Slip
Rowley Haynes
24th April – 24th May 2025
Opening 24th March, 18:00 – 20:30
Rowley Haynes, Red room 3, 2025, Pencil and chalk pastel on paper, 76.5 x 56.5 cm
As always, I hope you can read between the lines.
Slip, slip, paper and tip,
Draw me a silence, let nothing drip.
In this exhibition, Rowley Haynes presents both his works on paper and his newly created oil paintings. In his paper-based drawings, he has also begun incorporating various pigments beyond pencil, resulting in richer and fuller images.
I asked Rowley how he sees these new attempts. He told me that every medium represents an entirely new way of thinking, and he enjoys the challenge. Drawing is limited by the shape of the pencil tip, and also by the finite time one can work on a piece of paper. Painting, on the other hand, offers near-infinite possibilities. He hopes to find a way to slip between the two.
A pencil slips across the paper, leaving lines that precisely capture the light, the contours of figures or objects—some emotions linger on the surface. But what about those “places ”the pencil cannot reach?
On one level, they refer to the limitations of the pencil as a drawing tool. But more deeply, I believe these places are not directly rendered, but implied—not within the technique, but hidden in the gaze of a figure, the tilt of a body, the gesture of a hand. They are spaces we have yet to enter.
Rowley told me that he often begins with people close to him—friends, family. A fleeting expression, a certain light. But as the painting progresses, these figures gradually slip elsewhere, becoming broader, more unclassifiable beings. They may no longer be specific “someones,” but rather the “someone” we ourselves could become. Whether or not Rowley agrees with this interpretation, I’ll keep holding onto it.
In both his oil paintings and his paper works using different materials, he’s no longer just depicting through a single medium—he’s offering a tactile experience. Light is no longer merely drawn, but felt. Objects are not confirmed, but touched. His images slip between imagination and reality, and in that slip, Rowley opens up a space for us to breathe—dolce far niente—to feel the sweetness of doing nothing.
And in this space, I thought of Abbas Kiarostami’s films.
In Abbas’s work, stories are suspended, narratives disrupted, characters often remain silent. And within that silence, as ordinary people, there is wind, there are mountains. I want to quote from Taste of Cherry:
“I’m not going to talk to you about philosophy. I just want to tell you that life is worth living. Have you ever picked a freshly ripened cherry from a tree? Its taste is both sweet and sour—it tastes of sunlight.”
That moment in the film completely overlapped with how I felt standing in front of Rowley’s paintings. There was no need to ask “why.” You simply sense the taste of being alive.
I’ve written all this simply because I hope you won’t rush to interpret his work. Please, just get into it. Let your gaze slip across the surface.
Slip, slip, do not hold tight,
Some things are clearest not seen in the light.
Text by Harman Liu
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Rowley Haynes ( born in 1996,UK ) graduated from Royal Drawing School London and currently lives and works in London. Haynes usually works on intimate, multi-layered drawings capture personal snapshots: childhood memories, holidays spent camping, time with friends and everyday objects. The scenes are personal yet relatable and are given emotional resonance by Rowley’s accomplished rendering of soft and dappled light. His typical medium – pencil on paper – is a vehicle for capturing moments of nostalgia and tranquility, built up using meticulous layers of colour, which both comfort and challenge the viewer.
Selected solo/duo show include:(upcoming) Slip, Lychee One, London (UK) 2025; Rowley Haynes & Daniel Um, 2024, Scroll NYC, New York, USA; While Others Only Slept, 2023, LKIF Gallery, Seoul, Korea; Warn Out Warm Blue Skies, 2023, Hewhood Gallery, London UK;
Recent group shows include: Delicate Bonds, 2024, Lychee One Gallery, London UK; Field of Difference, 2024, Palmer Gallery, London UK; The Way Of All Flesh, 2024, Saatchi Gallery, London UK; Bird Song, 2023, Timothy Taylor, London UK; EVE Present Number Three, 2022, Eve Liebe Gallery, London UK; The Best Of The Drawing Year, 2022, Christie’s, London UK; Open Studio, 2022, Space Studio, London UK; Final Show, 2022, The Royal Drawing School, London UK;