Artists

Celia Hempton

Press release

Celia Hempton’s solo exhibition Transplant at Phillida Reid features new paintings from series that coalesce around themes of human interference – both altruistic and in violation or force – involving actions of displacement and control, across buildings and bodies. A new series focuses on imagery of kidneys and views of kidney transplants, whilst another is painted on sites of construction and demolition, combined with selected recent Surveillance paintings, Hempton's works painted from live security cameras around the world.

Hempton's work both challenges and acknowledges historical painting genres – the nude, portrait, landscape – painting from life (either with models in the studio or 'en plein air', on sites imbued with a sense of disturbance or instability, from construction sites to active volcanoes) and from live webcam streams.

Transplant sees themes of trauma and salvage interspersed with reflections on how we engage with the world around us, both remotely - in digital darkness - and in 'real life'. The cool distance of experiences online can be abruptly punctuated by intensely visceral interactions and imagery. Hempton's work, across series, mirrors this fragmented spectrum of emotional perception.