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Frank Laws: 'Monuments' at The Smallest Gallery in Soho

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Time 06:00
Date 26/03/20
Price Free

Inspired by London's architecture, Frank Laws presents two paintings that focus on surrounding structures, specifically social housing, capturing the beauty of buildings that may well go unnoticed.

Frank Laws's 'Monuments' runs at The Smallest Gallery in Soho all day, all night, from February until the end of March.

Following on from his display of 8 complete works at Holy Trinity Church in East London last year, Laws presents two of these works pivoted onto brick columns, referencing the bricked buildings around us on the street to what is within the gallery space being displayed.

Laws has been painting and documenting East London’s architecture, specifically it’s social housing for over 10 years. A fascination with brickwork first lead him to paint these monumental housing estates, but he has also become one of the only artists living and working in East London to document buildings whose resident populations have changed dramatically. Since the 1980s ‘right to buy’ around forty percent of social housing is now privately owned.

The buildings that form the focus of Laws’ work, were designed and constructed with an ideology in mind and he reflects this positive sentiment in the approach to his paintings. He presents these buildings standing alone as singular structures, the negative space in these large works akin to that of altarpieces giving them a sense of worship and storytelling. The vibrancy in the work elevates the everyday nature of these buildings that may well go unnoticed until they potentially disappear and become future relics. Laws conveys a sense of nostalgia, most certainly romanticised, he offers a vessel for discussion and awareness not an answer or full stop.

About the Artist
A British painter, Frank Laws (b.1982, Norwich) based in London, completed an MA at Central St Martins in 2010. He has presented work at the V&A, British Library, Somerset House, Lazarides and Jealous Gallery. Recent commissions include artwork for The Specials ‘Vote for Me’ video and backdrops for Virgil Abloh’s first collection at Louis Vuitton.

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