User:Morganwendel/Hurvin Anderson

Abstract
Hurvin Anderson is a British born painter. He focuses his artwork on telling narratives based in African culture. Anderson himself was born in Europe but his parents are from Jamaica. This double sided heritage is a motif often expressed in Anderson’s work. Anderson experiments with the ideas of contemporary Britain and Caribbean, as well as the effects of the expanded colonial world. Anderson’s career as a painter has expanded the boundaries landscape painting in the art world. He uses his landscape-esque artworks to communicate the operations of culture, community and identity. His works continue to speak today on globalism and ideas of capitalism as well as selfhood.

Early life and education
Hurvin Anderson was born in Handsworth, Birmingham, United Kingdom in 1965. His parents, Elsade and Stedford Anderson, migrated to the UK from Jamaica as a part of the Windrush Generation. Growing up in the UK, Anderson did not have a full immersion of his Caribbean culture, which he explores in his later work.

Anderson has been interested in the arts since childhood. He was known for carrying a sketchbook with him everywhere, often drawing depictions of black protagonists and superheroes. Hurvin realized he could pursue a career in art after attending an exhibition of black contemporary art with his brother. This exhibition was also when Anderson began his interest in photography, which plays a key role in his artwork.

Anderson received a bachelors degree in painting from Wimbledon School of Art and was mentored by George Blacklock and John Mitchell. Throughout his years at school he received multiple awards as well as the William Booker travel scholarship. Anderson did his graduate studies at the Royal College of Art and received his masters in painting by 1998. During this time, economic issues at the time resulted in the necessity to find work immediately. This included both odd jobs and studio work. Hurvin Anderson then went on to attend Birmingham Polytechnic and studied under their fine arts program. Anderson completed a painting fellowship with the Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education. He later completed two art residences one in London and one in Trinidad.

Residencies and fellowships
Hurvin Anderson completed a Caribbean Contemporary Arts Residency Program in Trinidad in 2002

Artwork
Anderson is known for painting lush and loosely rendered observations of scenes and spaces loaded with personal meaning. Anderson is mostly known for his thick application of neon paints to create picturesque and collages paintings. However, some of his works have been known to handle the use of photography.

He bases his artwork on pictures of both British and Caribbean landscape, which he uses to express ideas on the colonial histories of countries. Anderson places Jamaican and Caribbean foliage wishing British landscapes to explore ideas of colonial countries cultivating plants from foreign countries for their own use.

Among his most acclaimed works are the Garden of Love series, which comprises paintings of Caribbean landscapes, and the Barber Shop series, which pays tribute to the historic barbershop culture of London's Afro-Caribbean community.

blend abstraction with figuration

His paintings are known for their vibrant colors, complex textures, and the way in which they evoke a sense of nostalgia and memory.

There is a perennial sense of distance or detachment in Anderson's work that shines through in Untitled (Beach Scene).

his paintings are thus second-hand interpretations of a first-hand experience.

Exhibitions
Hurvin Anderson had many exhibitions throughout his career. His first exhibition was from 1994–1995 titled Inheritance, Ikon Touring, Birmingham. Following that in 1998 Forest, The Bull and Last, London. Pictures of Pictures, Arnoldfini, Bristol/Norwich Gallery, Norwich in 1999. Telling Times, Leicester Museum and Art Gallery, Leicester in 1999-2000, Cockafuckingdoodledo, Jeffery Charles Gallery, London in 2002, When in Room, Lewisham Art House London Thomas Dane, London (solo) The Lime, David Risley Gallery, London (solo) in 2003. Back to Paint, C & M Arts, New York EastInternational, Norwich Gallery, Norwich in 2004, New Paintings, Thomas Dane, London (solo) in 2005, Mead Gallery, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK (solo) Very Abstract and Hyper Figurative, Thomas Dane Gallery, London, UK Hurvin Anderson/ Henriette Grahnert, Mead Gallery, Warwick Arts Centre, UK in 2007, homas Dane, London, UK (solo) Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco CA (solo) in 2008, Studio Museum Harlem, Harlem, NY (solo) Art Now, Tate Modern, London, UK (solo) in 2009, Self-Consciousness, Veneklasen/Werner, Berlin in 2010, Hurvin Anderson: Subtitles, Michael Werner, New York Flowers for Summer, Michael Werner, New York in 2011, Hurvin Anderson: Subtitles, Michael Werner, New York Flowers for Summer, Michael Werner, New York in 2013, 4 Painters, 10 Works, Josh Lilley, London, UK n 2014, and finally Hurvin Anderson, CAM, St. Louis, MO in 2015.