Lupa by Celia Hempton.

Lupa is the first solo show at Sultana Gallery by London-based artist Celia Hempton.

Taking its name from the mythical wolf that suckled the two boys Romulus and Remus, the name was also used in Roman times as a slang word for a prostitute. In Spainish a Lupa is a magnifying glass.

This exhibition forms part of a series of installations where the artist has hung paintings made in the studio onto site-specific wall paintings. The gallery walls have been painted with overlaying patches of paint, some areas whitewashed, deleted and re-painted in blocks of opaque colour.

The wall paintings are a continuation of Hempton’s interest in utilizing the extremities within painterly convention, representation and function. They also serve as a context, sometimes fluctuating in temperature and compatibility, for the nude paintings that hang on them.

The small nude paintings – specifically of body parts usually hidden - are made in situ within a day, a few feet from the model, for the whole duration of the painting’s production.