Wall of Water IX

For Maggi Hambling, no matter the subject, art exists at the intersection of life and death. Whether in her portraits that led to early acclaim or the Walls of Water series, based on experiences watching heavy surf break against the seawall in Southwold near her studio in Suffolk, capturing the evanescent conditions of existence is central to her practice. In this regard the work of her artistic forebear John Constable (1776–1837), who made extensive studies of nature in their shared Suffolk countryside, continues to be a touchstone. Where Constable studied clouds, Hambling chose waves. They became the artist‘s preferred subject following the 1999 death of her partner, Henrietta Moraes (a onetime muse and model for Francis Bacon). In them, Hambling discovered the simultaneous potential for love and loss, comparing the rising of the wave to an orgasm, followed by its dissipation. Hambling began the Walls of Water series in 2010. At monumental scale, and with a subtly articulated low horizon line, the canvases in this series thrust the viewer into an unavoidable confrontation with the relentless fury of the sea where waves break with beautiful ferocity.

In Wall of Water IX, the looming waves are at once solid form and liquid presence with the potential to engulf or recede. Unlike a traditional seascape, it is instead a painterly rendering of the sheer force of nature at an arrested moment in time where the unique chromatic effects of water—from inky blacks, deep purples, and a range of blue-green hues set off by passages of white and strokes of glistening golden yellow—describe ominous depths, frothy surf, and light through the waves. Moreover, Hambling’s paintings of such tidal waves signal the realities of unprecedented climate change that make for rising sea levels, which might one day overwhelm us. Yet even as she paints nature, and life on the precipice, Hambling approaches her subjects with an intensity that constantly reaffirms her passion for living. As she once reflected, "I’m trying to paint death with as much life as I can."