France-Lise McGurn

Strawberry

★☆☆☆☆

On until 2 October 2024

“Preferring to work quickly and intuitively”, as the gallery handout informs us, McGurn has created the visual equivalent of elevator music. Indeed, to paint these figures of young, often naked women cannot have demanded more than a weekend. The formula which McGurn follows, however, is exacting. Her template was perfected by scores of commercial illustrators and street caricaturists through years of market research.

The pastels are twee. The baby deer outline which shows up on two canvases isn’t bizarre enough to put the rest in some contrast. Against this gallery interior’s opulence, these paintings aren’t even a plausible study of kitsch.


notes and notices are short and curt exhibition reviews. Read more:

Peter Fischli and David Weiss at Sprüth Magers ★★★★☆

Peter Fischli and David Weiss

★★★★☆

A police procedural turns into a drinking game of Foucauldian power analysis.

Entangled Pasts at The Royal Academy ★★☆☆☆

Entangled Pasts, 1768–now

★★☆☆☆

Who could have thought that these mantras would turn into rote?

Pope.L, Hospital at South London Gallery ★★★☆☆

Pope.L

Hospital

★★★☆☆

This project lands in the joke section of Animal Farm and not as a prophecy of the Jan 6th insurrection.

Gray Wielebinski, The Red Sun is High, the Blue Low at ICA ★☆☆☆☆

Gray Wielebinski

The Red Sun is High, the Blue Low

★☆☆☆☆

I knew that it was possible to understand art and life less after seeing an exhibition. I didn’t, however, imagine that experiencing Wielebinski’s work twice would only compound such damage.

Maso Nakahara: Floating Through Time at Pippy Houldsworth ★★★★☆

Maso Nakahara

Floating Through Time

★★★★☆

Biblical floods, the comet’s fall, and the odd tsunami mercilessly toss Nakahara’s protagonists about.

Jennifer Bartlett, In the House at Pippy Houldsworth ★★★★☆

Jennifer Bartlett

In the House

★★★★☆

“Sky”, “roof”, “31”, a mantra turns into paint.

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