Five art legends on five rising stars

There may be as much wisdom to glean from our successors as our predecessors; as much from those who think differently as those who think the same. But how important are conversations between artists? We’re pretty obsessed with the subject, and even created an entire series The Exchange based on the premise. Now Incubator gallery has opened a show dedicated to intergenerational artist pairings working across painting, sculpture, photography, video and installation.

‘Five by Five’ is framed as a series of duets between ten established artists and emerging artists including Maggi Hambling & Jelly Green, Mona Hatoum & Tamara Al-Mashouk, Georgie Hopton & Alice McCabe, Abigail Lane & Rebecca Hancock and Ingrid Pollard & Matthew Arthur Williams. We took the opportunity to ask each artist what they thought of the other’s work.

Maggi Hambling on Jelly Green

“I have watched the continuous development of Jelly Green’s painting for some years now. Her work increases in intensity. She is passionate about her subject matter – the electrical charge for any artist.

In 2019 she held her exhibition ‘Devour’ at the Oxo Tower and we were deep in the jungle, with just a hint of what was to come. The paintings held the authority of experience as she had travelled and worked in Brazil, Borneo, Sri Lanka and New Zealand.

Now her forests burn. It is both terrifying and beautiful. We are here as witnesses of destruction. We feel the red-hot heat as her fires consume us.”

Jelly Green on Maggi Hambling

“From the first moment I stepped into Maggi Hambling’s studio I have been in awe of her ability to capture the essence of her subjects, whether it is a giant North Sea wave, a drawing of her father, or her sculpture, Henrietta Eating a Meringue. Maggi lives and breathes her work. She is fearless and tender, and uncompromisingly honest.”

Ingrid Pollard on Matthew Arthur Williams

“Matthew’s commitment to exploring analogue photography attracts me to his work. His practice and curiosity question the relationship of portraiture to landscape, to community. I like the idea that we appeared to be in dialogue over place and time, without knowing it.”

Matthew Arthur Williams on Ingrid Pollard

“I often find myself in awe of Ingrid’s work. I see the breadth of her practice akin to a landscape filled with towns and villages, sweeping hills and valleys, identities and bodies. There isn’t a thing she hasn’t put her hand to. It’s an awe filled with gratitude for a practice that is constantly engaging, exciting and one that strikes the right note at every turn. Her large-scale show ‘Carbon Slowly Turning’ at MK Gallery, Milton Keynes had me grinning as I entered different sections of the gallery simply because it was so well done. From new kinetic sculptures (Bow Down and Very Low) to portraits of boxers (Contenders) to the film Rhythms at Hand depicting a team of rowers, right up to Pastoral Interlude. Just like the kinetic object all was connected and held the ability to stop time in its tracks.”

Georgie Hopton on Alice McCabe

“I was immediately compelled by Alice’s work because of its combination of order and freedom and its ritualistic qualities. There is a sense that the elements within the works have been placed in a particular way so that they conform to some hidden symbolism or system. They appear to be mysterious and functional all at once, which intrigues me, and I love the way they bring together natural 3D elements and 2D printed matter; real and artificial, unique and ubiquitous to affect the whole.”

Alice McCabe on Georgie Hopton

“I greatly admire the magical interplay of materials in Georgie’s work and her precise yet seemingly spontaneous making technique. This resonance and joyful colours and nature of materials themselves lead me into a state of suspension, whereby I feel I get a glimpse into the force of life and its vibrancy in interlocking patterns of chaos and order around us.”

Abigail Lane on Rebecca Hancock

“I was drawn to the circular and obsessive behaviour in Rebecca’s films. Throwing a ball at a wall is playful but repetition has a grinding effect that can warp our feelings over time. Similarly, some of her drawings and paintings seem to depict never-ending circuits or dilemmas. I love their strange perspectives and wit and her distortion of ‘the domestic’ appeals to my own sensibilities. There are a number of things we could have meaningfully paired. I asked Rebecca to include her film Pass for this exhibition because I thought it might make for an interesting dialogue with the sculpture I chose of my own. Alongside one another, the pink blob under the foot that is cast from my house dust might also read as a ball of some sort – squashed and stilled in the face of Rebecca’s relentless movement.”

Rebecca Hancock on Abigail Lane

“Abigail has a very playful approach to her work, coupled with witty distortions of relationship nuances and it really draws me in and is one of my favourite types of conversation through installation. I am so ridiculously excited about exhibiting alongside Abigail, the similarities of repetitive and suggestive behaviours really bounce off of each other! I feel like I’ve already learnt a lot from her.”

Mona Hatoum on Tamara Al-Mashouk

“Tamara’s question: ‘does the water remember what happened in her body?’ sends shivers up your spine when you realise that the water in the jugs, forming a barrier cutting through the space, was gathered from the English Channel in Dover. Her discourse around migration and memory is imbued with auras of beauty, mysticism and magic. I also admire Tamara’s ability to work collaboratively bringing together a team of creative people with different artistic practices aligned with her radical ideas and desire to push the boundaries.”

Tamara Al-Mashouk on Mona Hatoum

“There is a quiet that comes from Mona Hatoum’s exacting precision with material, scale and gesture that allows our bodies to enter her world; where everything is distilled, where intimacy and universality takes our breath away.”