“I was struck by the beautifully refined and intimate architecture of Casa Masaccio. Exposed materials give the galleries a unique texture throughout, it is a wonderfully preserved space.

I felt an immediate desire to make a show that would work in harmony with the space, and utilise its unique architectural details in tandem with the work.

The world, recently, has an extreme relation to interiority. The sites of our social interactions are synonymous with the spaces we inhabit, and this came to the fore when inside Casa Masaccio—the sense of the space as a private domestic dwelling has withstood time. For my exhibition at Casa Masaccio, I want to hold onto these feelings from the space and thread them back into the paintings.

The immediacy and relative flexibility of oil paint has always attracted me. I previously made large-scale collages and used various paint substances to obfuscate the image. The results were a sort of image burial with an atmospheric boost. I think I paint almost in the reverse now – by excavating or teasing the image out through the layers of painted surface.

I enjoy an engagement with the history of painting and how it can be utilised within my practice to talk about the time and place I exist in. I enjoy and appreciate the lineage and conversation through artworks, however vast the time between the artists’ lives.”

(Lewis Hammond, September 2020)

Lewis Hammond (b. 1987, Wolverhampton, UK) lives and works between London, UK, and Berlin, DE. Recent solo and duo exhibitions include: Still life, Lulu, Mexico City, MX (2020); The Keep, Arcadia Missa, London, UK (2019); Isle (with Rafal Topolewski), Smart Objects, Los Angeles, US (2018); Room To Crawl (with Eva Gold), Becky’s, London, UK (2018). Upcoming and recent group exhibitions: Possessed, MOCO, Montpelier, FR (2020); Particularities, X Museum, Beijing, CN (2020); A House is Not a Home, Kunsthalle Fribourg, Fribourg, CH (2019); We Shall Survive in the Memory of Others, Galerie Barbara Weiss, Berlin, DE (2019); In my Room, Antenna Space, Shanghai, CN (2019); and Retrograde, Deli Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, US (2019).