Kevin Kane, Uncultivated Gods, Hoxton Arch, East London – Seems the opening night was rather eventful, on Friday afternoon it feeling a little like the afternoon after the night before, the installations are looking a little deflated, there in the hint of an alter, it feels slightly hungover in the big railway arch, but really the reason to be here is to see some of Kane’s paintings in the flesh and get a proper sense of them, they’ve always looked good on line. Seems the opening night featured ten ballet dancers, accompanied by live vocals and a specially composed sound work… 

“Uncultivated Gods is a new exhibition by Kevin Kane, bringing together painting, sculpture, installation and live performance to examine contemporary forms of worship. The exhibition considers the belief systems, desires and structures of power that shape modern life, often operating unnoticed or unquestioned. Rather than focusing on traditional religion, the works explore devotion as it appears today, embedded in celebrity, politics, money and social rituals, asking what has been allowed to flourish without notice, and what might – or should – instead deserve our attention”.

I was rather looking forward to Kevin Kane’s paintings, his energetic use of paint, the loose (but not too loose) feel, is it loose or is it more a bold freedom in the way he paints? Is it about the sense of that bold freedom that you get from standing in front of his work? I do like his use of colour and seeing his work in the flesh in here really didn’t disappoint…

The exhibition presents a series of paintings, sculpture, installation and performance that approach worship not as a fixed belief, but as a psychological and social condition. it is the paintings that are taking the eye is here, my painterly bias for which I don’t apologise. The work explores power, visibility, identity, aspiration and control so we are told, there are many ways to read it all, to read each piece or the body of work as a whole.  The altar at which to pay homage to the world of celebrity, power I guess was more to do with the opening night and the performance,  and where the natural world can be transgressed. the three metre-high inflatable sculpture is un-inflated, that afternoon after the night before feeling I was talking about (a very tall creature in black boots does offer to inflate things as she asks if I have any questions).

Paintings that include imagined scenes of heaven from a queer viewpoint, alongside landscapes inspired by an episode of the 1969 TV series Civilisation, entitled The Worship of Nature. “An animatronic beating heart encased in a ceramic shell raises the question of whether we truly need love to be happy”, the heart, as good as it looks, only distracted from the paintings and especially that bridge painting for a moment. Paintings that really do speak for themselves in terms of the subjects, the suggestions, the ideas of worship or relationships, in terms of their strength, their movement, this show is only on until Tuesday so let’s rush these words and get them on line while the show is still on…   

The show is something to do with Stomach, it is happening at Hoxton Arch, the address is 37 Cremer Street, London, E2 8HD. Right by Hoxton railway station. The show runs until 24th Feb 2026 The space is open through the weekend and until Tuesday, Midday until 5pm.  Kevin Kane on Instagram