Sesame is proud to present Behind the Mask, an exhibition about sexuality, desire, aggression and vulnerability, articulated through the figurative painting of five artists: Matthew Small, Tim Blake, Yuko Nasu, Jody Boehnert and Peter Michael.

Matthew Small’s portraits of anonymous urban youth painted onto found pieces of metal are gaining him increasing attention within the contemporary Street Art movement. Raw, penetrating, forceful and vulnerable, his paintings depict young people at once at odds with and consumed by their alienating environment.

Fresh from his recent success at the Freud Museum as part of the critically acclaimed Paranoia exhibition, Tim Blake’s paintings examine aspects of delusion, madness, and psychological folds of identity. Bold and stylistically striking, Tim’s paintings probe the cracks in the bravado that people use to impress and intimidate others. Tim will simultaneously be showing work at Tate Modern as part of the In Focus project.

Japanese artist Yuko Nasu’s portraits focus on anonymity and what our appearance can simultaneously hide, reveal, suggest and preclude without any further contact taking place. In this way her paintings are more about the viewer and their preconceptions than any supposed subject. Born in Hiroshima and working the UK, Yuko previous shows include Bloomberg New Contemporaries and the Liverpool Biennial 2006.

Canadan artist Jody Boehnert creates dark portraits of page 3 models with an unnerving rawness. Through her paintings the parading of female flesh becomes a desexualised, thinly veiled maelstrom of emotions, with the character of the models simmering and seething beneath the veneer of titillation.

Peter Michael’s large figure paintings have a monumental quality and an emotional stillness that lends them striking depth and gravitas. Focusing on men and women, sexuality and shyness, Peter tackles basic human nature in a way that makes his figures seem archetypal and timeless – human through and through.

The works in the show focus on the psychological truths about human beings – what we are, what we want, what we fear, and how we hide it. Behind the Mask goes beneath the veneer of civility to give a raw account of our contemporary condition.

For more information please contact the gallery.