Haroun Hayward | Too Nice, Play it Twice

18 March - 19 June 2021

indigo+madder is excited to announce its first solo exhibition with Haroun Hayward, Too Nice, Play it Twice. The new series of paintings, made over the past one year, incorporate a diverse range of cultural references and explore our relationships with domestic spaces, the pursuit of personal joy, and construction of cultural identity.

In these new works, Hayward examines how his own sense of self and personal history is tied to the domestic realm. He turns his attention to objects, experiences and memories, to closely observe the lived experience of home, and consider it as a site for creative practice and cultural identity. The title of the exhibition comes from a playful phrase, originally used by pirate radio DJs in the 90’s, before playing a popular tune again. The reference is an acknowledgment of the important role played by various genres of music in shaping the visual language of Hayward’s work. He is especially inspired by the subtle, repetitive, and hypnotic rhythms of various electronic music subcultures, which originated in the 80s, and to which he was first introduced by his older sibling.

Besides music, there is an amalgamation of several different and disparate strands of thoughts converging in his work, which reflect his own diverse life experiences and cultural background. Handmade textiles from South Asia and West Africa, which form an important part of the memories of his childhood home, continue to influence his work. An interest in the histories and rhythms of various styles of music and textile patterns, exploring their deep interconnectedness, and the atmosphere they set, has also inspired various compositional decisions. The paintings include rhythm and movement through repetitive or doubled up patterns and forms. Often works are displayed in pairs alongside their conceptual ‘partners’, to create a visual tempo.

Exploring the visual possibilities of sound, textile traditions and landscape painting, Hayward’s works straddle the porous boundary between abstraction and representation. They also enter into a conversation with art history, and are irreverent homages to an eclectic group of abstractionist and landscapist predecessors of both British and South Asian origin- a reflection of his own diverse heritage. Abstract forms inspired by local landscapes, sit alongside shapes influenced by Yantras- mystical diagrams from the Tantra tradition, which have symmetrical forms, and are painted as aids in meditation. He is interested in the universality of the mystical and otherworldly states of flow achieved through various creative experiences, privately or communally, that help in ascending to a different mental plane.

In A Painting for Anwar Shemza and Ellis Dee, there is an interplay between the different sections of the painted panel- from the flatness of the long dagger-like shapes inspired by antique handmade patchwork quilts, to the spatial depth of the window-like sections opening into mysterious, shapeshifting landscapes. The lower section is alive with small, bright bursts of colour and tactile, embroidery-like, yet solidly sculpted sections, suggesting a paradox of textures. Different forms repeat and interlock with each other, and there is a dissolution of stylistic boundaries, creating a new hybridised aesthetic. Hayward works primarily in oils- paints, bars and pastels, to create these complex, textured surfaces. His distinctive style includes various methods of scraping and incising a surface prepared with several layers of gesso and paint. Other detailed sections are created using traditional oil painting methods. He uses oil bars to mould forms within the work, which are then scored to impart the effect of high relief embroidery. In his multivalent practice, Hayward frames each work himself, with hand-stained wood. For him, framing becomes an important act of coalescing, ultimately, completing the interplay of organic and inorganic form, colour, space, shadow, and light.

Cosmic Egg, Night Drive Through Babylon (Grey) brings together a multitude of forms, inspired by dreamy, trance-like visions, songs, and the changing colours in nature, including the shades of the twilight sky. There are repetitive shapes and shifting layers when the work is seen alone, or alongside its ‘pair’. This duality of existence, often referenced in his work, may be seen as signifying constant decay, regeneration and ultimately, hope. The variously coloured abstract shapes have an emotive quality, and capture the surprise and rapture of transcendental, ephemeral, almost otherworldly experiences. The form of the headless beast appears in the lower section, insinuating unhurried, still and languid observation amidst rolling abstract landscapes. The symbol also has contemporary relevance- while there is a greater focus on the intimacy of home, we are in a moment of chaos and immense change, both within and without.

The whole atmosphere transforms in A Painting for Paul Nash and Kevin Saunderson. A background of warm grey now frames the sections. Textured grey forms sit atop smaller meticulously painted, detailed portals that open up into deep landscapes, dwelling on the temporality within nature. These vividly coloured parts, are ensconced in each work and demand closer inspection. Their scale, intricate line work and perspectives are often influenced by Indo-Persian miniature painting traditions. Chevron-edged, flag-like rectangular forms, reminiscent of South Asian domestic silk embroideries, are moulded into the corner. The titles of these paintings are odes to artists and musicians whose works speak to Hayward, and allude to location, personal identity and belonging. They reflect the processes of amalgamation and metamorphosis that are inherent in his work, and situate them in a uniquely personal, contemporary realm.

Hayward’s works become sites of complex interactions, and allow a multiplicity of meaning to emerge. They resist boundaries and categorisations, and also acknowledge the history of subversiveness and resistance that’s inseparable from the history of electronic music, domestic craft, and history of abstraction. While alluding to the complexities of the everyday and individual experiences of our domestic realms, they explore hopes to recover, resist, deconstruct and rebuild.

Haroun Hayward (b. 1983) lives and works in London. He received his MFA from Goldsmiths University and BA (Fine Art, Painting) from Brighton University, following an exchange stay at the Nagoya University of Arts in Japan. Hayward is currently an artist in residence at The Fores Project, London. His solo exhibitions include Too Nice, Play It Twice, indigo+madder, London, 2021 and Dance Mania, Wellington Club, London, 2020. Group exhibitions include Paradise Row Projects, September (Upcoming), London, 2021; Urbanism, AORA, London, 2021; Drawing Room Biennial, Drawing Room, London, 2021; All the Days and Nights, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, 2020; Interference, Rivington Rooms, London, 2019; Gadfly, indigo+madder, London, 2019; While Supplies Last, Mount Analogue, Seattle, USA, 2019; and The Bigger Picture, curated by Bob and Roberta Smith, Mile End Pavilion, UK, 2017 amongst others. Hayward is currently a mentor at The New Art School.