Context is everything, as a judge once proclaimed. That context might need contexts, too, and Hawkins says her canvases throw back to some others, which, in turn, root their ideas in an event now too distant to recall. The verdict? Nice story, but it’s nonsense. Hawkins’s wet paint abstractions – colour washes straight out of the tube, unmixed – transparently overplay reference and recall. Painter’s tape and oil bars – what is being tied to what here? – make for barely circumstantial evidence. Left to her own devices, Hawkins (whose work, in company, was a highlight in the Condo jumble programme) reveals that her studio was no crime scene.
Cynthia Hawkins Maps Necessary for a Walk in 4D: Chapter 4
Cynthia Hawkins
Maps Necessary for a Walk in 4D: Chapter 4
★★★☆☆
On until 1 November 2025
notes and notices are short and curt exhibition reviews. Read more:
Alejandro Piñeiro Bello
Alejandro Piñeiro Bello
Entre El Día Y La Noche
★☆☆☆☆
If only they were smaller, Piñera Ballo’s paintings would be a great hit in the shopping centre gallery your ex-army uncle just opened in Surrey. He’s gambling with the family’s savings, you condescend, but so is Pace with their show.…
David Muenzer
David Muenzer
Teen
★★★☆☆
Muenzer’s messy show bedroom actually is someone’s messy bedroom most nights of the week.
Elli Antoniou, Ali Glover, Richard Dean Hughes
Elli Antoniou, Ali Glover, Richard Dean Hughes
things fall apart; the centre cannot hold
★★★★☆
These works could bear witness to the birth of a star or the heat death of the universe. The curators don’t know which.
Nina Wakeford, et al.
Nina Wakeford, et al.
The Unfinished Business of Living Together
★★★☆☆
If the Swiss don’t think they’re free, who is?
Ron Nagle
Ron Nagle
Conniption
★★★★★
Less is more, as the saying goes. Nagle’s porcelain and resin maquettes are the bare minimum.
Alexandre Canonico
Alexandre Canonico
Still
★★★☆☆
Conanico’s slight structures look like they could take flight at any moment.
