Giovanellis “As If Almost” , on show at the Whitecube in Bermondsey, London until 11th September 2022 is a small collection of works that explore the material substances contained within each frame.

Within the billowing space of the Whitecube gallery, these works at first ‘squint’ appear to be photorealistic, with bokeh-like blur and light refractions and, from a distance, at an opposite side of a concrete runway one could believe they were indeed digital photographs. 

The subject matter is connected to the modern allure of celebrated media, of film and television, the glitzy sparkle and the textural extravagance of sequins and velvet curtains. Hair also features in some extreme cropped works that remove the hair from the person and treat it like an object in its own right. 

This uncanny extraction of textural surfaces is somewhat uneasy and gives rise to a sense of voyeurism, a peep into a world where we are not the main event but neither is the subject, headless and unidentifiable and simply a collection of studies of texture. 

It’s easy to forget these are paintings, with a surface that is blurred and smooth not giving away too much information regarding the gestures and movement of the artist. These works glow, with a chemical and yellow/green haze that feels like an absinthe cocktail fog.