Wicked Painting
curated by Harriet Horner
Hypha Gallery 3 / No. 1 Poultry, London EC2R 8EN
PV: Thursday, 12th March 2026, 6-9pm
Open: 13 March – 18 April 2026
Wicked Painting, is a group exhibition showcasing contemporary painters who delve into the shadowy, the seductive, and the strange. Bringing together nine emerging artists whose work traverses personal mythology, dark humour, the monstrous, and the liminal, the exhibition explores the layered meaning of “wicked” – at once alluring and transgressive, potent and possessed. These artists mine the emotional and symbolic depths of the subconscious, drawing on archetypes, folklore, memory, and pop culture to reveal what lies beneath the surface of the self.
At the core of Wicked Painting is a shared fascination with transformation and ambiguity – where images remain in flux, often grotesque or uncanny, yet emotionally weighted and strangely magnetic. Collectively, the exhibition challenges painting’s traditional associations with clarity, control, and heroic representation. Together they revel in contradiction and embrace the raw, the unstable, and the psychologically charged. It positions painting as a haunted and playful act – where the ‘wicked’ becomes a site of power, liberation, and complex meaning.
artists
Harriet Horner
Mariella Smilas
Fatemeh Heidarhosseini
Eloise Knight
Mia Wilkinson
Tabitha Wilson
Portfolio
contact information
Socials: @harriet.horner
