Oliver Hemsley once vowed to never make a painting about love – until he had found true love himself. The British artist didn’t quite stick to that rule – but what he realised is that true love was already staring him in the face: his two dogs Plop and Viv.

Hemsley’s exhibition has been a year in the making, the result of many conversations with close friend (and curator of this show) Russell Tovey. Like Hemsley, Tovey is a fan of canines and encouraged the artist to bring this new body of work to fruition. Almost all of the paintings now on show at Paul Smith’s Albermarle Street shop in Mayfair feature dogs as subjects, extending, as Hemsley puts it: ‘an invitation for all to celebrate dog joy, queer joy, and joy for those most magical connections we share with our closest and greatest confidantes.’

The expressionistic works, rendered in acrylic and oil stick in vibrant colours, bear quippy titles that allude to the secret language of pets: ‘I know that you know’, ‘You say how high?’. The mixed media paintings are an ode to man’s long-established fondness of dogs, and a gentle and profound companionship – and an abiding motif throughout art history, a symbol of fidelity, loyalty and family. Woof!