Grand gestures: Mark Wallinger gets his hands dirty at Hauser & Wirth

Where’s Wallinger? Everywhere and nowhere, it seems, at the British artist’s latest exhibition. Presenting new paintings and multi-media works in ‘ID’, Hauser & Wirth has given over both of its Savile Row salons in London to Mark Wallinger’s debut solo exhibition at the gallery.
Traces of Wallinger are threaded through the show; like a crime scene we feel compelled to search for clues – some more obvious than others – and by extension the culprit. In the opening work, Ego, 2016, Wallinger recalls Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam with his own hands in a minute pair of iPhone photographs (perhaps joining Alec Soth’s new school of ‘unselfies’).
The artist’s monumental new series of id paintings take pride of place in the North Gallery. Derived from Sigmund Freud’s notion of ‘id’ – the component of our personality structures that fuel our basic, instinctual drives – they bear an overt, immediate resemblance to Rorschach’s inkblots. Less explicitly, they recall the bilateral symmetry of Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man in that each canvas is the width of Wallinger’s 1.8m span, and double that again in height.
‘The paintings are made with instinct, sometimes blindly, intuitively and/or in a dialogue,’ explains Wallinger in his exhibition notes. The works’ deceptively impeccable symmetry belies his hands-on approach; the artist covers half of the canvas with his paint-laden hands, before flipping it and continuing. ‘Painting is not usually experienced as a time-based medium. The painting is ready for the viewer when the work is done,’ he adds. ‘But [id] is the antithesis – the painting is a starting point, a cue for the serious work of the viewer to begin.’
Wallinger completes his Freudian trifecta in the South Gallery with another new work, Super Ego, 2016: a mirrored homage to the revolving New Scotland Yard sign. He offers us another clue, another piece of himself: the motorised sculpture is erected directly opposite the West End Central Police Station where the artist was taken in 1986 after an assault during a violent protest.
There’s no escaping Super Ego’s pansophical gaze, a reflection of the ‘ceaseless energy and vigilance of the police’. The omnipresent artist looms large, but invisibly, embodied by his all-seeing totem.
Elsewhere, the artist sends us spinning in a video work presented across four screens – one for each season – tracing a commemorative oak tree at the centre of a roundabout in Barkingside. Wallinger circles around it in his car, capturing it on an iPhone Blu-Tacked to the window. It’s another chapter in his autobiographical show – it was the first roundabout he tackled as a learner driver. Round and round we go, as Wallinger pulls us into his orbit.
At last, we catch up to Wallinger, now in the role of flâneur, in Shadow Walker, 2011 – or so he has us believe. The artist remains ever elusive and, like Peter Pan, we are left chasing a shadow.
The exhibition opens with Ego, 2016, a playful riff on Michelangelo's Creation of Adam. Two iPhone photographs depict the hands of their creator (that's Wallinger)
The remainder of the North Gallery is devoted to a new body of work – the monumental id paintings – in which Wallinger created symmetrical gestures in paint using his hands
His height forms the basis of the canvas size, as each is the width of Wallinger’s 1.8m span, and double that again in height, recalling the bilateral symmetry of Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man
In the South Gallery, Superego, 2016, is a rotating mirrored installation inspired by the revolving New Scotland Yard sign
Orrery, 2016, is a video work presented across four screens – one for each season – tracing a commemorative oak tree at the centre of a roundabout in Barkingside as Wallinger circles around it
The artist captures his shadow along Shaftesbury Avenue in Shadow Walker (left), 2011, while Ever Since (right), 2012, is a seemingly endless, life-sized projection of a barber's shop front
INFORMATION
‘ID’ is on view until 7 May. For more information, visit the Hauser & Wirth website
Photography: Ken Adlard. Images copyright Mark Wallinger. Courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth
ADDRESS
Hauser & Wirth
23 Savile Row
London, W1S 2ET
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
-
Samsung and Sony have unleashed new phone flagships, with Nothing snapping at their heels
Do flagship smartphones still have a place in a world of masterful mid-range devices and a general move towards less screen dependence, rather than more? We explore two new entries into the genre
-
Find bubbly, chewy, perfectly crusted pizza at Cosetta, LA’s new Westside Italian gem
Located in a slightly industrial area by the Santa Monica airport, Cosetta, from pizza maestro Zack Pollack, champions the local Italian dining scene with tradition and innovation
-
Oscar Niemeyer: a guide to the Brazilian modernist, from big hits to lesser-known gems
Architecture master Oscar Niemeyer defined 20th-century architecture and is synonymous with Brazilian modernism; our ultimate guide explores his work, from lesser-known schemes to his big hits; and we revisit a check-in with the man himself
-
Out of office: what the Wallpaper* editors have been up to this week
The Wallpaper* team enjoyed good art, food and drink this week, attending various exhibition openings and unearthing some of the best pasta and cocktails that London has to offer
-
Caroline Walker's new show speaks to women everywhere, including me
'Everything related to my life with young children, because it's such an all encompassing experience,' the artist says of her new show at the Hepworth Wakefield
-
Cassi Namoda is rethinking stained-glass windows at Turner Contemporary in Margate
The artist drew from an eclectic range of references when considering the traditional medium for a Turner Contemporary window overlooking the beach – she tells us more
-
As Photo London turns 10, seven photographers tell us the story behind their portraits
Photo London celebrates its tenth anniversary from 14–18 May 2025 at Somerset House
-
The Tate Modern is hosting a weekend of free events. Here's what to see
From 9 -12 May, check out art, attend a lecture, or get your groove on during the museum's epic Birthday Weekender
-
Artist Zumba Luzamba on the vibrant aesthetic of Congolese fashion rebels, the sapeurs
The Congolese artist takes a deep dive into a fashion subculture in his show at London's Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery. ‘I draw people in with style so that they can sit with deeper themes,’ he says
-
‘The work is an extension of myself’: Michaela Yearwood-Dan on her debut show at Hauser & Wirth
London-based artist Michaela Yearwood-Dan continues her rapid rise, unveiling monumental new paintings in ‘No Time for Despair’
-
The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt will be shown at Tate Modern
The 42-panel quilt, which commemorates those affected by HIV and AIDS, will be displayed in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall in June 2025