Laura Lima

The Drawing Drawing

★★★☆☆

On until 29 March 2026

The tautological title of this exhibition, paired with the gallery extolling Lima’s practice as “category-defying”, cautions the visitor of some heavy abstraction ahead. Not without reason. 

The artist turned the ground floor into a life-drawing studio. How radical, truly! The twist, as if another were needed, is that both the model and punters pose on mechanised platforms. They float akin to robot vacuum cleaners. Is this perspective-taking? If so, the whining, high-pitched noise of the floats’ brushless motors does all the work. 

Upstairs, a beach umbrella dances to Brazilian beats. Looks fun, but it’s inconsequential. Next door, a commercial freezer keeps liquid tray sculptures solid; a pair of gloves invites limited, soft-play interaction.

Not much of anything in particular, then. Are these sampler vignettes of some larger, untold story? Fragments that may, when augmented, form a discernible thesis? Lima’s desire to phrase questions in philosophical jargon is obvious. It’s not even stupid. Yet it is less clear that she knows how her objects answer. Consequently, she leaves far too much for the viewer.


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

Jenkin van Zyl, Dance of the Sleepwalkers at Edel Assanti ★★★☆☆

Jenkin van Zyl

Dance of the Sleepwalkers

★★★☆☆

Ring 1 for “Grief”, and it’s flat 7 for “Garbage”.

Vlatka Horvat, The Croatian Pavilion in Venice ★★☆☆☆

Vlatka Horvat

By the Means at Hand

★★☆☆☆

This closed circulation project speaks to and agrees with only itself.

Meeson Jessica Pae, Secretions & Formations at Carl Kostyál ★★★★☆

Meeson Jessica Pae

Secretions & Formations

★★★★☆

Oil paint can cause cancer.

Tamara Henderson, Green in the Grooves at Camden Art Centre ★★★★☆

Tamara Henderson

Green in the Grooves

★★★★☆

The whole thing feels like a remake of Wind in the Willows directed by a garden gnome.

The Music is Black at V&A East ★★☆☆☆

The Music is Black: A British Story

★★☆☆☆

Can there be a “black British music” without Britain or blackness?

Tesfaye Urgessa, The Ethiopian Pavilion in Venice ★★★★★

Tesfaye Urgessa

Prejudice and Belonging

★★★★★

Urgessa’s figures are contorted in love, death, or merely life.

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