the knot on the hook in the fish in the lake

Hypha Studios South Bank / Gallery 1, 42 Southwark Bridge Rd, London, SE1 9EU
PV: Monday, 12th October 2026, 6 – 9pm
Open: 8th October – 15th November 2026, Thursday-Sunday 12pm – 6pm

Thin Red Lion presents the knot on the hook in the fish from the lake, an exhibition about things that only work in relation to something else: a rope needs what it is tied to, a shadow needs light, an arch stands because every stone is pushing against its neighbour.

The show brings together sculpture, painting and textiles, each piece chosen for the way it leans, physically or conceptually, on something outside itself to become what it is. A structure depends on what supports it. An action needs something else to set it moving. An object can take on new meaning simply by standing next to another object.

The same idea runs through Thin Red Lion itself. The collective is made up of ten artists working across very different mediums, most of whom make work alongside other jobs. It started with conversations in pubs, talking through the practical difficulties of making art in London and gradually finding ways to support each other through them. What keeps the group going is a reliance on each other: on shared criticism, borrowed materials and studio space, and simply having people around who understand what you are trying to do.

The pub remains a reference point. It is where the group began, and it continues to shape how Thin Red Lion thinks about shared space: somewhere to gather, argue, borrow a chair from another table, and leave having exchanged something with people you did not arrive with. the knot on the hook in the fish from the lake brings a version of that spirit into the gallery, treating the exhibition space as somewhere ideas, objects and visitors can rub shoulders.

Marine One
Paul Barbu
Sid and Jim (Sid Smith and Jim Bicknell-Knight)