Frank Laws: Celebration

Lazarides Rathbone is pleased to present an arresting new showcase of architectural paintings by Frank Laws. Celebration marks Laws' first solo exhibition at Rathbone Place and extends his rigorous examination of East London's evolving urban landscape.

The British artist's intricately constructed paintings often reflect the social conditions in which they are produced, transforming colossal council estates into moody cityscapes by employing a mixture of deeply hued watercolours and drawing ink. Each microscopic composition maps the repetitive nature of Hackney's post-war architecture, harnessing the inherent qualities of his materials to build layer upon layer of detailed brickwork. Sprawling housing estates have become a recurrent influence in the artist's distinguished practice, borrowing from the aesthetics of film noir and Edward Hopper to construct pensive cinematographic renderings. The Hackney-based painter meticulously depicts the recent transformation of his local surroundings with an evocative richness and sentimentality, presenting a romantic documentation of everyday history and rapid redevelopment. Laws carefully balances structural elements to compose open-ended narratives with intense visual tension, presenting a modern vision of city dwellers and urban communities.

Over recent years East London has experienced a steady incline in rent prices and overall gentrification, resulting in a combination of displacement and convoluted identity. The new body of work introduces visual codes reminiscent of childhood innocence; Laws' melancholic scenes are littered with abandoned toys and empty playgrounds suggesting a sense of past celebration and forgotten joy. The uneasy juxtaposition of inanimate objects disregarded amid ominous scenes suggests a darker undertone synonymous with the local and global social climate. Expansive residential blocks stand as testament to a variety of political, economic and demographic changes that have occurred over decades, confronting conditions of human experience in contemporary society and a dramatic shift in social identity.