Victoria Miro presents TIME TO SHINE! (the salesmen), an exhibition of new paintings by Hernan Bas.
This new body of work is set in places of retail where, as comedy, tragedy and life in general tell us, minor characters assume leading dramatic roles. The title, TIME TO SHINE! (the salesmen), suggests moments illuminated by theatrical spotlight. Here, then, are actors in the theatre of, usually, suburban commerce poised for an encounter that seems every bit as electric as the hush before a revered thespian enters the stage. This mercantile world takes us to stores and stands of different kinds, as well as to the seaside. Several works were triggered, Proust-like, by childhood memories. Yet it also extends to the hallowed environs of the contemporary art gallery – and here we’re reminded that Bas has often traded in the self-reflexive, conjuring words such as ‘meta’ long before they slipped into common parlance. The title First choice (two artists, a dealer and a collector) sets up a familiar artworld dynamic, only to wrongfoot us with the realisation that the artists depicted in the painting are not the humans.