Drawings to buy

Perfect reflection (Regent’s canal)

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In Perfect Reflection (Regent’s Canal), Johnny Peckham distills a quintessentially British urban landscape into a symphony of symmetry and serenity, presenting a work that bridges the precision of photography with the painterly traditions of European art history. The photograph captures a tranquil moment along Regent’s Canal, where the stillness of the water mirrors the pink-hued façade of a townhouse so perfectly that the boundaries between reality and reflection blur,a visual metaphor for perception and duality.

The composition recalls the Dutch Golden Age painters, such as Vermeer or Hobbema, whose mastery of light and reflection elevated scenes of domesticity and nature into meditative experiences. The crisp clarity of Peckham’s image channels this tradition, embracing natural light as an active participant in the work. The golden sunlight bathes the upper half of the frame, enriching the subtle tones of the architecture and bare winter branches, while its inversion in the canal transforms the reflection into an almost surreal, otherworldly counterpart.

The work also invites comparisons to the Impressionist movement, particularly the reflective waterscapes of Monet. However, where Monet’s water lilies dissolve into painterly abstraction, Johnny Peckham employs the sharpness of modern photography to enforce a hyper-real clarity. This tension,between artifice and authenticity, permanence and impermanence,grounds the work in the present while nodding reverently to its artistic antecedents.

Yet, Perfect Reflection is more than an homage; it is a meditation on urban harmony and the fleeting beauty of equilibrium. The canal, a human-engineered artery within the natural landscape, becomes an axis of symmetry, uniting the built and organic worlds. The stillness of the water contrasts with the unseen bustle of London life, offering a rare moment of contemplation in a frenetic metropolis. In this way, Peckham transforms a simple reflection into a profound exploration of balance, beauty, and the intersections of art, nature, and modernity.

Two Days After Christmas by Ptolemy

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In Two Days After Christmas, Ptolemy Bognor-Regis offers a masterful study in abstraction, color, and emotional resonance. At first glance, the piece appears deceptively simple,a series of interlocking organic shapes rendered in earthy oranges, yellows, greens, and browns, set against an enveloping black background. Yet, beneath this simplicity lies a nuanced commentary on the post-holiday liminality, where festivity fades into reflection, and celebration gives way to contemplation.

The title situates the viewer in a specific moment, imbuing the abstract forms with an almost narrative quality. The muted palette,both warm and subdued,evokes the dimmed glow of holiday lights, waning yet still present. The green, curving contour suggests the lingering life of a pine tree, while the bright yellows, softened to amber, speak to the remnants of warmth and joy. The interplay of light and shadow within the color palette mirrors the shifting emotions of the post-holiday period,a delicate dance between nostalgia and renewal.

The compositional balance is impeccable: the forms ripple and interlock with an almost meditative rhythm, suggesting the quiet yet profound stillness that accompanies this particular time of year. The black void framing the shapes is critical, creating a stark contrast that suggests the emptiness left in the wake of celebration,a vast and quiet pause before the new year asserts itself. Bognor-Regis deftly employs this emptiness not as a lack but as a space for introspection, inviting the viewer to fill it with their own reflections.

What makes Two Days After Christmas truly remarkable is its ability to universalize a specific moment. In abstracting the emotional residue of the holiday season, the work transcends its title, becoming a meditation on transition, memory, and the quiet beauty of endings. It is an evocative reminder that even in the simplest shapes, profound truths can be found.

Monaco #4

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In Monaco, Hedge Fund crafts a richly stylized exploration of luxury, geography, and the tenuous relationship between humanity and the environment. The composition juxtaposes the rigid architectural splendor of the principality’s storied edifices with the raw, untamed cliffs that support them,a precarious balance that mirrors the fragile coexistence of wealth and nature.

The piece’s deliberate flattening of detail into bold, graphic contrasts eschews realism in favor of a pop-art sensibility, underscoring the constructed artifice of the subject matter. The muted, sunlit facades of the buildings,rendered in warm ochres, dusty pinks, and subdued oranges,suggest timeless wealth and refinement. Yet their precarious perch atop the jagged greenery hints at the fragility of their dominance, as if even the grandest structures can be humbled by the relentless forces of nature.

Hedge Fund’s choice of color is particularly telling: the azure sky and deep greens lend a Mediterranean vibrancy, while the muted palette of the harbor in the background reduces the ostentatious yachts and modernity of the port to an understated blur. This selective emphasis seems intentional, as if to critique the fleeting opulence of human endeavors against the enduring backdrop of nature. The lush vegetation, rendered in almost chaotic strokes, serves as a reminder of the organic world that underpins and ultimately outlasts the grand ambitions perched atop it.

Thematically, Monaco encapsulates a tension between permanence and impermanence. The grandeur of the architecture may stand as a monument to human achievement, yet its tenuous foundation on the edge of the cliff feels almost defiant, a metaphor for the excess and risk inherent in luxury. Hedge Fund’s work invites the viewer to marvel at the beauty of this tension while questioning the sustainability of such a precarious coexistence. It is at once an ode to grandeur and a subtle critique of hubris.

Chamonix

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In Chamonix, Hedge Fund offers a striking reimagining of the alpine landscape, merging the grandeur of nature with the idiosyncratic imprints of human settlement. The work juxtaposes the imposing, almost mythic snow-drenched peaks against the quaint, pastel tones of urban architecture. This sharp dichotomy is not merely visual; it is conceptual, provoking questions about humanity’s place within, and imposition upon, the natural world.

The artist’s technique,flattening depth and reducing detail into near-graphic, pop-art-like elements,renders the scene both familiar and surreal. The jagged contours of the mountain, heavily stylized in black and white, dominate the upper half of the composition like an ancient sentinel, immutable and eternal. Below, however, the carefully arranged rooftops and cheerfully colored buildings introduce a sense of vulnerability and impermanence. This clash of scales,both physical and metaphorical,invites the viewer to reflect on the paradox of human ambition: to build, to settle, to claim dominion over landscapes that will long outlast us.

The deliberate reduction of texture and tonal nuance in the mountains adds an almost print-like quality, stripping away the sublime detail that traditionally characterizes landscape art. This, perhaps, is Hedge Fund’s critique: by simplifying the natural world into digestible motifs, we risk rendering it ornamental, a backdrop to our own existence. The pastel pink of one prominent building, framed beneath the oppressive snowfields, draws the eye like a defiant act of whimsy, yet its fragility is palpable.

Chamonix is more than an alpine portrait; it is a layered commentary on coexistence, nostalgia, and the aesthetics of control. Hedge Fund’s playful moniker might suggest irony, but the work is anything but flippant. It dares to interrogate the contradictions of beauty and human presence, delivering a vision of coexistence that is as uneasy as it is visually captivating.

Penguin Ouchy

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In Penguin Ouchy, street photographer Johnny Peckham transforms the mundane aftermath of a medical procedure into a poignant meditation on vulnerability, resilience, and the unexpectedly playful intersections of adulthood and childhood. The photograph centers on a decorated plaster,a whimsical departure from the utilitarian tape typically used after a blood test,adorned with colorful penguins, cacti, and other cartoonish figures. It is a small act of levity in a moment of discomfort, an aesthetic rebellion against sterile uniformity.

The composition is strikingly intimate, zooming in on the curve of an arm where the plaster gently clings to the skin. The stark contrast between the soft, natural texture of the flesh and the artificial brightness of the cartoon imagery creates an evocative dialogue: one speaks to fragility and physicality, the other to humor, escapism, and the human capacity for optimism in the face of discomfort. The fabric of a dark sleeve edges into the frame, grounding the image in the everyday and emphasizing its unvarnished honesty.

Peckham’s choice to highlight the plaster,a typically overlooked, temporary object,is emblematic of his ability to find beauty in life’s overlooked details. The penguin, central to the title, becomes a symbolic figure: playful, slightly absurd, yet oddly comforting. Its cartoonish demeanor contrasts sharply with the implicit tension of the blood test, an invasive procedure tied to health and mortality. This tension infuses the work with subtle emotional weight, reminding viewers of the delicate balance between body and spirit, the clinical and the personal.

Ultimately, Penguin Ouchy is more than an image; it is a moment frozen in time, rich with layers of interpretation. It invites us to reflect on the small, often unnoticed ways we cope with vulnerability,through humor, design, and the quiet comforts of care. Johnny Peckham has once again captured the extraordinary within the ordinary, presenting a deeply human narrative through a deceptively simple frame.

Untitled (Lost Hope)

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This abstract piece stands as an evocative exploration of form, colour, and spatial harmony, conjuring a dialogue that is as much about absence as it is about presence. Ptolemy skilfully manipulates an earthy palette of rusts, ochres, greens, and creams, invoking a visceral connection to the natural world. These hues are neither accidental nor arbitrary; instead, they appear deeply intentional, evoking the raw, untamed landscapes of memory or imagination.

The composition unfolds as a quasi-topographical map, suggesting terrain but eschewing specificity. The fluidity of the shapes,soft yet deliberate,creates a rhythmic interplay that oscillates between stability and motion. The sinuous orange contours bleed into softer creams and verdant greens, forming boundaries that feel at once organic and contrived. One cannot help but interpret these forms as symbolic, though their meanings remain tantalizingly out of reach. Are we observing the remnants of a distant memory, a fragmented cartography of an internal landscape, or the traces of ecological decay? The refusal of the piece to offer resolution is its ultimate strength.

Of particular note is the isolated green form,a singular moment of solidity within a sea of ambiguity. This small shape, so unassuming yet profoundly significant, serves as a focal point, a reminder of persistence amidst dissolution. It may signify growth, renewal, or merely the quiet endurance of being. The viewer is invited to meditate on its implications, lost in its magnetic simplicity.

The work thrives on its refusal to conform to expectations, forcing the audience to grapple with questions of meaning and perception. In its abstraction, it becomes both a universal canvas for interpretation and a deeply personal experience. This is a study in balance and tension, a profound testament to the power of abstraction to evoke emotion without narrative. It is both a challenge and a gift,a visual poem for the contemplative spirit.

Essie Plandell

Essie is the author of Ptolemy? Greatest abstract artist since Michelangelo? Available from all good book shops.

Photography: Show’s over

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In Show’s Over by Johnny Peckham, the photograph captures the liminal state of an art gallery,neither empty nor alive with its usual vibrancy, but suspended in a moment of quiet disarray. The image documents a space in transition, yet it speaks volumes about the impermanence of creativity, the machinery of the art world, and the unglamorous reality behind cultural production. It is a portrait of absence, where art’s afterlife becomes the central subject.

The composition of the photograph is stark, with its clean architectural lines interrupted by the intrusion of discarded materials and wrapped canvases leaning against the wall. The contrast between the pristine white walls and the plastic-covered paintings is striking, creating an atmosphere of tension. The wrapped artworks, simultaneously protected and obscured, become symbolic objects,metaphors for the fragility of art itself, perpetually caught between creation and commodification. They exist here as ghosts, stripped of their function and reduced to raw materials awaiting their next destination.

Peckham’s use of light is subtle but deliberate. The sterile glow of the overhead lighting flattens the space, denying any romanticism and instead heightening the sense of banality. Yet, this starkness is what makes the photograph so poignant: it refuses to embellish or idealize, choosing instead to confront the viewer with the backstage reality of the art industry. The discarded trash bags in the foreground echo themes of waste and abandonment, suggesting that even creativity produces detritus.

At its heart, Show’s Over questions the cyclical nature of art-making. What happens when the audience leaves? When the applause fades? Johnny Peckham forces us to confront the aftermath, the mundane cleanup that follows the spectacle. In doing so, the photograph transcends its literal subject, offering a quietly profound meditation on the transient nature of art, labor, and existence itself. It is a study in endings,and perhaps, new beginnings.