About the work

Tompkins’ is known for her minimal installations of works on paper and sculptural elements. A move to film seems a natural progression for an artist who is trying to create a seamless rhythm – a continuum – from the mind of the artist to the hand that produces the work – and her work is very handmade – to the physical placement within a given space. As Tompkins has said “it is important that the work exists as naturally as possible … nothing should feel too forced… The way things are arranged should feel quite behavioural, as if someone had been there and done that thing”. Her works possess a tangential and contentious quality yet their sense of place is definite and unrelenting. Her works are holistic – there appears to be no separation between their physical characteristics, their process of production or, crucially for Tompkins’ practice, their placement. The individual pieces cannot be divorced from their surroundings or each other.

Date and country of birth

1971, GB>

About the artist

Hayley Tompkins (b. 1971, Leighton Buzzard) lives and works in Glasgow. Graduated from the Glasgow School of Art (1998). Select solo exhibitions include Think I wanna drive your Benz (I don't), The Modern Institute, Glasgow (2018); Hayley Tompkins: Stick crystals to paintings, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn (2018); Myth Cart, Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh (2016); Technicolor Hamburger, Drawing Room, Hamburg (2015); Space Kitchen, Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York (2014);  House of Life, Cairn, Pittenweem (2012); A Piece Of Eight, The Modern Institute, Glasgow (2011); Autobuilding, Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh (2009); Optical Research, Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York (2009); Salute to the Dataday, The Front Room, Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis (2009); and Re, The Drawing Room / Tannery Arts, London (2008). Select group exhibitions include Fillette, Francesca Pia, Zurich (2018); Portrait (for a Screenplay) of Beth Harmon, Tenderpixel, London (2017); I still believe in miracles, Inverleith House, Edinburgh (2016); Walks and Displacements, Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York (2015); @ the shrink, Shanaynay, Paris (2014); Out Of Doors, Supplement Gallery, London (2013); Scotland + Venice 2013: Sworn / Campbell / Tompkins, Collateral Event of the 55th International Art Exhibition, Venice Biennale, Venice (2013); The Imminence of Poetics, Sao Paolo Biennale, Sao Paolo (2012); Painting Expanded, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York (2011); Watercolour, Tate Britain, London (2011); Every Night I go to Sleep, Modern Art, London (2010); Ashes to Ashes, AMP, Athens (2010); Group Show, Autocenter, Berlin (2010); modern modern, Chelsea Art Museum, New York (2009); Zero Budget Biennale, Galerie Carlos Cardenas, Paris (2009); and Open Field, CCA, Glasgow (2008).