Hayley Tompkins: Stick crystals to paintings

April 17 – June 24, 2018

Opening: Friday, 20 April, 7pm

Hayley Tompkins works with painting, photography and found objects to make installations that highlight the process of looking and experiencing space. Through her practice she seeks to understand objects in the world through an examination of the mimetic quality of paint and painting. For Tompkins the act of painting is a process of thinking and exploring, rather than as a means to simply produce paintings. Her work attempts to find new ways to challenge and explore painting’s transformational possibilities, in order to construct a balance between the pictorial and the physical. The exhibition at Bonner Kunstverein is a new commission and is Tompkin’s first major solo exhibition in Germany.

Hayley Tompkins (born 1971 Leighton Buzzard, England, lives and works in Glasgow, Scotland) has represented Scotland at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013 and was featured in the British Art Show 8 2015–17. Selected solo presentations include: The Common Guild, Glasgow (2014); Aspen Art Museum, Colorado (2013); Currents, Studio Voltaire, London (2011); A Piece of Eight, The Modern Institute, Osborne Street, Glasgow (2011); Autobuilding, Inverleith House, Edinburgh (2009); and Re, The Drawing Room, London (2008). Selected group presentations include: The Persistence of Objects, Lismore Castle Arts, Lismore, curated by the Common Guild (2015); The Grass is Singing, Mendes Wood DM, São Paolo, curated by The Modern Institute (2015); I Cheer a Dead Man’s Sweetheart, De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill (2014); The Imminence of Poetics, São Paolo Biennale, Sao Paolo (2012); and Watercolour, Tate Britain, London (2011). Tompkins work is held in several public collections including the Tate Gallery, London; Museum of Modern Art, New York; the British Council Collection, London; Bard College of Art, New York; The Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester; and Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design.

Hayley Tomkins, Stick crystals to paintings, installation view, Bonner Kunstverein, 2018. Photo: Mareike Tocha

Hayley Tomkins, Stick crystals to paintings, installation view, Bonner Kunstverein, 2018. Photo: Mareike Tocha

Hayley Tomkins, Stick crystals to paintings, installation view, Bonner Kunstverein, 2018. Photo: Mareike Tocha

Hayley Tomkins, Stick crystals to paintings, installation view, Bonner Kunstverein, 2018. Photo: Mareike Tocha

Hayley Tomkins, Stick crystals to paintings, installation view, Bonner Kunstverein, 2018. Photo: Mareike Tocha

Hayley Tomkins, Stick crystals to paintings, installation view, Bonner Kunstverein, 2018. Photo: Mareike Tocha

Hayley Tomkins, Stick crystals to paintings, installation view, Bonner Kunstverein, 2018. Photo: Mareike Tocha

Hayley Tomkins, Stick crystals to paintings, installation view, Bonner Kunstverein, 2018. Photo: Mareike Tocha

Hayley Tomkins, Stick crystals to paintings, installation view, Bonner Kunstverein, 2018. Photo: Mareike Tocha

Hayley Tomkins, Stick crystals to paintings, installation view, Bonner Kunstverein, 2018. Photo: Mareike Tocha

Hayley Tomkins, Stick crystals to paintings, installation view, Bonner Kunstverein, 2018. Photo: Mareike Tocha

Hayley Tomkins, Stick crystals to paintings, installation view, Bonner Kunstverein, 2018. Photo: Mareike Tocha

Hayley Tomkins, Stick crystals to paintings, installation view, Bonner Kunstverein, 2018. Photo: Mareike Tocha

Hayley Tomkins, Stick crystals to paintings, installation view, Bonner Kunstverein, 2018. Photo: Mareike Tocha

Hayley Tomkins, Stick crystals to paintings, installation view, Bonner Kunstverein, 2018. Photo: Mareike Tocha

Hayley Tomkins, Stick crystals to paintings, installation view, Bonner Kunstverein, 2018. Photo: Mareike Tocha

Hayley Tomkins, Stick crystals to paintings, installation view, Bonner Kunstverein, 2018. Photo: Mareike Tocha

Hayley Tomkins, Stick crystals to paintings, installation view, Bonner Kunstverein, 2018. Photo: Mareike Tocha

Hayley Tomkins, Stick crystals to paintings, installation view, Bonner Kunstverein, 2018. Photo: Mareike Tocha

Hayley Tomkins, Stick crystals to paintings, installation view, Bonner Kunstverein, 2018. Photo: Mareike Tocha