Alongside Bruce Nauman and Edward Kienholz, the Los Angeles-based artist Richard Jackson has been a mainstay in the American contemporary art scene since the 1970s. Jackson’s practice unites both Abstract Expressionism and action painting. For him, paint is not a tool that is used to create a representational image: rather, it is performatively spurted, splattered and sprayed over the surface of his installations, giving viewers a sense of something “in process” or “at play”, and recontextualising painting as part of everyday behaviour. 

Jackson mixes seemingly incongrous visual references, ranging from hunting to baseball to clowns, with the purpose of mocking the trope of the artistic genius. Head down to Hauser and Wirth’s London space onwards of today, and look out for one of Jackson’s kinetic sculptures: it has breasts for eyes and a paintball gun installed in its mechanised penis, which spins and ejaculates paint into the surrounding space. There is unequivocal glee in the kaleidoscopic mayhem of Jackson’s world, which shakes up and tears down the pristine white walls of the gallery space. Painting has never looked this fun.

Richard Jackson’s show will run from today to 26 July.

Hauser & Wirth London, 23 Savile Row, North Gallery, London W1S 2ET

Images courtesy of the artist and the gallery.