Painting, Smoking, Eating

BEERS London presents Painting, Smoking, Eating at Saatchi Gallery, an exhibition co-curated by Andrew Salgado that takes its title from a Philip Guston painting. The exhibition consists of 13 internationally-based artists whose work here considers paintings about painting. 

For centuries, artists have obsessed over the joys and burdens of their craft. From Velázquez’s Las Meninas to Modernist iterations like Matisse’s Red Studio or Norman Rockwell’s Triple Self-Portrait, the painter’s obsession with the act of painting itself is an ever-present subject. 

The artist’s consideration of the act of painting results in self-reflexion, wherein the artist becomes conscious of themselves and their presence within the creative process. Perhaps that is why it often results in self-portrait. We also see the frequent depiction of the artist’s tools and painterly paraphernalia appear alongside food, alcohol and cigarettes. Does this suggest a parallel between creating and consuming as indicators of vice, indulgence and excess? With Painting, Smoking, Eating we are offered a satirical snapshot of the artist’s pursuit in paintings about painting. 

Exhibiting Artists:
Shai Azoulay
Sabrina Bockler
Juan De La Rica
Jonathan Edelhuber
Paul Gagner
Henriette Grahnert
Stefhany Lozano
Roman Manikhin
Jennifer Pochinski
Florent Stosskopf
Jakub Tomáš
Heidi Ukkonen
Helena Wurzel