British painter Lewis Hammond (* 1987 in Wolverhampton, UK) draws inspiration from artistic movements ranging from Baroque to Surrealism. Often using those close to him as models when building compositions, Hammond’s figurative paintings appear as if time stands still. The dark canvases, sometimes tipping into the uncanny, give plenty of space to the influences of past eras and different cultures. With their symbolically charged depictions and their focus on physically present bodies, they seem to prevent a fleeting consumption of what is shown, forming a fascinating counterweight to current image consumption and instead imbuing stasis, interiority and contemplation.

Completely anchored in the here and now, the roots of Hammond's works nevertheless reach deep beneath the surface of the contemporary. Present-day conflicts resonate in them, as do existential fears. But the dangers lurk behind the horizon of the immediately conscious and visible. Powerful figures stand in the foreground, holding their dignity and personal depth against the chaos that reigns around them. Others appear like embodiments of the unsettling, which runs through the paintings like a feverish dream. Some of them are inhabited by half-human beings or place the sitters in fantastic architectures. Hammond's paintings tell multi-layered stories of otherness and alienation, but they also convey something of the magical beauty of interpersonal and deeply individual experiences.

Kunstpalais hosts the artist's first institutional solo exhibition in Germany.

Image: Lewis Hammond, insomnis, 2024, oil on canvas, 230 x 310 cm, photo: Joanna Wilk, Courtesy the Artist and Arcadia Missa, London