Protest

The very first time I entered Paul Hosking’s London studio, I was captivated and fascinated by the work of this British artist who studied art at Plymouth Art College and at the much-celebrated Goldsmiths College, London.

Hosking’s pieces are fresh and new. They are mesmerising, irritating, surprising – and quite impossible to capture, let alone reproduce in a catalogue.

The paintings on coloured acrylic mirrors interact with their surroundings. As the light changes in the diurnal rhythm, so does the intensity of their colours. Their glossy surfaces reflect the space around them and, of course, they reflect the spectator in front of them, prompting encounters with our own image. We are both spectators and performers in a complex play; we engage in a game of narcissistic pleasure; we hope that a work of art will reveal something about ourselves that was previously concealed.

But Hosking’s paintings not only reflect our own image. Their mirror surfaces are criss-crossed by opaque structures that evoke fencing mesh; these visual spaces simultaneously open up and close in on themselves. Both uncommonly inviting and drawing radical boundaries, these works encourage us to explore reality and fiction, what we can and cannot see.

Carina Andres Thalmann.

Paul Hosking, Donalds House (Salmon), 2020
Inlayed mirror and spray paint on aluminium
105 x 80 x 3 cm

Paul Hosking, Donalds House (Salmon) Detail, 2020
Inlayed mirror and spray paint on aluminium
105 x 80 x 3 cm

Paul Hosking, Merger (Red),
Inlayed mirror and spray paint on aluminium
105 x 60 x 3 cm

Paul Hosking, Surface Tension (Gold), Merger (Red)

Paul Hosking, Surface Tension (Gold)

Paul Hosking, Blackout (Green)

Paul Hosking, Restless (Yellow)

Paul Hosking, Donalds House (Teal), 2020
Inlayed mirror and spray paint on aluminium
122 x 40 x 3 cm

Paul Hosking, Donalds House (Teal) Detail, 2020
Inlayed mirror and spray paint on aluminium
122 x 40 x 3 cm

Paul Hosking, Donalds House (Blue), 2020
Inlayed mirror and spray paint on aluminium
122 x 40 x 3 cm

Paul Hosking, Donalds House (Blue) Detail, 2020
Inlayed mirror and spray paint on aluminium
122 x 40 x 3 cm

Paul Hosking, Donalds House (Purple), 2020
Inlayed mirror and spray paint on aluminium
65 x 45 x 3 cm