Noho Galleries, Great Titchfield Street, London, 1-5 May 2025.
Love Letters is Isaac Andrews' debut solo gallery exhibition, offering an introduction to his artistic practice. In this new body of work, he draws inspiration from diverse sources ranging from classical philosophy to contemporary culture. Through a collage-like approach to his compositions, he blends multiple images, influences, and time periods to create something both universal and relatable. This process is undoubtedly shaped by his experiences as an actor, which has sharpened his awareness of framing, cropping, and editing. Much like in acting, where a scene must be carefully set, these works focus in on fleeting moments, capturing them in a way that feels immediate and often poignant. Indeed, each painting begins with a wash of sepia tones, evoking a sense of reminiscence - the feeling of something captured in recollection.
However, the scenarios depicted here never existed. They are instead filmic vignettes, a means to explore tenderness, attachment, and allegiance, sentiments often met with some suspicion in contemporary art. Yet Isaac embraces them unapologetically, drawing inspiration from moments like the embrace seen in a Renaissance Pietà, lovers reuniting, the exchange of a bouquet, and the love between parent and child. If this seems idealistic, it is because Isaac's work aspires to something better for us all. These paintings are reminders to stay connected, something that is crucial in our removed, and increasingly digital world.
This fragility of connection is also reflected in Isaac's paintings of flowers, often choosing to depict them in their final stages. Wilting and beginning to crisp at the edges, they serve as reminders that life is momentary, urge us not to take anything for granted, to hold onto things tighter. Isaac enhances this position through a deliberately heightened colour palette, pushing the flowers to become almost otherworldly in their last flourish.
Isaac’s new body of work, largely created this year, showcases an artist with a fastidious and disciplined studio practice; and this exhibition presents him not only as an emerging talent, but as a mature and significant artistic voice.
Love Letters is curated by Dr Matt Retallick.
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Photos: Tom Carter