LONDON GALLERIES AND FLORAL SCULPTURE

A visit to galleries in central London, and enjoying the free-to-see floral installations that celebrate the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

I’ve become familiar with Sophie Smorczewski’s work through The Healthy Artist contemporary painting club, so I was keen to see her solo show ‘Sown in Slumber’ at Lamb Gallery in London (until 30 May). 

Paintings like Dusk Lions have a delicate, dreamlike quality that’s rooted in the natural world, but these works originated from a period of illness. This is reflected in the vulnerability of Softly Slumber, where a figure lies in bed, draped in a dazzling haze of pastel colours. But there’s also a close connection with natural materials - some pieces are painted directly onto wood, and there’s a subtle inclusion of shells, dried plants and seed heads within framed work. A beguiling show with a beating heart.

On to Pilar Corrias, where I was just in time to catch Rewilding (now ended), new paintings by Alyina Zaidi who draws on her childhood memories of Kashmir and Delhi to create evocative worlds. Anyone previously unfamiliar with her work (myself included) could be forgiven for assuming these detailed and brilliantly coloured pieces were textiles, threaded through as they are with delicate tracery. The artist transports us to surreal but inviting new landscapes in this complex and multi-layered work. 

Hauser and Wirth have a major retrospective of Francis Picabia (1879-1953).

Despite all the monumental pieces on show, I was drawn to this quiet, untitled 1920s portrait of a woman. In pencil, ink, watercolour and gouache, she gazes out with calm, wide-set eyes and shows off a rather splendid selection of rings. Until 1 August.

The last stop was to see Fashion and Fortune, a new collection of welded steel sculptures by Sokari Douglas Camp, showing at the October Gallery in Bloomsbury. Drawing on her Nigerian heritage, she explores the power of dress and fashion to display status and wealth - or as a way for a marginalised people to reassert identity. Trade, colonialism and lineage are at the heart of this show. But with its complex costumes, gossiping groups and proud figures, it’s also a triumphant evocation of life, family, and the future. Until 27 June.

CHELSEA IN BLOOM

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is a stellar event in the gardening year. And the local neighbourhood  celebrates that success with Chelsea in Bloom. Bigger and better each year, it’s a succession of free floral displays around shop fronts, and enormous plant-based sculptures decorating public spaces, including Sloane Square. This year the theme was ‘Out of this world’. It’s a brief party, running alongside the show’s own five days (18-24 May), but a great way to enjoy some of London’s most creative, albeit temporary, installations.