This presentation brings together eight paintings of women by Neil Zakiewicz, made over the past two years and shown together here for the first time. The works draw on people close to the artist — friends, family, collaborators — alongside figures who exist somewhere between personal memory and cultural mythology.
Zakiewicz’s paintings often begin with a particular person but rarely aim for straightforward likeness. Instead, the figure is pushed through his distinctive pictorial language: flattened planes of colour, graphic framing devices and a deliberate tension between figuration and abstraction. Faces appear simplified, sometimes to the point where identity becomes a kind of visual puzzle.
Several works originate directly from the artist’s own life. Em and Me refers to an old friend connected to the memory of Zakiewicz’s late best friend. Anne portrays the artist’s mother following a year in which she underwent chemotherapy and recovered from cancer. Rosa depicts his daughter at twenty-one.
In Transaction, the subject is Zakiewicz’s wife Jo, shown in the context of her work as a psychotherapist in Bethnal Green. The title refers to Transactional Analysis, a therapeutic approach built around collaboration between therapist and client rather than hierarchy.
Other works drift further into art-historical territory. In Jo and Pablo, the artist combines a portrait of his wife with an image of Picasso — a pairing that arose simply because he had been struggling to paint both subjects separately. “I don’t know what it means,” the artist notes.
K3 was painted as a gesture of exchange with artist Karolina Albricht. Elsewhere, the musician Nico appears as a kind of cultural apparition, her name gradually emerging in the structure of her face. Zakiewicz comments, “Nico invented Goth - and she's a legend. I obsessed over her face until I saw her name Nico in her features.” .
Together these paintings form a loose portrait of Zakiewicz’s world — one in which biography, observation and humorous invention remain comfortably entangled.
13 – 17 March 2026 at TM Gallery, by appointment
13 March - 13 April Online Viewing Room at Hannah Payne Art
Also on show: While you are visiting, a group exhibition titled ‘Shelf’ curated by Zakiewicz is currently on show at Domobaal gallery - a short walk from TM Gallery, on show until 28th March. domobaal, 3 John Street, London WC1N 2ES
Enquiries info@hannahpayneart.co.uk
Photography by David Owens