This past weekend I had the opportunity to see the painting exhibition “Mixing it Up: Painting Today” in Hayward Gallery. It showcases the most recent work of emerging artists with the aim of reflecting the different styles of painting that are being done today. Painting is my favorite art form after Film, and I am very interested in discovering new artists and absorbing inspiration for my own personal work. I went to this exhibition with a friend and I was very curious to see that we were both attracted to very different paintings and it made me wonder why. Paintings seemed to cause different emotions on people and sometimes certain images, textures or combinations of colors can resemble some random patterns or memories engraved in our personal subconscious. I wanted to list down some of the artists, whose work I felt more attracted to with the objective of understanding : what is it, that my brain craves visually?

Lisa Brice’s work felt like it was in motion, like a shot in the middle of scene that was taking place. There was a lot of focus in shapes and color, instead of lines. I really like that her work is very subtle but still very detailed. Her figures had an active role, even though they barely had faces, almost as if they didn’t need be expressive to tell you how they feel, which I find so powerful.

Then there was Kudzanai -Violet Hwami, whose work I could almost say it was violently colorful. Beautifully painted portraits that were splashed with vivid colors and scratched with doodles on top. I love that there’s a mixture between impulsive expression with highly technical painting. There’s an aspect of collage and playfulness in her paintings which is combined with emotionally charged brush strokes and even personal elements of the artist’s life. Through her paintings, Hwami gives life to her distant memories of her childhood in Zimbabwe.

Mohammed Sami, an Iraqi refugee, has beautifully poetic and symbolic work. He paints objects and spaces that trigger memories and images from his experience in the war of Iraq or as a refugee. There are very elegant combinations of color and shape mixed with very smart use of shadows. His work is a great example of how to convey depth of emotion without any human figures or performative aspect. It’s interesting how you can create such an unsettling feeling but still apply very soft colors.

Finally, I just wanted to give special mention to a few more artists that have left a very strong impression on me as well. Graham Little and his elegant slice of life portraits that feel like a 1980’s fashion advertisement. Louise Giovanelli and her vintage dreamy “out-of-focus” close-ups, that reminded me so much of images from a 1970’s film. And Rachel Jones and her sugar rush explosions of vibrant color and texture in a beautiful abstractive maze.

I think overall, I’m attracted to color and mood. I have a tendency to like drawings with people or characters in it, but if an image transports me to a narrative or a universe of some kind, I will feel especially drawn to it. I also feel very conscious of image composition, the placement of the different shapes, elements or objects in regards to the angle of the image. And then there’s color, what attracts my eyes the most, but by far the creative element that I have the least control over – definitely the next obstacle that I need to tackle!