IN PLAIN SIGHT- NEW EXHIBITION
New exhibition In Plain Sight is now on view at Halcyon. The exhibition features artwork by David Hockney, Bob Dylan, Paul Cummins and other major contemporary artists and explores how artists respond to the everyday, transforming the mundane into the miraculous.
In Plain Sight, Halcyon Gallery
In Plain Sight is now on view at Halcyon Gallery’s flagship at 148 New Bond Street until 7th July. The exhibition explores one of art’s most powerful functions, to direct its audience to beauty in the everyday.
The exhibition features work from British artists, David Hockney, Paul Cummins and Dominic Harris, all of which are a representation of flowers; from Hockney’s vivid tulips created on an iPad to Harris’s never-before-seen piece entitled NeoBloom.
Photo Credit: In Plain Sight, Halcyon Gallery
By exhibiting these artists in a shared space, it allows for the viewer to see their artwork in dialogue, competing with one another and highlights each artists’ distinct vision of flowers.
Leading digital artist, Dominic Harris uses technology to construct personal interpretations of natural phenomena, his reverence of nature and fascination for code offering a surreal and whimsical take on reality.
“NeoBloom delves into the enduring beauty and symbolic depth of flowers, capturing their peak moments of bloom without the eventual decline into decay” Harris says, “these flowers are not static; they are designed to interact with the viewer, their presence triggering a ‘big bloom’- a moment of dramatic transformation before regrowing, symbolising rebirth and eternal renewal”.
This new artwork hangs alongside an immersive space which features an interactive environment of digitally hand painted butterflies, entitled Spectrum.
Photo Credit: In Plain Sight, Dominic Harris, Halcyon Gallery
Paul Cummins MBE, the Halcyon Gallery artist who created the renowned installation of ceramic Poppies at the Tower of London (2014), showcases his bold representation of flowers using vibrant glazes combined with the raw presence of steel and wire. On display is his sculpture Florian, which consists of elaborate handmade porcelain white roses, woven into an intricate circle, reinforcing the traditional symbol of purity.
Photo Credit: In Plain Sight, Paul Cummins, Halcyon Gallery
Cummins floral paintings in mixed media on paper, conceived from the artists’ studies of his homegrown flowers, are also being exhibited for the first time. Having photographed the flowers at every stage of development, these paintings capture the sublime effect of bloom’ their petals dispersing to reveal their full splendour.
Contemporary Spanish artist Pedro Paricio takes a significant source of his inspiration for his piece Tulips from Hockney, whom the artwork hangs alongside, stating, “since Monet, no one other than Hockney has managed to encapsulate the force of nature through colour, and the way it dances in the air, ever changing”.
Figure studies is also represented in In Plain Sight; with Paricio’s series, entitled 9 portraits, focusing on the central role that women have played in the arts, both as subjects on canvas and as artists themselves. Inspired by the great portraits of art history, appropriating motifs, gestures and expressions, Paricio incorporates them into his unique contemporary visual language, removing the faces from the portraits that have inspired him, so that it becomes a representation of universal humanity. This series, painted in 2023, is exhibited for the first time outside of his native Canary Islands.
9 Portraits, is immediately juxtaposed by Bob Dylan’s loose techniques and his capturing of his subject at the very moment of seeing. The exhibition also featuring Dylan’s energetic portrayal of sunflowers in watercolour.
Photo Credit: In Plain Sight, Bob Dylan, Halcyon Gallery
Ernesto Cánovas’ latest series of monumental paintings will also be exhibited. This work is his most ambitious to date, manipulating photographs and medium to represent memories which imply an unfolding narrative. The artworks appear dreamlike, with the hazy subject matter an abstract representation of found materials. On closer inspection, the subject reveals itself, beneath the layers of vinyl and acrylic that have been meticulously built up by hand; figures and objects soon take centre stage.
In Plain Sight is on view at Halcyon Gallery’s flagship at 148 New Bond Street, until 7th July.