This exhibition coincided with the Mayfair Art Weekend in June which I worked on so I directed everyone to see it at Hauser & Wirth.
I hadn’t come across Ellen Gallagher before but was impressed by the work in Ecstatic Draught of Fishes.
Gallagher explores the Afro-futurist mythology of Drexciya in these large paint, collage and palladium-gilded canvases where watery marine imagery dominates.
Stained lined writing paper forms the collaged background to shining figures on the ocean floor.
This painting plays with different depths of paper and collage whilst retaining an underwater feel.
