11th September – 24th October 2026
PV Thursday 10th September 6pm

The paintings begin unstretched on the floor. They start with large brush strokes of pigment suspended in binder. The thin cotton is flipped over. A black ink drawing is made on the reverse and sinks through to the surface. The cotton is turned over again. Traces of the studio floor find their way onto the surface.

Decisions are made on how to link these separate layers. This can be simple or involve many steps. The imagery in these works originates from drawings made at a disused quarry in Chiba, outside Tokyo. The forms suggest cities and landscapes, in conscious relation to Cézanne’s Bibémus series. Pockets of space emerge—pouches—that operate in a comparable way to the sculptures, in the manner they are framed by their boxes.

The sculptures are made from various materials: ceramics, stone, and welded metal. Works in carved stone and metal repurpose off cuts discarded by artisans at Bellas Artes Projects in the Philippines. The interventions are minimal, drawing attention to the character of otherwise unwanted materials. Surfaces carry their own histories.

The sculptures are characters. Sitting above, inside and alongside the boxes in which they were transported, they seem to be in confrontation with each other. They seem to ignore each other. They seem to get on with each other.

Gabriel Hartley