LONDON.- Lazarides presents The Home Unleashed, the gallery’s second solo show by British artist Miranda Donovan which opened 24 February 2011. This new exhibition marks a departure from her recent preoccupation with all things exterior, and brings the viewer into the world of the interior in a series of over 25 new works merging both decadence and squalor through her signature miniaturized graffiti style.

Through her multi-layered three-dimensional canvases, Donovan captures urban elements from the street and juxtaposes them with an eerily familiar landscape; the home. Employing a classical painterly technique and pairing it with contemporary subject matter, Donovan entices us with traces of former opulence and wealth alongside the lingering presence of filth and decay in the décor. The very effects of decay and deterioration in the hands of this artist are given qualities of beauty and delicacy that reverberate through the very fabric of the home.

Donovan’s new works retain the built up sculptural elements she is so well known for yet this series represents a departure from the brickwork that dominated the canvases and characterised her previous work. Instead, referencing the work of Nigel Cooke, the emphasis is placed onto the painterly surface where Donovan has unleashed vibrant graffiti tags and melancholic cartoon characters that deface moulding twee-patterned wallpaper in an otherwise comfortable interior world. The sculptural elements remain in miniaturised form, for example in Numb a grand fireplace overflows with empty cans of Special Brew. These features are a constant reminder of a loss of innocence in a world of paradoxes, political tensions and the menacing changes taking place to the environment. Each canvas weaves a textured narrative, inviting the viewer to explore Donovan’s world and unearth hidden messages and symbols whilst still retaining the bijoux beauty that defines these pieces as works of art.