Two Compelling Exhibitions Open at No.9 Cork Street This Autumn
Frieze brings together emerging and established voices at its Cork Street venue, where abstraction and figuration collide in two thought provoking shows running through November.
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The autumn calendar at No.9 Cork Street heralds a moment of artistic convergence, where two distinct sensibilities unfold across the same hallowed walls. From the final days of October through to November, Frieze presents exhibitions that speak to the evolving language of contemporary painting and the restless energy of artistic exploration.
Jack Penny’s An Appetite That Survives All Feasts arrives as a cascade of colour and gesture. His acrylic works, executed across substantial canvases, reveal a painter wrestling with form and abstraction. Titles such as Changing of the Guards and Rushes suggest narrative lurking beneath the surface, yet Penny’s hand moves with an intuitive freedom that resists easy interpretation. The scale alone invites immersion, those monumental linen surfaces becoming almost architectural in their presence, demanding proximity and time.
Across the same gallery, Afterglow: From the Residue of a Departed Sun charts a different terrain entirely. Here, figuration and mark making converge in works that carry the weight of emotion rendered through material. Maitha Abdalla’s layered compositions of acrylic and charcoal build atmosphere through restraint and subtlety, whilst Mohamed Monaiseer’s oil paintings possess a quieter, more contemplative register. These are works that whisper rather than shout, their power emerging through careful accumulation of pigment and intention.
The pairing creates a productive dialogue between different approaches to the canvas. Where Penny’s abstractions pulse with energy and scale, the Afterglow works invite contemplation of memory, absence and the traces we leave behind. Together, they reflect the richness of contemporary artistic practice: the multiplicity of voices, the range of possibilities that painting continues to offer.
No.9 Cork Street, with its storied provenance and white cube neutrality, provides the ideal stage for such convergences. Through November, visitors will encounter work that challenges, provokes and ultimately celebrates the enduring vitality of painting as a medium for artistic expression.
Imagery courtesy of Frieze (@friezeofficial).
