By Harriet Baker
When the Detroit-based artist Hernan Bas arrived at Jesus College, Cambridge, for a period of research in 2016, he didn’t know what ‘fresher’ meant. The term, familiar to anyone who’s been to a British university, is used to describe first-year undergraduates and hints at much of the bravado of student life. At Cambridge, the word has more legendary connotations, calling to mind the university’s dining clubs, ancient initiation rites and the decadence of undergraduate parties, all played out in the timeless splendour of the colleges and along the sweep of the River Cam.
At Victoria Miro’s Mayfair space, nine new figurative paintings by Bas are inspired by the mythos of varsity life. Featuring young men punting on the river or scaling the city’s historic architecture, these works draw on the lore of Cambridge to create contemporary coming-of-age narratives. The paintings have a dreamlike quality, as though time has been suspended; their subjects are on the cusp of sexual maturity, at once recognizable and anonymous, intimate and aloof.
Image: Charon of the River Cam (Slain Swans), 2017
© Hernan Bas, courtesy Victoria Miro
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14 St George Street
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Il Capricorno, San Marco 1994,
30124 Venice, Italy
t: +39 041 523 3799
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Monday: By appointment
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534 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10011, USA
t: +1 (212) 229 2400
Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–6pm
Monday: By appointment
Closed: Sunday, holiday weekends, public holidays
16 Wharf Road
London N1 7RW
t: 44 (0)20 7336 8109
Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–6pm
Closed: Sunday, Monday, bank holiday weekends, public holidays
14 St George Street
London W1S 1FE
t: 44 (0)20 3205 8910
Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–6pm
Monday: By appointment
Closed: Sunday, bank holiday weekends, public holidays
Il Capricorno, San Marco 1994,
30124 Venice, Italy
t: +39 041 523 3799
Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–1pm and 2–6pm
Monday: By appointment
Closed: Sunday, bank holiday weekends, public holidays
534 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10011, USA
t: +1 (212) 229 2400
Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–6pm
Monday: By appointment
Closed: Sunday, holiday weekends, public holidays
14 St George Street
London W1S 1FE
t: 44 (0)20 3205 8910
info@victoria-miro.com
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London: Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–6pm.
Venice: Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–1pm & 2–6pm. During August, Monday–Friday: 10am–1pm & 2–6pm.
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