Dick Watkins

Abstracts and sketches of pain done under duress with eyebrow pencil and lipstick

30 March - 22 April, 2023

Abstracts and Sketches of pain done under duress with eyebrow pencil and lipstick sends a message designed to cut through the artificiality of contemporary art. Beneath their dark beauty, these paintings hide messages which, when taken together, posit a radical return to the fundamental use of art in society. 

For Watkins, painting could, and should, face down the biggest unknowns of our human condition: death, life, pain, and beauty. Mired somewhere in these shadows is the answer to what it means to be human. As much as these works ponder death, they simultaneously celebrate what it is to remain alive. It is astonishing that Watkins, after 86 years, is still refusing to make his paintings ‘safe’ or 'comfortable' for the viewer: as ever, he is here to challenge himself and his audience.