Maureen Paley

Presentation Details
Maureen Paley brings together a group of works that reflect on dreamlike states of being and seek to question perceived notions of reality. Central to the presentation is Behrang Karimi’s large-scale painting Matrix (2019) that depicts a series of figures moving through a geometric tapestry of color, architecture, and space. Chioma Ebinama’s watercolor Piscean dream (2022) and Max Hooper Schneider’s assemblage Pillscape (2023) both create their own imaginary destinations. Wolfgang Tillmans’s photographs of sky and water in Ultrachrome II (2021) and Congo night (b) (2018) record the elemental with intense atmosphere. Alongside these works is Kaye Donachie’s Maria (2021), Peter Hujar’s Paul Hudson’s Leg (1979), Paul P.’s Untitled watercolour (2020) and Gillian Wearing’s Max Ernst, Dada and Surrealist artist, husband of Dorothea Tanning (2022) each highlighting portraiture in subtle and diverse ways with an understanding of shared existence. Sarah Jones’s photography and Fiona Connor’s sculpture reference forms of mimicry and simulacra. Jones’s Mynah(Mimic) (I) (2021) documents a mynah bird, known for its ability to imitate the human voice, and Connor’s carefully produced simulations Community Notice Board (Coin Laundry) (2022) and Untitled (folding chair) (2020) reflect on everyday encounters with signs and objects that might otherwise go unnoticed. Completing the presentation is a series of new collages by Studio K.O.S. from their ongoing project A Midsummer Night’s Dream (after Shakespeare and Mendelssohn) (2023).

About the Gallery
The gallery programme began in 1984 in a Victorian terraced house in London’s East End. Initially named Interim Art, the gallery changed its name to Maureen Paley in 2004 as a celebration of its 20th anniversary. Since September 1999 the gallery has been situated in Bethnal Green, and in September 2020 relocated to Three Colts Lane. In July 2017 Maureen Paley opened a second space in Hove called Morena di Luna. In October 2020 a third space was opened in Shoreditch, London called Studio M. From its inception, the gallery’s aim has remained consistent: to promote great and innovative artists in all media.

Maureen Paley was one of the first to present contemporary art in London’s East End and has been a pioneer of the current scene, promoting and showing a diverse range of international artists. Gallery artists include Turner Prize winners Lawrence Abu Hamdan, 2019; Wolfgang Tillmans, 2000 and Gillian Wearing, 1997 as well as Turner Prize nominees Rebecca Warren, 2006; Liam Gillick, 2002; Jane and Louise Wilson, 1999 and Hannah Collins, 1993.