“..the paintings and their display address ideas of constant states of flux; of the ever shifting centres of power and control, and of an implied sense of past or future action, reaction and rebellion.”
– Harry Hurlock
LAUNCH F18 is delighted to present Heralds, a unique online viewing room focusing on the work of London based painter, Harry Hurlock. This special presentation features a selection of recent works, captured in a pop-up location in Glasgow, Scotland. Heralds opens on September 23, 2021 and remains on view until December 16, 2021.
Heralds examines the aesthetics, rituals, objects, and affective states that define the tradition of heraldic symbolism. Each painting situates its content within the popular context of national pageantry, engaging with historical representations of rank and pedigree.
Focusing on a selection of seven paintings exhibited within two spaces, Heralds evokes a critical investigation into the dismantlement and recontextualization of emblems that uphold institutional power. Within these works portrays an exploration into declining structures of power. Historically, a painted heraldic symbol signifies violence and death for those found outside the walls, and safety and security for those within them. While these symbols hint at mysticism, fable and fairytale, they in fact would often appear, and served the purpose of identifiers on battlefields. For Hurlock, he finds this juxtaposition to be humorous in a way, the idea of a beautiful hand painted unicorn on a shield defending a violent attack.
Hurlock symbolically disrupts the conventional display within a gallery through his extension into the hallway, framing his work among the deconstructed architecture of the space. Scrawled below the naïve depiction of a swan, a sardonic “lovely” sets the tone of the exhibition. Confined by the borders of their canvas, heraldic beasts adorn the walls of the gallery revealing and obscuring forms through their application of paint. At the core of these paintings, lies a discussion about the impact of these symbols, and what they signify to our culture and history today.
Harry Hurlock (b 1992, UK) is a painter and visual artist. He completed his Undergraduate Degree in Fine Art (Painting) at Camberwell College of Arts in 2014, and has just completed his MFA at the Glasgow School of Art. Notable solo and group exhibitions include, ‘Harry Hurlock’ at Marie Blythe Gallery (solo-show, 2017), ‘Hahahaha’ at Doomed Gallery (solo-show, 2017), and a solo show at Hutt Gallery in Nottingham in 2015. Group shows include ‘Like the green fig tree, MILK x WORKPLACE, Workplace Gallery, Gateshead (2017) and Da Thirst x Baltic 39: Dawn of Justice, Baltic Contemporary, Newcastle (2017), and the 195th Annual Exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy, 2021.
For more information and a preview of this viewing room please email us at: info@launchf18.com. We would like to extend a very special thank you to Matthew Cosslett for additional photography assistance and gallery co-ordination in Glaslow, Scotland.