All twenty-four paintings from Ben Sadler’s 2024 series, You and I, as well as other works, can now be seen at his solo exhibition, Ways of Looking. These small works are charming, sometimes amusing and deeply poignant portraits of imagined people. Full of personality, they suggest eclectic states of mind and varying degrees of intrigue. For Sadler, the starting point was the idea of ‘the different layers of things happening at an exhibition opening, where there’s the work, there’s the space, there’s the person in the space, and then there’s that shared space of talking to each other. Viewing these imagined exhibition goers, we are drawn into their world; who are they, where do they come from, what thoughts are going through their minds? Lost in their own thoughts, they have a timeless quality.
As part of this exhibition, Taste Contemporary is pleased to introduce ‘In Conversation’, a new talks series bringing our artists into dialogue with writers, publishers, and thinkers whose work compliments their practice. The inaugural event is presented with Hurtwood Books as the exhibition Finissage [date to be confirmed]. It will feature Ben Sadler in conversation with Hurtwood founder Francis Atterbury. The evening will begin with readings from You & I, Hurtwood’s 2025 publication on Sadler’s work, followed by a discussion.