The Shape of Heat

Maddox Gallery proudly presents ‘The Shape of Heat’, a summer group exhibition tracing colour, beauty and memory through the work of nine contemporary artists.

Featuring works by Will Martyr, RETNA, Manuela Gallo, Dairo Vargas, INAE, Juan Cuéllar, Cooper, The Connor Brothers and Mina Alikhani, the exhibition explores the many ways in which summer is experienced, remembered and imagined. Each artist offers a distinctive visual language yet together they capture the emotional intensity of the season: its spontaneity, sensuality and lingering sense of possibility.

From radiant scenes of escape to dynamic abstraction, ‘The Shape of Heat’ conveys how nostalgia and lived experience can unite through shared interpretations of high summer.

Carefully curated to bring the heart and soul of seasonal idealism to Mayfair, the exhibition explores the bridge between experience and recollection, where memory softens reality and imagination takes hold. Bold forms, confident brushstrokes and radiant palettes run throughout the show.

Cooper and Will Martyr evoke the comfort of familiarity through vibrant scenes saturated with a sense of longing, while INAE’s hazy compositions capture the suspended beauty of sunlit stillness. Manuela Gallo embraces the elegance of the season through boldly stylised figurative works, bathed in luminous blue skies, embodying vitality and radiance.

Elsewhere, the explosive energy of Dairo Vargas and RETNA speaks to summer’s dynamism and unpredictability. Mina Alikhani’s contemplative forest scenes encourage a quieter introspection, shifting emotional landscapes which offer points of reflection that endure beyond the season itself. Juan Cuéllar similarly engages with memory, reimagining idyllic domestic settings through vivid colour and striking symmetry, while subtly addressing questions of the contemporary political and environmental climate. The Connor Brothers, meanwhile, bring the spirit of youthful freedom through their vibrant maritime scenes, evoking childhood adventures and carefree explorations that define the season.

A celebration of the season’s allure, ‘The Shape of Heat’ explores summer as both a time of year and a state of mind, inviting viewers into a world where beauty is never passive, desire is never simple, and presence remains long after the image has settled.