WHAT? Rachel Jones: Gated Canyons

WHERE? Dulwich Picture Gallery, Gallery Road, London SE21 7AD

WHEN? Now until 19 October

WHY GO? For a psychedelic trip. Thirty-four-year-old artist Rachel Jones made a name for herself when she left the RA in 2019, and has always had a ‘thing’ about painting teeth and mouths. You could argue that her latest abstract artworks are a tad ‘mouthy’ as they scream psychedelic colour within the quiet serenity of Dulwich, home to Old Masters that are anything but flamboyant.
This provocative exhibition boldly hangs in the gallery’s main exhibition space and has created quite a stir for its dramatic presence—and because it is their first solo exhibition by a contemporary artist. Click to hear Jones talk about how one painting in the Dulwich collection inspired much of the work on show. Flemish artist Pieter Boel’s “Head of a Hound” (c.1660–65), with its tense jaw, sparked her imagination, and she has interpreted the motif of teeth as abstract blocks of colour in a series of vast paintings.
Huge canvases invite viewers to ponder—do bricks of red, purple, and yellow represent teeth, some chipped, some gaping, some jagged, as though waiting for the dentist to fill in the gaps? Jones showed recently in the celebrated Hayward Gallery’s 2021 exhibition Mixing It Up: Painting Today, which highlighted younger new artists, and is definitely a name to watch for the future.

IN THE KNOW A visit to Dulwich Picture Gallery inevitably includes popping into their famous café; consequently, its popularity means it's constantly packed. The good news is that a brand-new family café, The Canteen, has just opened in the Sculpture Garden offering take-aways and is available for private hire.