Andrew Szczech

At the centre of Andrew Szczech’s practice is a response to the breakdown of structures - both physical and ideological. His paintings are built through a process of erosion and repair: gessoed surfaces are cracked open, layered with pigment, burnished, and then stilled. What remains is a kind of weathered skin - distressed, luminous, enduring.

Since his sold-out MA degree show in 2021, Szczech has continued to gain serious attention. Most recently, his work was selected by a London curator associated with Sarabande, the ICA, and Forbes 30 Under 30 - a sign of growing recognition within the contemporary art world.

Recent paintings draw on fragments of late-Victorian wallpaper from the V&A archive. Once symbols of imperial prosperity, these decorative patterns now surface like ghosts - partially obscured beneath darkened glazes and scorched metallics, once decorative, now fractured, oxidised and buried beneath darkened glazes. Surface becomes structure and beauty is something earned.

The works are richly layered both visually and historically. They carry weight. Built through a process of erosion and repair - architectural, grounded. There is a quiet violence in the cracked lines and oxidised surfaces but also care: each layer polished, attended to, held.

These are paintings of permanence and impermanence. They lend themselves to long looking - elegant, anchoring and quietly powerful.