The most recent works by British artist Hugo Wilson (*1982), all created between 2018 and 2020, playfully make use of three media: Wilson’s stylistic and thematic stringency extends across 17 oil paintings, large-format charcoal drawings, and sculptures in bronze and ceramics.

In all three media, we witness an exciting tightrope walk between past and present: In the manner of the Old Masters – whose technique, coloration, deployment of light and composition Wilson adapts with great ease – highly abstracted, amorphous objects merge into powerful, dynamic movements, most of which are catapulted almost centrifugally from the center of the picture. In a twofold way, these works play with our collective visual memory and anticipation. First of all, Wilson‘s dramatic compositions particularly invoke the art of the Dutch and Italian Baroque periods, i.e. the era that is today considered to be almost emblematic of the European painting tradition. In addition, Wilson’s agglomerates trigger numerous figurative associations. In most cases, Wilson deliberately evokes such notions by hiding eyes and extremities, feathers and furs, pearls and branches in his color swirls – presenting them as a starting point for our search for further concrete pictorial content. But regardless of whether we try to trace the composition back to a specific art-historical source or whether we are enticed into identifying a distinctive figurative feature: In the end, both trails prove to be fruitless. Wilson’s pictorial inventions elude definition. It is precisely this game with our expectations that the artist is interested in, as he aims at revealing our desire for unambiguity – for those “truths” mentioned in the title.