Tom HumphreysRiders

28 August 2019–19 October 2019

Press release

For his forth solo exhibition at Christian Andersen British artist Tom Humphreys presents recent oil paintings. Working in various formats Humphreys embraces new themes from a rural context. In several works he repeats the motif of the hands of riders. Drawing on familiar art historical tropes and pastoralism, naturalistic renderings give way to hallucinatory distortions and imagined forms. In Rider (2019) and Blue void (2019) landscapes are implied but also suggests screens or a digital simulation.

In Sniffer dog (2019), a crudely painted animal appears to search the minimal ground it inhabits whilst making eye contact with the viewer. Humphreys production remains both committed and sceptical as if subjects are held at arms length and despite an ominous mood as if there were a pending crisis there is alway more than a glimmer of humour.
This exhibition reflects a shift in his work towards discovered imagery where alterations are visible and works remain unframed. Combining the observed, recalled, and imagined the works are both layered and appear ‘unfinished’.