Halcyon Gallery’s latest exhibition “In Plain Sight” showcases the artwork of six dynamic artists including David Hockney, Bob Dylan, Ernesto Cánovas, and Dominic Harris. With the representation of flowers being a key theme of the exhibition, each artist displays their own stylistic and technical approaches within the overarching floral narrative — from David Hockney’s vivid tulips created on an iPad to Bob Dylan’s energetic portrayal of sunflowers in watercolour and Dominic Harris’s digital flowers in bloom. LUXUO dives into a quick overview of what art enthusiasts can expect from this exhibition.
“In Plain Sight” invites the viewer to pause and find an appreciation for beauty “in the everyday” as the exhibition celebrates art’s ability to direct its audience to the charm in what some may take for granted. In the words of David Hockney, “Pictures influence pictures, but pictures also make us see things that we might not otherwise see”.
The exhibition also sees the debut of Pedro Paricio’s series — entitled “9 Portraits” — for the first time outside his native Canary Islands. Painted in 2023, Paricio was inspired by the great portraits of art history, appropriating motifs, gestures, and expressions, and incorporating them into his unique, contemporary visual language.
Paricio transforms expressive moments — represented in portraits by the likes of Pablo Picasso, Mary Cassatt and Artemisia Gentileschi — into lively designs. By removing the faces from the portraits that have inspired him, he “removes their individuality, so that the 17th-century portrait becomes a representation of universal humanity”. The collection — which the artist himself has defined as “paintings with a pop look, but a classic spirit” — was first showcased at the Mapfre Foundation in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in 2023.
The exhibition will showcase Paul Cummins MBE’s “Florian” sculpture which consists of elaborate handmade porcelain white roses that are woven into an intricate circle, reinforcing the traditional symbol of purity. Cummins — who is renowned for his unique approach to the representation of flowers both in the medium of painting and sculpture — aims to invert the concept of a rose window by highlighting the complex interplay of shadows by evoking the light patterns created by stained glass rose windows in gothic churches.
Guests of the exhibition will also be the first to see Cummins’s floral paintings in mixed media on paper. Conceived from the artist’s studies of his homegrown flowers, he photographs them at every stage of their development. These paintings capture the sublime effect of bloom; their petals dispersing to reveal their full effervescent splendour.
“NeoBloom” is a never-before-seen piece by leading digital artist Dominic Harris. The artwork highlights constantly blooming flowers, mesmerising in their perpetuity and reflects the exhibition’s central narrative of “In Plain Sight”; the beauty of the everyday. This new artwork hangs alongside an immersive space that features an interactive environment of digitally hand-painted butterflies, entitled “Spectrum” which are being exhibited for the first time.
Last but certainly not least, Ernesto Cánovas’ most ambitious paintings will also be on show. His latest series displays the manipulation of photographs and mediums to represent memories that imply an unfolding narrative. At first, the artworks appear dreamlike, with the hazy subject matter forming an abstract representation of found materials however, on closer inspection, the subject reveals itself. Beneath the layers of vinyl and acrylic that have been meticulously built up by hand are objects and figures that take centre stage.
In Plain Sight is available on view at Halcyon Gallery’s flagship at 148 New Bond Street until July 7 2024.
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