Curated by acclaimed figurative painter Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, this exhibition brings together a diverse group of international artists working across painting, sculpture, photography, film, and drawing from the 19th century to the present day.
Featuring works by Bas Jan Ader, Pierre Bonnard, Lisa Brice, Barbara Chase-Riboud, Samuel Fosso, Peter Hujar, Kahlil Joseph, Zoe Leonard, Glenn Ligon, Toyin Ojih Odutola, The Otolith Group, Jennifer Packer, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Walter Sickert, Édouard Vuillard, David Wojnarowicz and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye herself.
The exhibition reflects her deeply personal choice of works:
‘I’ve selected things that I love because of their poetry, their beauty, their refusal, their internal logic and, above all, their power. Each artist here invents the language they need and there is magic in it.’
— Lynette Yiadom-Boakye
To Improvise a Mountain invites visitors on a contemplative journey through pieces that engage with themes of identity, beauty, activism, and intimacy, ranging from the Post-Impressionism of Bonnard, Vuillard and Sickert to the radical video essays of The Otolith Group.
This project is inspired by a phrase from Miles Davis’ song ‘Inamorata’ (1971), which asks: ‘Who is this music that which description may never justify? / Can the ocean be described?’ and reflects the exhibition’s spirit: art that surpasses easy explanation, evoking rhythm, feeling, and reflection.
To Improvise A Mountain: Curated by Lynette Yiadom-Boakye is a Hayward Gallery Touring exhibition curated by Lynette Yiadom-Boakye with Hayward Gallery Touring.