaican parents in Birmingham, England, and now works in London. Fresh off exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Ontario, in Toronto, and the New Art Exchange, in Nottingham, Anderson is revisiting his past for a solo show at Michael Werner Gallery, in New York (November 4 through January 14, 2017). The artist relies on photographs and drawings to build his paintings — a depiction of his brother in his youth picking fruit from a tree references snapshots of children he took a few years back. His dual identity is a perspective he’s always considering: “I do look at things from both sides of myself in a way: the Jamaican side and the British side. It’s a kind of alter ego — this questioning things, trying to see how one side affects the other.”

Hurvin Anderson’s New Paintings at Michael Werner Gallery