Derek Jarman: The Black Paintings: A Chronology. Part I 1984 - 1987 | Amanda Wilkinson
I arrived at the gallery for this exhibition one sweaty lunchtime. Inside, a bored posh child and her father were on their way out. “That wasn’t too long, was it?” he asked her, hopefully. “That was 10 hours,” she drawled back.
Silly him - no wonder she didn’t like it! I can’t think of a less child-friendly artist than the iconoclastic filmmaker Derek Jarman, who died of AIDS in 1994 and made much of his work in the dark shadow of his diagnosis. These include the tiny, hostile, withholding Black Paintings, which this show centres on. I’d seen and loved Amanda Wilkinson’s previous Jarman exhibition in 2023 (and wrote about it); she’ll host a follow-up later this summer.
Thee Thou (1986)
The works crackle with bad psychic energy. Speaking to the Guardian, Wilkinson said that “sometimes [Jarman] used to cast spells over them. I don’t know whether that’s true or not”.
I personally believe it. Embedded in the oil slick like paint are various pieces of detritus: crushed fizzy drinks cans, mirrors, lightbulbs, rusty tools. The thing they have in common is their sharp edges - their brokenness.
Esse in Anima (1987)
The jagged edges are the whole point. On my second quick tour around the works, I noticed the occasional livid red undertow in the black waves of paint. Like blood.
The monotone misery of the work on show meant I didn’t stay much longer than that. Although, when walking back down the stairs and into the sunshine, and the spell broke, it seemed like I had been up there for 10 hours.
Derek Jarman: The Black Paintings: A Chronology. Part I 1984 - 1987 is at Amanda Wilkinson (London). 06 June - 11 July 2025