Darkness at Noon A group exhibition curated by Ruth Calland and co-selected with Mimei Thompson for Contemporary British Painting.  For it I’m exhibiting The Last Day Revisited, Woodland Study I and Mechanical Fly Study

APT Gallery, 6 Creekside, Deptford, London SE8 4SA
Private view: Thursday 4th November 6pm – 9 pm.
Exhibition dates: 4 to 14 November 2021

Artists: Karl Bielik, Ruth Calland, Jules Clarke, Deb Covell, Gordon Dalton, Jeff Dellow, Natalie Dowse, Susan Gunn, Susie Hamilton, Ruth Philo, David Lock, Paula MacArthur, Sekai Machache, Andi Magenheimer, Enzo Marra, Monica Metsers, Paul Newman, Sikelela Owen, Chantal Powell, Cherelle Sappleton, Anna Sebastian, Sarah Sparkes, Harvey Taylor, Mimei Thompson, Casper White, Jonathan Waller, Joanna Whittle.

The experience of feeling ‘in the dark’ about what is happening, is part of a Nigredo phenomenon: the term used by alchemists for a time of falling apart, putrefaction, chaos, contradiction, paralysis and closeness to death. Darkness at Noon explores the Covid-19 pandemic as a nigredo phase, in a wider process of transformation, and reverberates with a sense of the paradoxical in our times: the coexistence of anxiety and stillness, doom and hope, fracture and heightened connectivity. A show of mainly paintings, enriched by sculpture and film, many of the works seem haunted by an awareness of loss, impending or already dealt. This show elegantly weaves themes relating to the personal, social, and global effects of Covid. Sikelela Owen’s monumental picture of her family overseas is a testament to enduring connection during separation….