Workaround

Workaround was a solo exhibition by Glasgow-based artist Charlie Hammond featuring new works alongside paintings from across the past 15 years. In his practice, Hammond often considers the ways in which art might be understood in relation to work (as in labour) and not working (as in play, but also dysfunction or breakdown). He uses readily available materials—sometimes even pieces of his own existing works—as a set of resources with which to inventively assemble paintings that embody these interests. Often working in series, Hammond borrows motifs from everyday life: roadways, hi-vis vests, office furniture, j-cloths, washing-up gloves and mugs of tea provide him with a workaday visual repertoire to compose with across multiple paintings. As curator of this exhibition, I invited Hammond to select works from our collections that resonate with his artistic practice. They were exhibited in display cases and temporary walls repurposed from elsewhere in the gallery, in the spirit of a ‘workaround’. These selections revealed the artist's commitment to the sheer pleasure of image-making and creative experimentation—qualities that can make all kinds of pictures 'work'