Giles Hayter's Relentless Kinetic exhibition at the Troubadour Gallery in Earls Court was, in many ways, as musical as it was visual. The artist, who is a maths teacher at Westminster School, is also a talented poet, composer and musician, so for him it all comes naturally. This was his third exhibition since he took up art seriously just over a year ago.
His approach to art is experimental and multi-sensory. He allows nature to determine the final outcome of his pieces by using scaffolding poles, credit cards, pins and turntables. As a result the paintings burst with colour, twinkle with light and plunge through numerous depths with their multi layered surface. They are charged with energy.
It would be an exaggeration to compare the art to that of Kandinsky but it does help to explain his artistic approach. All of his paintings sing with colour and have a sonic quality that's hard to put a finger on. It could be that, like Kandinsky and allegedly Pharell Williams, Giles Hayter's brain is cross wired so that he is able to connect sounds with colours and visual forms. Whether he is medically a synaesthete or not, his compositions seem to have rhythm, degrees of loudness and a feeling of melody.
The most engaging paintings are multi layered, like palimpsests. They are a series of compositions spread on top of each other and then sliced to reveal the pattern below. The resulting image is both attractive on the surface but also snares your attention and draws you in to see what is partially exposed beneath. Other favourites included what looked like a firework display made using a credit card, a sheet of Perspex and some acrylic paint as well as a piece called Kabboom that resembled a dragon-fly being flamboyantly squashed into a blackboard to the sound of Primal Scream.
Unfortunately, the exhibition is now closed but look out for future exhibitions and more information on Giles Hayter's website.
