The first exhibition curated by DJ Simpson centred on his interest in painting. Although not all of the participating artists identified as painters, each used paint in some capacity or referenced aspects of painting within their work.
The exhibition brought together works that emphasised surface quality through close observation, careful construction and deliberate application of detail. Across different approaches and materials, the artworks stood as objects to be read on their own terms, bringing together figurative and figural signs with the material processes through which they were made.
Rather than presenting painting as a fixed category, the exhibition considered how its language, techniques and concerns could extend into other forms and practices.


Adam Holmes-Davies (*1973, Croydon, UK) earned a BA (hons) from Surrey Institute of Art and Design in 1996. After spending several years traveling across Eastern Europe and North America, he enrolled at Chelsea College of Art and Design, London, UK achieving an MA in Fine Art in 2006. Recent exhibitions include ‘Dear Luke, Dear Adam’ (with artist Luke Dowd) at Kingsgate Project Space, London, UK, 2023. Recent group exhibitions include ‘Cat Flap Blink’, Terrace Gallery, London, UK, 2024; ‘YOUR FOOT IN MY FACE and other tectonic strategies’, Kingsgate Project Space, London, UK, 2021; ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’, Charlie Smith Gallery, London, UK and ‘Works on Paper’ Vue par Defaut, Galerie d’Art Contemprain, Sauve, FR, 2016.

Caroline McCarthy (*1971, Dublin, Ireland) has lived and worked in London since completing an MA in Fine Art at Goldsmiths in 1998. She has had solo shows in Ireland, UK, US and Europe, and many group shows internationally including Europe Exists, MMCA, Greece, 2003; Views From An Island, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, 2004; To Be Continued, British Council, Helsinki Kunsthalle, 2005; Group Coordination, co-curated by McCarthy for the Irish Museum of Modern Art in 2014; Dismaland, curated by Banksy, Somerset, 2015; Nature Morte (MOCA touring) in association with Thames and Hudson, 2015 - 2023. Her work is included in collections of IMMA, Arts Council of Ireland, National Gallery of Ireland, European Central Bank; Allied Irish Bank; Office of Public Works and private collections. Currently she is associate lecturer at Chelsea College of Art and serves on the board of trustees for Acme studios

Katrin Hanusch (*1978, Germany) is a multidisciplinary artist based in London, UK. Recent solo shows include After the Curtain (Illusionarium 2021, London), Future’s Landing (Picnic Gallery, London), The Romance (All About Laptops, London). Her work has been included in group shows internationally, including at Contemporary Sculpture Fulmer, Brooke Benington Gallery (Fulmer), Danielle Arnaud, Tintype, APT Gallery, SPACE and Assembly Point (all London), Ram Chhatpar Shilp Nyas (Varanasi) and Kunststiftung Sachsen-Anhalt (Halle/Saale). Hanusch studied Sculpture at the Royal College of Art, London, and Drawing and Printmaking at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design, Halle, Germany.

Roxy Walsh (*1964, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland) is an artist moving from a painting practice towards writing, and maybe back again. The work, whether in watercolour or text, uses figures, figures of speech, gestures, abstraction. The most recent work in painting is architectural and abstract, using simple observations, like the lightfall in rooms, as a starting point. Roxy has had solo shows in Mobile Home Gallery (London), Annika Sundvik (New York), Temple Bar Gallery (Dublin), Globe Gallery (Newcastle) and The MAC (Belfast). With Sally Underwood she was shortlisted for the MAC International in 2014, and they had a solo show, Dependent Rational Animals, at Towner, Eastbourne in 2013. She is a 0.75 Senior Lecturer in Art at Goldsmiths.


Artists

Katrin Hanusch
Adam Holmes-Davies
Caroline McCarthy
Roxy Walsh