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Viewing Hilary Pecis: Piecemeal Rhythm, Timothy Taylor

The Wick - Hilary Pecis: Piecemeal Rhythm
Timothy Taylor, London

Above Hilary Pecis: Piecemeal Rhythm Timothy Taylor, London

Hilary Pecis: Piecemeal Rhythm
Timothy Taylor, London

14 May — 26 June 2021

The richly coloured, deliberately flattened paintings of Los Angeles artist Hilary Pecis are as alluring as they are intriguing. ‘There’s a rhythm within my paintings,’ she says. ‘Each work has a certain wonky quality, a fluidity that I try to keep throughout the process.’

The artist’s first solo exhibition in the UK presents interior scenes, cityscapes, still lifes and landscapes inspired by photographs, memories and the space around her. Thrust centre stage are a range of intimate objects, from overflowing fruit bowls and piles of books to wilting flowers and open wine bottles, that allude to the rhythms of daily life. Visual cues such as newspaper headlines hint at specific time and place.

What strikes, though, is her palette’s luminosity — each scene is suffused with a California sunlight that brings a distinctly Los Angeles feel to traditionally European genres of painting. Dive into her world — as weird and wonderful as it is.

Viewing Frank Bowling: London/New York, Hauser & Wirth

The Wick - ‘Frank Bowling – London / New York’, Installation view, Hauser & Wirth London, Photo: Alex Delfanne, Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth

Above ‘Frank Bowling – London / New York’, Installation view, Hauser & Wirth London, Photo: Alex Delfanne, Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth

Frank Bowling: London / New York
Hauser & Wirth London & New York 

21 May — 31 July 2021

Frank Bowling is arguably Britain’s greatest living abstractionist. Until recently, however, he was little known outside of art world circles this side of the pond. Happily, his public profile is on the rise (thanks in part to an enormously popular retrospective at Tate Britain in 2019 and a knighthood in the Queen’s birthday honours in 2020). Now he’s the subject of a solo show at Hauser & Wirth in London and New York.

Born in Guyana (then British Guiana) in 1934, Bowling has spent the past 40 years criss-crossing the Atlantic. His first show at the gallery brings together works from across his six-decade career that explore his stylistic shift from figuration and pop art to abstraction as well as the influence of both London and New York on his creative vision. It also celebrates his inventive approach to the materiality of paint — notably his use of thick impasto textures, acrylic gels, and metallic and pearlescent pigments.

May Shimmer (2018) is among many highlights in London: the canvas of muddy-pink tones is flecked with vibrant yellows and greens and drops of pearlescence that make it shimmer. In New York, scope out Polish Rebecca (1971), an immense canvas that was rediscovered in 2013 after around 40 years ‘rolled up and forgotten in a friend’s attic’.

Viewing Art in the Age of Now, Fulham Town Hall

The Wick - Art in the Age of Now, Fulham Town Hall

Above Art in the Age of Now, Fulham Town Hall

Art in the Age of Now
Fulham Town Hall

20 May — 6 June (Closed on Mondays)

On 20 May, Fulham Town Hall opened its doors for the first time in more than a decade to play host to Art in the Age of Now, a free group show featuring sculpture, street art and installation. Curated by Art Below founder Ben Moore, it spans the entirety of the vast space (52,000 square feet in total) and includes work by more than 100 local artists made in lockdown.

Explore street art by the likes of Angry Dan, Lucie Flynn and Luap in the labyrinthine basement and Moore’s recreation of Stonehenge in the great hall. On show in the grandiose ballroom are sculptures by Joe Rush made from salvaged material including F15 bombers and Soviet tanks.

Elsewhere, you’ll see Charlotte Colbert’s striking Mastectomy Mameria, three dedicated spaces dedicated to women in art and works by Conrad Shawcross, Sarah Maple and Gary Mansfield. The Grade II listed building is slated for redevelopment in 2022, so don’t miss this rare opportunity to peruse its hallowed halls.