Phung-Tien Pham

doesn't work

★★☆☆☆

On until 15 February 2025

Despite comprising only a handful of elements – nearly monochrome acrylic canvases that pretend they’re not art, a Tintin tribute video, some flat-pack furniture adorned by its previous owner, and the props of a failed stage magic trick – Pham’s installation induces a sense of encapsulation and excess. Without turning its gaze away from the mirror, it mumbles “Look at me, I’m a little crazy”, as though anyone but the artist could guess what brought this condition on. 

This staging is reminiscent of Covid lockdowns that turned half the world into infantile narcissists. The pandemic, alas, is now down the memory hole and Pham’s irreverent performance – a white stuffed toy dog, so cute – middles in the TikTok algorithm without a rationale. An air fryer abandoned in the street outside the gallery, however, spells the sorry end for fad aesthetics of fad ideas.


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

things fall apart; the centre cannot hold at Tabula Rasa ★★★★☆

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.

Onyeka Igwe, history is a living weapon in yr hand at PEER ★★☆☆☆

Onyeka Igwe

history is a living weapon in yr hand

★★☆☆☆

The Mavericks wanted a weapon, Igwe leaves them a toy.

Ksenia Pedan, Revision at Cell Project Space ★★★★☆

Ksenia Pedan

Revision

★★★★☆

Pedan’s paintings would rather be anything but.

Slawn at Saatchi Yates ★★☆☆☆

Slawn

★★☆☆☆

Do you like KAWS but find him too expensive?

Trevor Yeung, Hong Kong in Venice ★★★☆☆

Trevor Yeung

Courtyard of Attachments

★★★☆☆

This fishbowl universe is easy sea comfort but ultimately no sushi.

Ignacy Czwartos, Polonia Uncensored, Venice ★★☆☆☆

Ignacy Czwartos

Polonia Uncensored

★★☆☆☆

Czwartos’ painting proves little and his sign-writer’s hand loses art history’s bet.

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