Installation view 'Picture Plane'. Photo: Damian Griffiths
'Matthew Krishanu’s paintings hum with atmosphere, reflecting memories of his childhood—Krishanu grew up in Bangladesh with a British father and Indian mother—and exploring colonial legacies. But they push and pull between this rich subject matter and the abstract qualities of the paint and stripped-back, unorthodox compositions. Faith is a key subject in this show: in Mission School (2017), what appear to be Asian schoolchildren are sat in front of a small reproduction of Leonardo’s Last Supper. We see clearly the reaction of just one child: a remote detachment, perhaps even reverie. As in so much of Krishanu’s work, the scene is pregnant with ambiguity: what is real and what imagined? Is this nostalgic recollection or subtle social commentary?'
