Three exhibitions at Hastings Contemporary 

There are three new exhibitions at the Hastings Contemporary – three for the price of one –  and each one of them very fresh and exciting. Of the three artists I had only known the work of one, Michael Landy, of YBA fame. The other two, Sophie Barber and Isabel Rock, were completely new to me. The shows have been well curated; two very colourful exhibitions, while in the middle  gallery there is a restful pause of Michael Landy’s drawings. HOT’s Lauris Morgan-Griffiths was pleasantly surprised by the quality of all three artists.

The only time I had seen Michael Landy previously was in C&A’s in Oxford Street, not long after it had shut its doors for good. He was feeding a large conveyor belt with all his worldly goods, wilfully destroying  them. This was his performance installation Break Down, in which he literally destroyed all his possessions including his car and his artworks, some of which had been given him by fellow artists, much to the dismay of some of them.

So I was wondering what this exhibition would consist of. It is nothing like some of that early work; this chapter is tender, poignant and amazingly honest. 

Entitled Look, the exhibition consists of  his drawings – something that has always, from a very young age, been a crucial part of his life. Some of these are of weeds, common plants that are often disparaged, but are accepted by others as only being flowers in the wrong place; they are hardy individuals that often prosper in very inauspicious corners, in cracks in a wall and on inhospitable land.

The other drawings are intensely personal as they trace the effect on his father of a tunnelling accident, when a tunnel collapsed on him, as well as his own experience of testicular cancer. The drawings are beautifully observed, representing his close bond with his father and reflecting on memory and vulnerability. He presses so hard on the paper that he now has ‘artist’s hands’.

There is also a self-portrait created specially for Hastings Contemporary, where he looks very like his father. He said of the portrait that he thinks he normally has a more animated face, but because of the attention to detail he has produced a more contemplative face.

His work was refreshing in its honesty – in today’s terminology, authenticity.

Sophie Barber

In contrast, the Foreshore Gallery displays Sophie Barber’s very colourful paintings, Mackerel sky, mackerel sky, never long wet, never long dry, which reflects her love of nature. 

During the preparation for her show, she was heavily pregnant, and because of the toxic nature of the paint, she had to wear a mask, which was not ideal. Also many of her canvases are huge, and it was  difficult to manoeuvre  her pregnant body around the painting. Barber gave birth not long before the exhibition, so for the press show the baby was locked onto her, which was certainly uplifting to see.     

A Hastings resident and a great lover of nature, this is her first exhibition in her home town. She also has a great interest in art history, consequently referencing artists she admires, such as Claes Oldenburg, Georgia O’Keefe, David Hockney and Vincent van Gogh. Although you can see the relationship between Hockney and van Gogh to her work, it reminded me of Rose Wylie’s rather wonderful naive paintings.

By referencing the artists she admires, Barber opens a dialogue between her own practice and theirs. Sunflowers, a subject with a significant place in the history of painting, are a recurring motif in Barber’s new work in the exhibition. Alongside Van Gogh’s bold, emotional blooms, O’Keeffe’s studied, sculptural forms, and Hockney’s later, more reflective still lifes, Barber’s paintings explore the beauty and mortality that sunflowers have come to symbolise, adding her own take, shaped by the light andcolour of Sussex.

She explains “it’s about singing from the same song sheet, but mine are a bit out of tune.”  

She admits she was a little reluctant to paint the sea, because so many have painted it before, but also because it is such a huge body of water and constantly changing. Her canvas is huge. I comment on her capturing the magical light of the sun on the sea, at which she looks a little rueful, telling me that in a previous incarnation the canvas depicted large vegetables and that particular part of the canvas had been a leek!                                                                                                                

Isabel Rock

In the upstairs gallery there is another change of pace with large and busy drawings of fantastical creatures. Called Things Fall Apart, The Centre Cannot Hold the paintings  are so detailed you could stand in front of them for hours puzzling over the odd mystical animals and strange scenarios. Isabel Rock has imagined  a post apocalyptic world where no humans exist; the results of which are mutant hybrid species – giant slugs, feral rats, colossal pigs, and multi-limbed crocodiles – who have inherited the ruins of human civilisation.

It is perhaps no surprise to learn that Rock is a climate activist; she recently had a month-long stay in prison at HMP Bronzefield after participating in Just Stop Oil protests. That experience informs key aspects of her recent work. She used drawing as a vital outlet, sketching her surroundings with salvaged materials, including opened-out envelopes and precious biros.

For the exhibition, she has created her prison cell, small and cramped, in which there is a giant slug occupying the top bunk (which I assume is no comment on her cell mate). This act of creative defiance underpins the exhibition’s recurring themes of survival, adaptation and connection.Winner of the £10,000 Evelyn Williams Drawing Award, Rock imagines a new world order populated by mystical creatures. She is certainly a vibrant story teller.

She explains: “It is very easy to feel powerless and anxious with everything going on in the world. For me, drawing and creativity gives me a chance to take back control and spend a peaceful moment using my hands. There is so much power in creativity, power in community, power in collective action, power in love and compassion. I would like people to leave the show feeling thoughtful about the world, and inspired by creativity.”

The three exhibitions are at Hastings Contemporary, Rock-A-Nore Road, Hastings TN34 3DW until 15 March 2026. Opening times Wednesday to Sunday and Bank Holidays, 11am-5pm.

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