Yi To

Terminal Lucidity

★★★★☆

On until 5 April 2025

To’s images evade representation even though on the paintings’ surface, her impulse is taxonomical. The canvases – washes of murky greens, rotten teals, and the odd flash of lifeless brown – are either isolated records of the lost, quotidian human or close-up studies of unexplained supernatural phenomena. Half-washed-off cave markings, crumbling Art Deco ornaments, and sheer rot mix to produce undecipherable records. 

When they confuse the scholar, these images are captivating. But To gives her hand away too easily. Moments of clarity – ironically, the last thing one wants of her paintings – reveal that she determined each subject’s cypher before she even picked up her brush. That Lascaux bison was but a hoax.

Give it some time, however, because all evidence erodes eventually. Within an aeon or two, matter may still win over the mind.


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

Ebun Sodipo, An Ominous Presence at Soft Opening ★★☆☆☆

Ebun Sodipo

An Ominous Presence

★★☆☆☆

Look, and it’s all on the surface.

Linder, Danger Came Smiling at Hayward Gallery ★★★★☆

Linder

Danger Came Smiling

★★★★☆

Linder’s second-wave feminist propositions were ruthlessly superseded.

The Poplar Bestiary at Tondo Cosmic ★★★☆☆

Tamsin Morse, Kris Lock, Casper Scarth, et al.

The Poplar Bestiary

★★★☆☆

This menagerie comes with no humanly comprehensible challenge.

Eva Rothschild at Modern Art ★★☆☆☆

Eva Rothschild

★★☆☆☆

These sculptures are too clean, too ordered, and too clever for no good reason.

Divine Southgate-Smith, Navigator at Nicoletti ★☆☆☆☆

Divine Southgate-Smith

Navigator

★☆☆☆☆

It is too late to save the regime, yet too early to mourn it.

Matthew Barney, SECONDARY at Sadie Coles HQ ★★★☆☆

Matthew Barney

SECONDARY: light lens parallax

★★★☆☆

Secondary turns the gallery into an American Football stadium. But all the seats in the house are the cheap seats and the game lacks a cheerleader.

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