Peter’s 1

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Whitehall

This painting portrays the faded interior of a room with a few meagre furnishings. A pool cue rests on the edge of the cabinet beside which is a three-legged stool. The mirror above the cabinet reflects the yellow line of the picture rail from the opposite wall.

This is one of a number of paintings by Hurvin Anderson depicting generic social areas such as a club, a park, an attic and, in 'Peter's 1', a barber's shop. Anderson, who was born in Birmingham to Jamaican parents in the 1960s has revealed how these are all spaces familiar to him from childhood. He has described how Jamaican people who came to England in the 1950s and 1960s create spaces in their homes so that they could invite people round to have a good time, while possibly earning some extra income. He once said:

'…this … fascinates me because this must be the last of this kind of place in England. I imagine many Jamaicans created spaces like this when they had their first homes. An attic, a cellar, a box room, a garage turned into somewhere where you can supplement your income. It becomes a little piece of back home, a place to raise some funds and a place to socialise, all these needs packed into one space.'

Born in Birmingham, as the youngest of eight siblings, Hurvin Anderson was the only child not to be born in Jamaica, instilling an interest in his dual identity that plays throughout his work. He graduated from Wimbledon School of Art in 1994 and his distinct painting style is informed both by British painters such as Leon Kossoff, Michael Andrews and David Hockney, as well as a generation of Black British artists, Sonia Boyce, Eddie Chambers and Keith Piper. Anderson’s vibrant paintings draw on the genres of still life, landscape and portraiture to explore the way community and identity can be represented. Repeated images, such as the interior of barbershops, appear throughout his paintings as places synonymous with enterprise, affirmation and community for many Afro-Caribbean migrants. His work pays homage to this cultural history and explores themes of memory, identity and nationhood. Selected solo exhibitions include Backdrop, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada (2016); Dub Versions, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, UK (2016); Backdrop, CAM, St Louis, USA (2015); Reporting Back, IKON Gallery, Birmingham, UK (2013); and ART NOW: Hurvin Anderson, Tate Britain, London, UK (2009). He was shortlisted for the 2017 Turner Prize.

Places

Birmingham, West Midlands

Subjects

mirror, domestic interior, sideboard, table (as Subject)

Materials & Techniques

canvas, oil, oil painting

Artist

Hurvin Anderson (1965 - )

Title

Peter’s 1

Date

2007

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

height: 187.20 cm, width: 142.20 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Thomas Dane Gallery, November 2007

Inscription

verso, on foldback, ul + tl: H.A 2007 / October. "Peter's 1"

Provenance

Thomas Dane Gallery

GAC number

18156