Viewing Pascal Sender: Happy Hour at Saatchi Yates

Pascal Sender, a former student of Peter Doig and a graduate of the RA school, is becoming increasingly recognisable for his mind-boggling, complex figurative paintings of contorted, surreal figures and everyday scenes: in one painting, a figure scoots along the road, while in another a bodybuilder postures for a selfie. Sometimes the image is as straightforward as a man waiting for a bus – but Sender makes every moment unforgettable.

This is the Swiss artist’s second solo show at Saatchi Yates, following his debut in 2020. This new body of work focuses on recreation in a digital age, hybrid figures that appear to be part mechanical, and seem to speed along with an intense velocity, on scooters, skates and jet skis.

Sender takes this expression even further in his paintings by introducing the Pascal Sender app, hand coded by the artist, through which his works become animated with Augmented Reality as three dimensional forms. The app can be downloaded and the paintings viewed through your phone – adding another fascinating dimension to this innovative artist’s practice.