And with that it was off to Pierre Knop‘s Fireflies Under Fever Sky at Pilar Corrias Gallery just around the corner (on a corner) and a little bit up the road. Just around the corner from where you ask, unless you were reading the previous post that is – ORGAN THING: And the around about way to Break The Glass went on via Cork Street and Wura-Natasha Ogunji’s exhibition, space comma space comma space at Tiwani Contemporary as well as Clive van den Berg’s African landscapes at Goodman Gallery and… and the page before that for we are on quite a long art adventure as we head for Breaking Glass and forgetting the title for a moment while Hazel O’Connor songs fill heads and will you just politely get on with it – Science fiction? That Afro-Futurist manifesto that postulates a dystopian future? Soldier’s Black Star and at Cork Street’s Kearsey and Gold, a hopeful future…. It was quite a few hours ago now that the Hackney bunker was left and the around about journey to Break The Glass was undertaken and before Break The Glass last Thursday, there was a need to go West for more of the constant search for art, this time it was Tim Stoner’s Negative Space at Pace Gallery… Break The Glass was a three artist show back on the edges of Hackney and the aim was to g osee it onthe open night; Break The Glass with Jemima Burrill, Charles Emerson and Julia Maddison, three intriguing artists sharing more than just an art space. Before that final destination was arrived at there was the opening night of Pierre Knop‘s Fireflies under Fever Sky at Pilar Corrias Gallery just around the corner (on a corner) and a little bit up the road from Cork Street…

We’re heading for the gallery’s larger Conduit Street space rather than the Pilar Corrias space at the Royal Academy end of Saville Row – “Pilar Corrias is pleased to present Fireflies Under Fever Sky, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Pierre Knop. For his first solo show with the gallery, Knop plunges the viewer into kaleidoscopic landscapes – lush forests, imposing mountain ranges, chocolate-box village scenes and dramatic seascapes – that unsettle as much as they seduce”. Not sure they unsettle or indeed seduce, not sure if I’d want to eat anything out of those chocolate boxes either although these big paintings are intriguing, there is something of the other in terms of the world Knop paints, something that does pull you in in a rather colourful way. Fiery, intense, Alpine scenes I assume…

“Knop’s approach begins with personal archives: intimate fragments of photographs, art history and fleeting visual memory become the foundation for expansive, surreal vistas that stretch the limits of imagination. Referencing a diverse range of artists, from Nicolas Poussin or Caspar David Friedrich to Pierre Bonnard, as well as contemporary photography, Knop extends the tradition of European landscape painting. For Knop, the historical weight of the genre offers a unique playground in which many modes of painting, such as Surrealism or the colour fields of Abstract Expressionism, can be tested alongside contemporary notions of the natural world”.

Yes they do feel like stages for impending events, they feel almost too warm which I guess is fine in terms of the safety of paintings, surreal vistas indeed, if it is a playground then his is surely a slightly strange one to actually get hold of. Not sure about this, about the visions of The Cologne-based French painter (b.1982), really not sure how much of a conversation they are having with me or anyone else in here or if I really want to have a conversation with them? Here’s another #43SecondFilm…

Downstairs in the same gallery there’s a second opening; “Pilar Corrias is pleased to present Ananda, an exhibition of abstract paintings from the 1960–90s by Prafulla Mohanti. The works on display were all painted in London, where Mohanti moved in the early 1960s from rural India. This exhibition forms part of Gallery 2, an occasional programme of exhibitions by non-represented artists at Pilar Corrias Conduit Street” and well I guess the the date of the paintings forgives the work a little bit? Dare I say the pieces haven’t aged well? That they were probably of their time? That we all maybe discovered how much fun very wet paper and paint could be back is an art class or a bedroom somewhere in our early teenage years? I mean yes, there is a history here and “although qualified as an architect in Mumbai, Mohanti’s opportunities in London were limited, and he faced several forms of discrimination. His degree was not recognised by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and he was paid less than English architects doing the same work. Suffering from the racist, anti-immigrant rhetoric of the 1970s and struggling with the grey landscape, he initially found life in the UK isolating. Withdrawing from architecture, he found his escape in painting, which brought to his new life the colours and joys of home”. Without a doubt there is a joy to be found in making art like this but but bu… Oh hey, on with the evening, let’s get back on the Lizzy line and back to the East and finally get to that Break The Glass show and enough of this banging of heads against brick walls and back to the edges of Hackney and Break The Glass with Jemima Burrill, Charles Emerson and Julia Maddison, three intriguing artists sharing more than just an art space and is there really any point to any of this thankless pointing signposts at art? (sw)     

Pilar Corrias is at 51 Conduit Street, London W1S 2YT. Both shows are on until May 10th 2025. The gallery is open Tuesday–Friday: 10am–6pm and Saturday: 11am–6pm.

As always do please click on an image to see the whole thing or to run the slide show…