Hastings Contemporary

About

Hastings Contemporary champions modern and contemporary art. An ambitious programme of temporary exhibitions includes work by important Modern British artists, internationally celebrated artists, and emerging practitioners. Since opening (as Jerwood Gallery) nine years ago, the gallery has developed a reputation for its focus on painting and on Modern British art. The gallery sits among Hastings’s famous net huts, overlooking the largest beach-launched fishing fleet in Europe.

Designed by HAT Projects, the building has won several architectural awards, including a RIBA National Award, a Civic Trust Award and a Sussex Heritage Trust Award, and reached the mid list for the Stirling Prize.

Exhibitions (8 October 2022 - 12 March 2023)

CARAGH THURING
Hastings Contemporary presents the first major survey show of the work of Caragh Thuring (b. Brussels, 1972) – her first UK exhibition in six years. It will include paintings, drawings and monotypes. Thuring’s nuanced compositions juxtapose signs and imagery from her recurring iconography of volcanoes, bricks, flora, tartan, human silhouettes, and submarines, to explore where natural and manufactured worlds collide. All works are on loan from the artist and public and private UK collections, in order to avoid the environmental impact of international shipping.

MAKING WAVES
To celebrate Hastings Contemporary's 10th anniversary, we bring together 10 artworks from some of the astonishingly talented artists who have exhibited in the gallery over the last decade, such as Chantal Joffe, Rose Wylie, Maggi Hambling and Sir Quentin Blake.

PENNY MCCARTHY: CLOUD FALLS IN LOVE WITH MORTAL
Cloud falls in love with mortal is a solo exhibition by Penny McCarthy and comprises an extensive series of graphite drawings made between 2019 and 2022. The artist received the biennial Evelyn Williams Drawing Award in 2019.

Gallery Café

Education Futures Trust is excited to be partnering with Hastings Contemporary to open ‘The Drift’, a community café encapsulating ‘the art of community’.

The Drift will provide a safe working environment for adults and young people who, with the support of Education Futures Trust staff, will learn new skills, gain valuable experience, and unlock their potential.

As part of a commitment to minimising food waste, The Drift will use FareShare products to provide daily specials.

This new and ground-breaking partnership will start small and gradually build to provide a full menu. To start with, gallery members and visitors will be able to choose from a menu including quality coffee, handmade cakes, and a range of savoury light bites.