“…..The impulse for this show is the confrontation with a series of six stunning paintings from the 1980s by Tricia Gillman, currently on display at Clifford Chance in London’s Canary Wharf.[1] Gillman is looking back at these works after decades of painting prolifically, contemplating them from a new horizon. How can she, does she, invite her earlier work back into relation with her current production? This is particularly interesting when you consider Gillman’s diverse oeuvre. For me, rather than simply observing the differences between then and now, this retrospection is better served by thinking through how her painting stages an appeal to time. I suggest that how Gillman’s paintings position us temporally may determine the ways she can re-encounter them. …. /………And now Gillman, with no small bravery, is testing her hypotheses again and from some years distance. My hunch is that what this experiment in retrospection will reveal is that Gillman’s ability to temporally situate the viewer is a crucial part of who she is as a painter and that it releases her to converse with the past as if it is the present.”
Rebecca Fortnum, February, 2026
