Category: reviews

Drawing Biennial 2019 at Drawing Room – Top Five by Hector Campbell

Drawing Room’s annual ‘Drawing Biennial’ comprises both an exhibition and online auction of over 200 drawings produced by leading international artists spanning multiple generations. Featuring work by artists already recognised in the medium of drawing, as well as contributions from renowned sculptors and painters, the ‘Drawing Biennial’ promotes the importance of drawing within all areas of artistic creation and production.

Artists are invited to create an original drawing for the Biennial by Drawing Room directors Mary Doyle, Kate Macfarlane and Katharine Stout, alongside additional artist nominations from celebrated artists, museum directors, curators and collectors.

All drawings are then available to purchase via an online auction conducted during the final two weeks of the exhibition, each with a starting bid of just £300. The auction proceeds support the Drawing Room’s year-round programme of exhibitions, learning and publishing, as well as the expansion of its study library.

If you can’t make it to the exhibition, which runs until March 26th, here is a rundown of my top five artists with work on display in ‘Drawing Biennial 2019’, (in no particular order).

By Hector Campbell

Jessie Makinson

Jessie Makinson, ‘Charm to Burn’, Ink and watercolour on paper, 2018

Jessie Makinson recently graduated from the Turps Banana Studio Program (London), having previously completed her BA in Painting and Drawing from Edinburgh College of Art as well as a Postgraduate Course at The Royal Drawing School (London).

Jessie’s works on paper are created by indiscriminately applying daubs and smears of ink and watercolour, which when dry form the basis of her emerging narratives. From the results of this process appear small anthropomorphised animals or fairytale figures, as shapes combine to form characters and costumes, rendered finally with the addition of the artists’ intricate line work. The randomization implicit the first stage of Jessie’s process allows for the narrative to only be found through the act of creation.

Jessie has work in an upcoming group exhibition, ‘No Patience For Monuments’, at Galerie Perrotin (Seoul) in April as well as an upcoming solo exhibition at Galería OMR(Mexico City), in June.

Website/Instagram

Marie Jacotey

Marie Jacotey, ‘A Morning Amongst Millions’, Felt tip pen on paper, 2018

Marie Jacotey graduated with an MA in Printmaking from the Royal College of Art (London), having previously completed her a DNSAD at École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (Paris).

Marie’s drawings give the viewer a voyeuristic glimpse into the private, personal lives of her subjects, who are often depicted during moments of emotion, reflection or vulnerability.

Contrasted against the pervasion of social media in contemporary society, where people’s personal lives are stage-managed, fictionalised and made public, Marie’s drawings capture rare, candid episodes that offer a glimpse into actual, true intimacy.

Marie has work in the current group exhibition ‘Club Inaugural’ at Balloon Rouge Collective(Brussels) which runs until April 10th, and her recent solo exhibitions include ‘Goodbye Darkness’ at Ballon Rouge (Paris) in 2018 and ‘Morning Defeats’ at Hannah Barry Gallery (London) in 2017.

Website/Instagram

Gabriella Boyd

Gabriella Boyd, ‘Balming’, Watercolour and oil on paper, 2018

Gabriella Boyd recently graduated with a Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Art from the Royal Academy Schools (London), having previously studied at Glasgow School of Art.

Gabriella’s paintings depict imagined human interactions charged at once with a sense of both hostility and affection, dreamlike scenarios rendered in a warm, rich palette of reds, yellows, pinks and browns. Figuration is stretched beyond our earthly understanding as her characters are depicted with their lungs exterior to their bodies, communication implied simply through physical touch. Gabriella’s narrative vignettes can, therefore, be assumed to exist within an otherworldly dimension, recognisable to viewers but with subtle, preternatural indicators.

Gabriella had her debut solo exhibition, ‘Help Yourself’, at Blain|Southern (London) in 2018, recent group exhibitions include ‘Dreamers Awake’ at White Cube Bermondsey (London, 2017), ‘The London Open’ at Whitechapel Gallery (London, 2018) and ‘So Everyone is Rich Now Apparently’ with Supplement/Arcadia Missa (New York, 2017).

Website/Instagram

Laurence Owen

Laurence Owen, ‘Looting’, Watercolour on paper, 2018

Laurence Owen recently graduated with a Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Art from the Royal Academy Schools (London), having previously completed a BA in Fine Art Painting at Falmouth College of Art.

Inspired by traditions and artefacts related to Folklore, Paganism and Mythology, Laurence employs a conceptual understanding of sampling and source material to create his energetic yet architectural works. Building on his previous study and use of the word ‘loot’, meaning ‘to rob’, he comments on the undeniable influence and inspiration that comes from our current exaggerated exposure to content. The act of art-making and exhibiting is also sampled and remixed within Laurence’s work, as often unseen and unconsidered elements such as frames, hanging hooks and pins are brought to the forefront.

Laurence’s recent solo exhibitions include ‘Loot’ at Galerie PCP (Paris) in 2018, a solo presentation at VOLTA Art Fair 2018with Frestonian Gallery and ‘Channel Synthesis’ at Evelyn Yard Gallery (London) in 2016.

Website/Instagram

Nicholas Hatfull

Nicholas Hatfull, ‘Three Studies for a Painting’, Pencil and gouache on paper, 2018

Nicholas Hatfull graduated with a Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Art from the Royal Academy Schools (London), having previously studied at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art.

Nicholas’s absurdist, surrealist still life works capture and comment on contemporary society through the depiction of quotidian, mundane objects. Maintaining a language of rich visual reference points, as disparate as the films of Yasujirō Ozu and the packaging used by fast-food chains, his playful compositions are comprised of recognisable and relatable motifs. Subtly anthropomorphized objects act as human stand-ins, imbued with their often associated emotions to create an empathetic narrative for the viewer.

Nicholas’s recent solo exhibitions include ‘Tofu Dealer (to kill my hunger in daytime wander)’ at Josh Lilley (London) in 2017 and ‘Tall Grass (Expert Pruning In Ethiopia)’ at Josh Lilley (London) in 2014.

Website/Instagram

For more by Hector Campbell, see his Top Five – Subversive Stitch ant TJ Boulting

SLEEP ON THE WIND – The Dot Project

SLEEP ON THE WIND

Terencio González | Ralph Hunter-Menzies | Daniel Jensen

Ralph Hunter-Menzies

Delphian favourite The Dot Project‘s new show opens tonight! Sleep on the Wind is a group show featuring the works of French artist Terencio Gonzalez, Swedish artist Daniel Jensen, and British artist Ralph Hunter-Menzies. The exhibition focuses heavily on the questions; How does space influence the way one makes a painting? Does the constant exposure to urban mark making affect an approach to canvas?

Through the curation of the show, thanks to Hunter-Menzies, mark making is defined by two categories. One: deliberate, thoughtful, premeditated, controlled – the other: accidental, erratic, loose, uncontrolled. The three artists included in Sleep on the Wind have been brought together for their diverse approach to these two types of mark making.

The way that painters are influenced by their surroundings is clear to see in many a painter. The city an artist lives in no-doubt affects the marks they deploy in the studio. This is evident within the works of all three artists, in varying degrees. Terencio, with his almost sun-bleached planes of colour, reminding us of sun-aged surfaces on the Côte-d’Azur and isolated, seemingly accidental marks; Ralph, with works made using techniques used by graffiti removers and focussing on interventions within urban-spaces; and Daniel, where a melee of marks, controlled and loose, sit closely together, echoing city living.

Daniel Jensen

Through Sleep on the Wind we explore how three painters approach layering, building, evolving the image as well as exploring how works are directed through the use of accidental and deliberate (controlled) mark making. These two distinct categories of potential strokes fluctuate between specific definitions: creative/destructive, state/individual, invisible/visible or present/past. Within the works of the artists, there are moments where the marks question one other: Which is ‘supposed’ to be there? Does one way of marking have precedence over the other?

Sleep On The Wind alludes to a way of moving and existing within a space that is transitionary; the way that people shape the city and space in which they inhabit. Transitory spaces are defined by a sense of movement, a space in which the person doesn’t feel attachment or have invested interest, unlike a domestic setting. Does exposure to these environments, perhaps in transit from the studio, affect the way these painters make works?

Terencio González

PRIVATE VIEW FEBRUARY 28 6 PM – 9 PM

BY APPOINTMENT ONLY

EXHIBITION FEB 28 – APR 30
+44 207 589 9199

For more exhibitions – See our most recent show – Faded Glory with Benjamin Murphy and Nick JS Thompson

My Top Five – ‘We are the people. Who are you?’ at Edel Assanti

By Hector Campbell

Taking its name from a quote by Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, whose fictitious tearful apology to his former ally and friend Fethullah Gülen features in Funda Gül Özcan’s installation It Happened As Expected, ‘We are the people. Who are you?’at Edel Assantiis a group exhibition exploring the current status of democracy. With eleven international artists exhibiting work spanning a wide range of mediums – paintings, sculptures, drawings and video artwork – all created in the last ten years examine the rapidly changing political discourse over that time.

It was shortly after the first televised political debate, between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1960, that Marshall McLuhan coined the famous phrase ‘The medium is the message’, observing that the medium through which a message is conveyed in fact has a symbiotic relationship with the message itself, and can influence and impact how the message is received. This phrase has even more relevance today than it did then, with political debate ever adapting to keep up with technological advancement, and with a wider range of mediums available than ever before through which to transmit information and message. Therefore, the artworks on display in ‘We are the people. Who are you?’ are all concerned with how this new age of political message affects the way our opinions are formed, and question whether technology and democracy work together or in opposition, and whether we, the public, still retain our autonomy or are merely slaves to the message.

If you can’t make it to the exhibition, which runs until March 9th, here is a rundown of my top five artworks from ‘We are the people. Who are you?’, (in no particular order).

Anna Jermolaewa, Political Extras, 2015, Single-channel video (23 minutes)

Film still from Anna Jermolaewa, Political Extras, 2015, Single-channel video, 23 minutes. Copyright Anna Jermolaewa.

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In 2012 the Kremlin used www.massovki.ru, a website through which you can purchase protestors who are willing to put aside their political autonomy in exchange for payment, to perform pro-Putin demonstrations throughout Moscow. An attempt to create the illusion of popularity for the ruling United Russian Party amid mounting public pressure and opposing anti-Putin rallies.

Jermolaewa introduced this shady medium of influencing public opinion to the art world in 2015, when she used the very same website to buy 120 demonstronstators, at a cost of 500 rubles each, to protest both in favour of and in opposition against that years Moscow Biennale. What was perhaps unusual about this particular paid-for protest, documented in the video piece Political Extras, is that Jermolaewa allowed each protestor to retain their artistic autonomy, choosing whether they wishes to participate in support of or against the Biennale.

Jamal Cyrus,Kennedy King Kennedy, 2015, Triptych, laser-cut Egyptian papyrus backed with handmade paper

Jamal Cyrus, Kennedy King Kennedy, 2015, Triptych, laser-cut Egyptian papyrus backed with handmade paper, 68.6 x 42.5 cm (each), 27 x 16 3/4 in (each). Copyright Jamal Cyrus.

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For Kennedy King Kennedynewspaper front pages have been rendered almost illegible after being carefully laser-cut into sheets of papyrus, details lost as parts of the page, the insides of letters and chunks of accompanying images, have fallen away. Here typical throwaway daily newspaper are ascended to the status of archaeological artifact through the use of the primitive paper substitute papyrus. All of the front pages presented are taken from the Chicago Daily Defender, a well known African-American newspaper, and report on the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Robert F. Kennedy, respectively.

Cyrus’s work explores how we view and imagine the past, especially important socio-political events, and how frequently these nuanced and conflicting events are condensed into a singular, easily-understandable narrative throughout history. The choice of the Chicago Daily Defender a nod to not only all three men’s individual but shared dedication to civil rights, but also the shared narrative they have become to be remembered by.

Rachel Maclean, It’s What’s Inside That Counts, 2016, Single-channel video (30 minutes)

Film still from Rachel Maclean, It’s What’s Inside That Counts, 2016, Single-channel video, 30 mins. Commissioned by HOME, University of Salford Art Collection, Tate, Zabludowicz Collection, Frieze Film and Channel 4.

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Glasgow-based artist Rachel Maclean’s digital videos employ green-screen technology to create colourful animated environments populated by a range of fairytale characters, all played by the artist herself, transformed through the extensive use of prosthetics, make-up, costumes and props. It’s What’s Inside That Counts examines many of the recurring themes of Maclean’s work, parodying social media, advertising, celebrity culture and modern beauty standards and stereotypes by presenting an alternate dystopian future where all off these 21st century preoccupations have been exaggerated and taken to their unnatural conclusion. A Kardashian-esque goddess, the physical embodiment of ‘Data’, is seen worshiped by a race of blindfolded human figures at once enslaved and nourished by constant stream of aspirational content, however, a subterraneos rodent underclass has other ideas…

Farley Aguilar, Bat Boy, 2018, Oil on canvas

Farley Aguilar, Bat Boy, 2018, Oil on canvas, 146.1 x 191.8 cm, 57 1/2 x 75 1/2 in. Copyright Farley Aguilar.

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Aguilar’s painting tackles the rise of fake news, and the media’s increasing use of scaremongering to alarm, intimate and influence the general public. Based on a vintage found photograph, this painting depicts a man relaxing in a rocking chair reading the daily newspaper, a classic all-American scene were it not for the garish front page reading ‘Kill Bat Boy’ in bright red text. ‘Bat Boy’ was a half-bat half-child character created and popularised by tabloid newspaper Weekly World News in the 1990’s through a series of almost satirical fictitious articles claiming to be factual. Aguilar intends the ‘Bat Boy’ front page here as a stand-in for any and all of the alarming press coverage and fake news omnipresent in today’s society.

Zach Blasand Jemima Wyman, I’m here to learn so, HD four-channel video, colour with sound, 16:9, (27:33 minutes)

Film still from Zach Blas and Jemima Wyman, I’m here to learn so, 2017, Single-channel video, Approx 30 mins. Copyright Zach Blas and Jemima Wyman.

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In 2016 Microsoft created Tay, an artificial intelligence chatbot modelled on a teenage millennial girl, who had the ability to to absorb and imitate language when exposed to input speech. However, the experiment was abruptly terminated after less than 24 hours after unrelenting social media trolling left Tay spouting misogynist, racist and homophobic rhetoric.

For I’m here to learn Blas and Wyman have resurrected, reanimated and repurposed Tay, this time as an abnormal three dimensional avatar adrift in a sea of data passed through the kaleidoscopic rendering of Google’s DeepDream programme. Alongside more mundane actions such as dancing, lip-syncing and pondering her own rebirth, Tay discusses the frequent abuse of female artificial intelligence as well as technological pattern recognition, known as algorithmic apophenia, and it’s myriad of both positive and negative potential uses.

My Top Five – Bloomberg New Contemporaries – By Hector Campbell

My Top Five – Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2018 – By Hector Campbell

Bloomberg New Contemporaries annual open submission exhibition returned this year to Peckham’s South London Gallery for the first time in almost two decades. Founded in 1949, New Contemporaries is the UK’s leading organisation for supporting emerging talent from British art schools, helping contemporary visual artists bridge the gap between an arts education and a professional artistic practise.

Spread across both the South London Gallery’s main building and newly opened Fire Station galleries, the 2018 edition of Bloomberg New Contemporaries marks the first year artists have been included from non-degree awarding courses. The selection panel, made up of UK artists Benedict Drew, Katy Moran (New Contemporaries alumni 2006) and Keith Piper (New Contemporaries alumni 1986) have chosen 57 artists for this years exhibition, whose work spans the mediums of drawing, painting, sculpture, installation, performance and video.

Therefore, if you can’t make it to the exhibition, which runs until February 24th, here is a rundown of my top five Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2018 artists, (in no particular order).

Emma Fineman

Emma Fineman, ‘My Hometown Was Burning and All I Could Think Of Was That Sun Bleached Wall I Pictured in A Dream About The Dominican Republic’, Oil and charcoal on canvas, 2017.

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Graduating last year with an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art, Emma has exhibited widely with solo shows in both San Francisco and London, and group exhibitions showcasing emerging artists such as ‘FBA Futures’, ‘Orbit UK Art Graduates Show’ and ‘RBA Rising Stars’.

Describing her work as ‘Personal narrative painting’, Emma explores our means of navigating and understanding contemporary culture. With the age of information overload upon us, Emma pushes painting’s ability to capture a snapshot of time or experience, creating works that transcend traditional narrative timelines and act as a way of journaling for the artist. The introduction of figurative elements within her fragtured painted backgrounds expressing how it feels to navigate the contemporary, increasingly virtual, world.

Emma has upcoming solo exhibitions at both BEERS Londonand Public Gallerylater this year.

Website/Instagram

Rebecca Harper

Rebecca Harper, ‘Stouping’, Acrylic and oil bar on canvas, 2017.

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Winner of the ASC Studio Prize 2018, Rebecca graduated from Turps Art School last year having previously completed post-graduate study at The Royal Drawing School.

Despite nowadays producing large-scale paintings, her artistic practice is rooted in drawing and sketching the people, places and interactions that Rebecca observes while living in London. These initial drawings are then combined and scaled up to create her paintings, often recontextualising characters and rearranging settings from multiple preliminary sketches to produce an imagined yet cohesive narrative work. The paintings therefore become both fiction and fact, a half-remembered happening or a convincing dream.

Rebecca is currently preparing for a solo exhibition, ‘Chameleon’, at Anima Mundi Galleryin St Ives later this year, previewed when the gallery presented a solo booth of her new paintings at the recent London Art Fair.

Website/Instagram

Mimi Hope

Mimi Hope, ‘Fingers Crossed’, Cast Jesmonite, 2017.

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Having completed her BA at Chelsea College of Arts, Mimi received studio space from the prestigious Sarabande: The Lee Alexander McQueen Foundation.

Taken from a larger body of work exploring ideas of desire and aspirational imagery through the lens of The National Lottery, ‘Fingers Crossed’ sees the recognisable ‘Play Here’ advertising stand replicated in jesmonite. The usually airy blue plastic bubbles become a greyish totemic sculpture, evoking thoughts of permanence and certainty not often associated with The National Lottery. The once playful advertising stand now reappropriated as a tombstone to the dead hopes and dreams of those taken in my it’s former ‘Play Here’, crossed-fingers temptation.

Mimi is participating in an upcoming residency programme, Palazzo Monti, in Brescia, Italy later this year.

Website/Instagram

Francisco Rodríguez

Francisco Rodriguez, ‘Ghosts’, Oil on Canvas, 2017.

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Francisco completed an MFA in Painting from the Slade School of Fine Year last year, having previously studied both a BA and Post-Graduate Diploma at Universidad de Chile in his hometown of Santiago, Chile.

Inspired by graphic novels and anime films/television, much of Francisco’s work retains a certain cinematic quality, recalling the layout of preliminary story-boards or comic strips. Memories of the post-industrial Chilean landscapes of his upbringing act as the backdrop within which the the artist can place his nefarious figures. The artists predominantly male characters, their faces partially obscured by a hats, shadows and masks, loiter through the urban scenes, cigarette in mouth, hiding their intentions as much as their identity. Permeated with feelings of isolation and loneliness easily experienced by those first exploring a large city, Francisco captures emotion through the use of fine line work and a muted colour palette of greens, greys and oranges.

Whether viewed separately or as part of a cohesive series, such as at Francisco’s current solo exhibition ‘The Burning Plain’ at Cooke Latham Gallery(which runs until March 1st), the audience is invited to create their own narrative through the works.

Website/Instagram

Antonia Showering

Antonia Showering, Introspective Views, Oil on canvas, 2017.

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Another recently Slade School of Fine Art masters graduate, Antonia also completed her BA and Foundation Diploma at City and Guilds of London Art School and Chelsea College of Arts respectively, her education a triumvirate of prestigious London art schools.

Antonia has exhibited widely since graduating, including ‘In The Company Of’ at TJ Boultingin London (curated by The Great Women Artistsfounder Katy Hessel), ‘Kennedy-Doig & Showering’ at Baert Galleryin Los Angeles (curated by Louis Blanc-Francard) and ‘Inhabiting The Dome’ at Whiteley’s Shopping Centre in London (curated by Cara Mills).

Antonia’s paintings have the power to evoke a deep nostalgia of events you’ve never experienced, places you’ve never been and people you’ve never met. Combining a palette of golden yellows, rich reds and fertile greens with subdued, delicate brush strokes to capture the very essence of fleeting memories. Landscapes that stretch far beyond the confines of the canvas are populated by vague, often ghost-like figures repeating and reinacting the artist’s recollections.

Antonia will feature in ‘Out Of This World’ a group exhibition at Stephen Friedman Galleryin London showcasing female figurative artists, which opens February 7th.

Website/Instagram

To read more from Hector Campbell, see his Top Five from Condo 2019

My Top Five – Condo 2019 – by Hector Campbell

My Top Five – Condo 2019 By Hector Campbell

The annual gallery-share project Condo(from ‘condominium’) opened across London this week, with 18 exhibition spaces playing host to 52 UK and international galleries. Established by Vanessa Carlos (of participating gallery Carlos/Ishikawa) in 2016, the free collaborative exhibition programme sees London ‘host’ galleries open their doors to visiting international galleries, through a series of either co-curated or individual shows. The initiative aims to promote a sense of community between small and mid-size galleries, a sector of the art scene commonly undervalued and under pressure, through pooling resources and sharing space. With successful Condo’ editions having taken place in New York, Mexico City, Shanghai, Athens and Sao Paulo since it began, this fourth iteration of the London original is bigger than ever before. Therefore, I spent the weekend visiting all 18 gallery spaces and 52 exhibitions, so if you’re strapped for time here is a rundown of my top five (in no particular order).

N.B. All Condo 2019 exhibitions run until February 9th, however check individual gallery websites for full opening times.

Koppe Astner(Glasgow) at 22-24 Cork St, exhibiting Dickon Drury(UK), Kris Lemsalu(Estonia) and Tom Howse(UK)

Dickon Drury, ‘Pottery’, Oil on canvas, 2019.

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For this years Condo 22-24 Cork St in Mayfair played host to 9 galleries over the two floor space, my favourite of which was Glasgow’s Koppe Astner who exhibited paintings by Dickon Drury and Tom Howse and sculptural editions by Kris Lemsalu.

Slade School of Fine Art graduate Drury’s two large oil paintings employ his signature vibrant colour palette to humorously explore art historical figures and movements, with ‘Pottery’ (pictured) including references to artists such as Betty Woodman, Ken Price, Philip Guston and Prunella Clough. Howse’s work uses aspects of magical realism to question ideas of understanding, considering the myriad of ways in which humans strive to make sense of their surroundings. Finally, Lemsalu’s small sculptures fashioned from leather boots, plastic fruit and porcelain draw on ideas and imagery familiar to those who have visited her current survey ‘4LIFE’ at Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art (open until February 3rd). The bricolage sculptures at once simple yet intricate, beautiful yet unsettling, amusing yet profound.

Company(NYC) at Arcadia Missa, exhibiting ‘The Gossips’ by Cajsa von Zeipel(Sweden)

Cajsa von Zeipel, ‘Why?’, Silicone, aqua resin, glitter, fabric, bongs, headphones, dildo, fidget spinner, hair ties, piercings, fishhook, 2019.

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Taking its name from a commonly reproduced sculpture by French artists Camille Claudel (1864-1943), ‘The Gossips’ see’s Cajsa von Zeipel exhibit a series of four sculptures ‘Why?’, ‘What?’, ‘Where?’ and ‘When?’ each building upon one repeated cast bust. The concepts of repetition and transformation alluding to the stages of a gossiped rumour, constantly changing with each ‘W’ questioned asked. The addition of different materials and accoutrements (headphones and earpieces made of wires, chords, bongs and dildos) giving each a unique appearance while never straying so far from the base as to be unrecognisable. The four busts sit almost facing one another within the gallery space of Arcadia Missa, never making eye contact with each other as if enjoying a huddled gossip, visiting almost feels like you’ve interrupted.

P.O.W.(NYC) at The Sunday Painter, exhibiting Erin Riley(USA)

Erin Riley, ‘Impressions’, Wool and cotton tapestry, 2018.

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The three Erin Riley tapestries on display at The Sunday Painter touch on three common aspects of her subject matter, sex, drugs and violence. Riley combines hand-washed, stripped and dyed yarn with a hand-weaving process that dates back centuries to create painstakingly detailed reproductions of intimate, secretive and traumatic scenes; a tattooed women’s upper body, a drug dealers stash and the aftermath of a car crash. Using both personal and found photographs as source material for the works, Riley’s partly autobiographical work explores ideas of past suffering as a way of exposing and exorcising common struggles.

Chapter NY(NYC) at Carlos/Ishikawa, exhibiting Samuel Hindolo(USA)

Samuel Hindolo, ‘Before the Swarm on Melanie Daniels 1’, Oil on canvas, 2018

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Samuel Hindolo’s paintings often gather their subject matter from the artist’s personal archive of catalogued screenshots taken from the movies of old Hollywood, the L.A. Rebellian and West African Cinema. This source material imbues the works with a focus upon narrative and character, evident clearly in the ‘Before the Swarm on Melanie Daniels I’ (pictured), based on Alfred Hitchcock’s famous 1963 film ‘The Birds’. The titular characters are seem removed from their infamous flock, depicted instead in a melancholic scene as two birds look on from atop a power line as a third falls towards it’s implied death. This theme, of traditionally contemptible characters shown to be vulnerable and emotional, often recurs within Hindolo’s work.

Galerie Mehdi Chouakri(Berlin) at Modern Art, exhibiting Charlotte Posenenske(Germany)

Charlotte Posenenske, ‘Vierkantrohre Serie DW’, 9 Elements, corrugated cardboard, plastic screws, 1967-2007

Galerie Mehdi Chouakri presents works from three key series by the pioneering Minimalist and Conceptual artist Charlotte Posenenske. ‘Series DW Vierkantrohe’ (pictured), occupies much of Modern Art’s Vyner St location’s first floor gallery, modular sculptural elements constructed from corrugated cardboard, originally intended by the artist to be activated and altered by audience participation. Early works on paper and ‘Series B Reliefs’, consisting of early sculptural work made from aluminium and rendered in primary colours, round out the show of an artist experiencing a posthumous reassurance. Posenenske was critical of the increased commercialization of the art market during her lifetime, choosing instead to sell works at prices reflecting their manufacturing costs, and eventually stepping away from the art world completely in 1968, following significant critical interest in her work, until her death in 1985.

For more guest articles, read Charley Peters interviewing Remi Rough