Opening Night for ‘Fam’ - an exhibition by Oliver Lancaster

This new series of paintings by Oliver Lancaster draws on a personal archive of family photographs taken before and around the time of the artist’s birth, alongside more recent images of friends, or chosen family. Through a process of cutting and tearing, Lancaster transforms these source images into intricate stencils; translating fleeting moments into layered compositions that evoke nostalgia, intimacy, and the fragility of memory. Each work captures an instance of connection, preserving an emotion long disappeared.

Working with airbrush ink on emulsioned wood, Lancaster balances precision with spontaneity, with an emphasis on looseness he has created images that feel both deliberate and immediate. The resulting paintings hover between presence and absence, where figures and forms emerge only to fragment again into the stripped-bare format.