2024 - Issue 118

This week is a focus on Fitzrovia.

Subscribe to the Weekly Newsletter to find out what didn’t make the cut.


I used to make unnecessarily elaborate drawings as a kid. I’d fill every inch of the page with spaceships in battle, heroes storming a castle and so many details that it was as if my overactive imagination had exploded and showered out of my head like confetti. Maybe that’s why I find myself so engrossed in these mini tapestries by Brian Dawn Chalkley (@briandawnchalkley) that “look like they could have been made by kids”, to quote someone else in the gallery I met during my visit. Drawn on cotton pillowcases and embellished with stitching and text, the scenes could be storybook extracts except there is no narrative nor any cohesive logic. Just a lot of unexplained but highly engaging vignettes.

Living on the edge of failure’ at Lungley (@lungleygallery) until 10 Aug


Alternating between Marie Antoinette style ladies and abstract volcanic landscapes, these stark, context-free scenes from Ilona Szalay (@ilonaszalay) left me with more questions than answers. Their mystery is enhanced thanks to a technique of painting oil on glass which is attached tightly to the wall. Highly reflective, they’re sometimes hard to focus on — and ever harder to photograph! — especially when shallow shadows appear through the rare unpainted spaces, creating a blur effect that’ll make you think you need new glasses.

Only Lovers Left Alive’ at Arusha (@arushagallery) until 17 Aug


Do you see bodies in the clouds? Maybe mountains made of buttocks? Before you get too worried that you might have a dirty mind the paintings in the back room make it absolutely clear that you’re definitely not seeing things. Ranging from abstract geometric to blatant sexuality, Agata Przyżycka (@agata.kaja) explores the sinuous potential of the human form. Personally, I felt that the more suggestive compositions are the strongest. A lone navel or hint of a nipple is all it takes to imply that a collage of clouds might be something more sexual than cirrus, whereas the art deco orgy leaves little to the imagination.

We Embrace into Stillness’ at Sarah Kravitz (@sarahkravitzgallery) until 07 Sep


Men. Stereotypically stoic. The less emotional gender. It’s not that much of a stretch to depict them as unwavering as a sturdy tree. Yet there’s something beguiling and curious about the way J. Carino (@j.carino.art) morphs the male form with peeling birch bark and chopped tree trunks. I felt they were the most intriguing pieces in a showcase of works that the Californian artist painted during a recent Spring residence in the UK.

56 / J. Carino’ at PM/AM (@pm______am) until 15 Sept


Even more in Fitzrovia

Here’s three more shows that recently made the Roundup, all based a short walk away from the four in this week’s issue.

Alexi Marshall - Nostalgia for the Mud

At Brooke Benington until 03 Aug

Details in Roundup Issue 115

Jodie Carey - Guard

At Edel Assanti until 23 Aug

Details in Roundup Issue 111

Summer Show

At Shtager & Shch until 10 Sep

Details in Roundup Issue 117


PLUS…


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Soundsuit (2010)

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Joy Labinjo - We Are Briefly Gorgeous