New Vanitas
Peter Tankey
7–21 December 2023

New Vanitas presents a selection of still life paintings created since 2014.

While honouring the classic motifs of the still life genre (mortality and the transient nature of existence), New Vanitas juxtaposes contemporary subjects with age-old symbology.

In this exhibition Tankey brings together three recurring themes in his work, from the early ‘heap’ paintings (2008 to present) which are depictions of the excesses of contemporary life, the ‘home-totem’ paintings (2019-2023) a humorous/absurdist take on cultures devotional relationship with objects, and more recently the glass ‘skull paintings’ (2017 to present) - observing the fragility of life through familiar skull shaped bottles.