Victoria Miro, London presents “Cambridge Living,” a solo exhibition of new paintings by Detroit-based artist Hernan Bas. “Cambridge Living” is inspired by the lore and romanticism of life at Cambridge. Hernan Bas’ practice has always been intrinsically linked to an exploration of history and literature and stems from the artist’s interest in figuring historical and mythological narratives within the imagery and iconography of popular culture, fashion, queer culture, and mysticism. With an increased focus on English subject matter, recent bodies of work have concentrated on the bright young things of 1920s London and the Bloomsbury Group, whose male members were educated at Cambridge. An elaborate, career-long narrative weaving together cults, sects and secret societies, nihilistic romanticism, youthful abandon – and its flipside, introversion – is further enriched as Bas turns his attention to hothouse varsity life. Bas is as prodigious in his experimentation with painting materials and techniques as with his reference points and source material. He has recently begun to make his own paints, the results of which can be seen in these paintings on linen and painted works on paper.Bas has developed new subject matter including the famed Night Climbers of Cambridge, a group of students whose nocturnal ascents of the ancient buildings of the university and town, taking photographs while trying to avoid detection, gained them a cult following during the early decades of the twentieth century. An aura of camaraderie, transgression, eroticism, and decadence permeates other works on display, which feature Cambridge societies such as the secretive Adonians. Debauchery of a more contemporary kind is witnessed in the artist’s depiction of Caesarian Sunday, the first of Cambridge’s summer drinking parties traditionally held on the Sunday of the May Bank Holiday weekend, and the notorious after-exams party Suicide Sunday, held in June, and its traditional cardboard boat race.Hernan Bas (b. 1978, Miami, USA) lives and works in Detroit, Michigan and Miami, Florida. His work is included in the permanent collections of Brooklyn Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among others.The exhibition is on view through October 21, 2017, at Victoria Miro, London, 14 St George Street, London W1S 1FE, UK.For more details, visit: http://www.blouinartinfo.com/galleryguide/victoria-miro-gallery/overviewClick on the slideshow for a sneak peak at the exhibition.
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