Derek Jarman: When yellow wishes to ingratiate it becomes gold

This exhibition brings together paintings from 1982 – 1992, a rich and turbulent period in Jarman’s life. The works illustrate the complexity of Jarman’s practice and the way in which painting weaves a path through his creative output which included film making, writing, gardening and political activism. The paintings offer an insight into his interests, more specifically alchemy and 17th Century metaphysics as well as the politics of 1980s Britain. They also point to his own personal history – the period when he acquired Prospect Cottage, met HB, the love of his life, made a renowned garden in Dungeness and was diagnosed HIV . The title of the exhibition comes from Chroma, Jarman’s book on colour. It includes work from the ‘black series’, which he made at Prospect Cottage, as well as one of the powerful Queer paintings made on copies of tabloid newspapers. This concise grouping of paintings from each year of this eventful decade encapsulate the importance of painting in Jarman’s practice and his commitment to the exploration of this medium.