The Joy of Exhibitions

I’m a serial exhibition hunter/stalker/goer/lover. My favourite app to find these is Art Rabbit, it tells you the nearest exhibition to your location, how long it’ll take you to walk there, and the other various exhibitions nearby. It’s pure genius. I usually try to cram three in a day, four at a push.* To me there’s nothing better than a day exhibition hopping, it’s my guilty pleasure - and I like to do it solo. No one to rush you along, you’ve got all the time in the world to ponder, walk as slow as you like, daydream and meander. Grab a coffee, maybe two. It’s crucial to my creative practice; almost like switching off but gaining inspiration at the same time. A release but also a stimulation. A creative meditation. Right, onto the actual exhibitions…

*I tend to have one day every two weeks as my ‘exhibition day’ but sometimes I can’t do that because, life.

Still Life by Kaori Tatebayashi at Tristan Hoare Gallery, London - on until 15th Dec

This ceramic installation immerses the viewer in a wild landscape still-life; ivy climbing across walls, weeds springing up in the shadows, tangled brambles, seed heads and thistles. An abandoned dining table laid with ceramic fruit and vegetables, crawling with snails, butterflies dancing across the walls. Nature reclaiming the dilapidated Georgian rooms, capturing a fleeting moment in time. Tatebayashi says that she’s trying to take back control and preserve time through clay, showing that nature is the ultimate artist. A breathtakingly delicate and unique display, one of my favourites of 2023.

In Midst, Unfolding by Connie Harrison at Informality Gallery, Cromwell Place, London - on until 26th Nov

If the cold grey wintery days are getting you down, run along to Cromwell Place for a serotonin hit. This exhibition will make your eyeballs pop - in a good way. I’ve been a fan of Connie Harrison’s work for a long time so had to visit her solo show with Informality Gallery. When I say you have to see these paintings in the flesh I really mean it - they are full of life, colour and texture. An embodiment of pure joy. Harrison uses a unique technique; layering paint separated with coatings of translucent wax, etching back into the paint to reveal the layers and varied shades.

The works draw you into a vibrant utopia, each painting like a scene from the Garden of Eden. Harrison takes the landscape to the right side of abstraction. Balancing blocks of solid colour with intricate marks, the colour palettes sumptuous and rich - like walking from a black and white film into a world of colour, saturation levels at max. I came away feeling nourished, pumped full of serotonin and alive.

The Feast of Fools by Eleanor Johnson at Gillian Jason Gallery, London - on until 13th Jan

Playful, provocative, ironic, Johnson’s modern take on the Old Masters is an absolute triumph. Imaginative and fun from initial glance, but look closer and the paintings reveal darker topics, taking you deeper through the layers of paint, spinning the taboo into comedic narratives. There’s a vibrant energy to Johnsons painting style, each piece tells a unique story, through the light swishes of her paintbrush - squint and more dancing figures are revealed, a banana, a pair of iced buns. I walked round the gallery multiple times and each time found something new in the works. The sign of a great talent.