Max Denison-Pender | 25th Feb - 2nd March

(Pop-up Show | Represented by Isabella Bromhead)

'Portraits From the Front Line is an exhibition dedicated to my friends in Ukraine, who for the past four years have lived fighting to protect their own right to exist. These works are born from proximity rather than distance; they are not observations from afar, but acts of witness.

Painting has always been an act of preservation. Long after headlines fade and borders are redrawn, paintings remain, holding faces, gestures, and moments in a way that resists erasure. For me, this body of work is a sign of respect and support, but also a form of keeping faith. It is my attempt to slow time, to insist on seeing each subject not as a symbol or statistic, but as a whole human being: complex, dignified, vulnerable, and resilient.

These portraits form a capsule. They honour the strength it takes to remain oneself under relentless pressure, and the quiet heroism of continuing to live, love and create while history presses on. If this exhibition asks anything of the viewer, it is simply to look and, in looking, to remember.''