Tag: Norman Hyams

Norman Hyams (1966–2024, London, UK) examined everyday life through paintings and sculptures that feel both enigmatic and deeply personal. Often beginning with a single photograph from his past, he would return to the image repeatedly, reshaping it into a constellation of recurring motifs that drift between daydream and memory—a process he described as “teaching himself how to see.” In his work, narratives don’t announce themselves; they surface slowly, hinted at through gesture, atmosphere and the emotional weight of a moment recalled. 

Hyams’ visual language embraced contrast: the restless, nocturnal charge of the city set against quieter, inward-looking scenes. This tension formed the emotional spine of his practice, revealing how certain memories—real or imagined—grow in resonance over time. His ability to draw intensity from the ordinary made each work feel like a fragment of a larger, private mythology. 

Over nearly two decades, Hyams developed a distinct presence within London’s artistic landscape, exhibiting extensively with Hannah Barry Gallery and beyond. Solo exhibitions included Ethos (2017), serious pursuits – loops, sacks and tennis courts (2018), Knowledge (2019), The Party (2020), Vermilion Tablecloth (2023), Islands (2024) and the forthcoming No Rush (2025). His work also appeared in key group exhibitions across the UK and Europe, and is held in significant collections including the UK Government Art Collection and the Simon Nixon Collection. 

Rooted in observation yet charged with interior life, Hyams’ practice captures the way memory shapes perception—how small images of the past expand into something enduring, luminous and emotionally precise.