An exhibition of new paintings by Richard Jackson is set to open at Hauser & Wirth this Friday, May 23.

Drawing heavily from the abstract expressionists and action paintings, Jackson creates dynamic sculptures around which paint is thrown or shot out loosely.

This morning, May 19, Jackson installed one of the pieces – Pain-t (2012) – in front of a group of press.

The painting depicted a row of sculptures of men bending over forwards with their trousers at their ankles, aiming their rears at the wall.

Upon activation of Jackson’s device, primary coloured paint squirted out of each of their rear ends, staining the wall.

Another installation, Shower Room (2013), is similarly grotesque but is more sinister.

Paint is smeared inside a shower room, giving it an uncanny resemblance to blood. Footprints leading out of the cubicle recall the shower scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.

Jackson told ARTINFO UK that the new paintings have been seven years in the making, although the install for the show has only taken two weeks.

He also said that the performance this morning was a rarity.

“I usually just do this stuff alone, in my studio,” he said, adding, “they’re just paintings, after all.”

“Richard Jackson: New Paintings” runs concurrent to an exhibition of drawings by Phyllida Barlow, taking place in Hauser & Wirth’s South Gallery on Savile Row.

“Richard Jackson: New Paintings,” Hauser & Wirth London, Savile Row North Gallery, May 23 to July 26