Nov 2017 – Jan 2018 – First Floor

The artist Hormazd Narielwalla is as much a magnificent narrator as he is a skilled tailor of intricate visual stories. Born in India and now living in London, with recent shows at Southbank Centre and the Royal Academy, Narielwalla has carved out his unique place on the contemporary art scene as the master puppeteer, instilling new life into paper shapes from the past through the creation of rich layers of meaning, symbolism and sublime abstract patterns of colour and form alike.

Narielwalla’s work is an open invitation to the spectator to join him on a journey in the mind, an offering of unknown splendour and hidden detail, high seriousness and eye-twinkling allusions side by side. Paper Dolls at Blacks Club brings together a collection of his signature abstract collage works on vintage sewing patterns, alongside a set of six figurative self-portraits, where Narielwalla casts himself as a mysterious Geisha. Inspired by a chance encounter in the streets of Soho, the artist is lured into an exploration of the far-east and takes the viewer along, as he conjures up paper dolls from Japan, hidden places, people and portraits.