Jackson Slattery’s new work continues his interest in treading the line between sincerity and indifference both conceptually and stylistically. Whilst seemingly surreal in nature, this series of oil paintings are autobiographical, although all traces of narrative are removed. Through merging sentimental subject matter and sourced imagery, the distinction between the real and the artifice are blurred.

The autobiographical exists partly through references to his own back catalogue, with images reappearing from many earlier series, including the street performers of Props 2011, the Ikea fake rose from Wrong Formalism 2012, and the apples and wine glasses from Every Picture, 2015. It is Slattery’s focus on the surface of these objects that continues to intensify across each body of work.

Slattery again addresses a question that both motivates and plagues him, “What do you tell the viewer?” He shares with the viewer a tantalising depiction of texture, with every, crack, reflection, dent, pore and wrinkle painted with beguiling precision, though compositionally, the distinction between what is depicted and what is implied is where Slattery provokes a quandary.