Miles Davis. Theolonius Monk. Chet Baker. Frank Sintra. Peggy Lee. For his latest solo exhibition at Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Tower Bridge, Belgian artist Joachim Lambrechts pays tribute to jazz legends from throughout history. Lambrechts’ work is almost always rooted in his life experiences and childhood memories. Music, in particular, is one of his recurring themes and is closely related to the evolution of his artistic practice. Featuring all new works, On the sunny side of the street is a riotous celebration of music, movement and creativity.

 

Lambrechts began his career as a street artist, painting murals in cities across Europe. While for the last five years his practice has been confined to the canvas, his paintings continue to possess a captivating sense of spontaneous energy. He never makes sketches or studies, preferring to see what emerges through the painting process. This way of working is comparable to the improvisational techniques used in jazz and although Lambrechts admits that his love for the genre has only recently developed, he believes that listening to it in the studio has unlocked a new sense of joy and freedom in his work. We see this most clearly through the bold colours and the playfulness of the compositions. In the portrait of Bobby Haynes, for instance, he is so consumed by the music that he seems not to have noticed that his cello is literally bursting into flames. Likewise, Chet Baker appears with a shiny quiff hairstyle, a cigarette in one hand and a flaming trumpet in the other. Lambrechts’ version of an epitaph is crammed into the frame in oversized lettering, like the enthusiastic scrawl of a teenage fan: ‘The pretty boy who went wrong. Chet Baker 1929-1988. Still firing up jazz until present!’ The words, like the portrait, are playful, but they also make reference to the sad reality of Baker’s early death while also acknowledging his profound and continued influence on the genre.