Did catch the opening night of Always in Transformation, a solo exhibition of works by Emma Talbot, her silk paintings, intimate drawings and sculpture at Hales Gallery over in good old Shoreditch just across the road from that hideous Boxpark monstrosity and all the offence that comes with it, Boxpark not Hales, Hales is never offensive, a little too polite at times, never offensive though. I’m not really massively aware of Emma Talbot or her work, at least I don’t think so (quick check to make sure, there’s thousands of pages of art coverage on the Organ website, there was every chance).

Hales is an old school gallery, a proper one, a more than welcome oasis in the middle of all that (hell that) Shoreditch is now, I like going to Hales, walking down the corridor, turning that corner (and I like that they always say hello, something that doesn’t always happen when you visit a gallery, always worth dropping in, although it is mostly when we’re on the way to a show somewhere else if the truth be told…        

Emma Talbot’s practice “explores the complexity of our relationship with nature, technology and the world around us, combining myth and storytelling with futuristic perspectives to create thought-provoking works”. Now I am not going to claim  Always in Transformation massively hit the spit or that this is a show that has to be seen, that probably says more about me then Emma Talbot and her large scale expressions, her energy, her “complex visual poems to life across drawing, silk paintings, sculpture, installation and animation”, her “reminders of our fundamental connection to the natural world and to one another”, it feels very spiritual in here, date I use the H word? is it all a bit “hippy”? That really is saying more about me though, about the connections I may or may not feel, it isn’t you, it really is me… 

Here’s another #43SecondFilm…

This is very honest work, alive,  intuitive, bold, you might say uncompromising and all the more so for the size of it, the ambition; “In her body of silk paintings Everything is Energy, human figures, rock formations, flowing water, plants and trees are imbued with a living energy – suggesting an ecosystem in which all elements are interconnected. Ideas of transformation and continuity are central to her practice”.

The show is on now, you might find something in the lightness and fluidity of her silk paintings, in her positive outlook, there is a lot to find in there, She is a rather respected artist; “Talbot (b.1969 Stourbridge, UK) received a BA in Fine Art from Birmingham Institute of Art & Design in 1991 and an MA in Painting form the Royal College of Art, London in 1995. She lives and works in London and Italy. In 2022 Talbot featured in the 59th edition of the Venice Biennale, The Milk of Dreams. In 2020 she was awarded the 8th Max Mara Art Prize for Women”. 

You do know you can just walk into these galleries don’t you, most of them, like this one, are free to enter. (sw)

Hales Gallery is found at The Tea Building, 7 Bethnal Green Road, Shoreditch, London, E1 6LA. You find the actually gallery entrance on the main street itself and not in the Tea Building, Entry directly over the road from Boxpark. The gallery is open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 11am until 6pm. The Emma Talbot exhibition runs until 22nd May 2026 – www.emmatalbot.org.uk

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