Antoni Malinowski and Hélène Binet: Pigments and Photons marks the first joint exhibition of Antoni Malinowski and Hélène Binet in a public gallery, celebrating their deep sensitivity and understanding of light and architectural space and form.

The works will be displayed throughout the manor house, conversing with the historic spaces designed by Sir John Soane. Malinowski explores the relationship between colour, light and space in what he describes as “light-sensitive pictorial instability”. Binet is adept at capturing the interplay of light, shadow, texture, and detail in photography. Long-time friends, the two artists recently began collaborating, united by their shared passion for architecture and how the eye reads tone and shade.

Malinowski’s paintings use specialist interference pigments to bend and scatter light, encouraging the visitor to shift their viewpoint and move around the room to experience different tones and qualities of the paintwork. His mixing of pigments with synthetic tempera, exemplified in Almost Seen (2016, Lapis Lazuli, synthetic tempera on canvas), achieves an optical play echoing that which Soane employed to illuminate his rooms. Recurring motifs, such as the chair, hint at spaces for withdrawing and reverie, echoing the serene environments of Pitzhanger and inviting a deeper meditative contemplation of colour and light in the rooms.

Binet’s photographs in the exhibition focus on the figure of the angel, inspired by the numerous representations of female figures throughout the manor. Her series Angels from Ponte Sant’Angelo (2019–2020, hand printed b/w silver gelatin) captures details of the angel statues on Ponte Sant’Angelo in Rome, revealing an energy and sense of immediacy to these graceful figures. These works resonate with Sir John Soane’s Grand Tour to Rome in 1778, where he drew inspiration from classical architecture and sculptures, including those on Ponte Sant’Angelo.

An intriguing aspect of the exhibition is the glass fragments displayed in the Breakfast Room. This assembly features items Malinowski has collected over many years, showcasing his deep fascination with colour and light. The display includes segments of Murano glass tesserae, which sometimes appear in his paintings, a further nod to Soane’s passion for the quality of the light he encountered in Italy and his use of glass in trying to recreate this in some of his rooms.

Both Malinowski and Binet have previously done work in correspondence with Sir John Soane’s buildings. Binet’s photographic works include depictions of his central London home and collection at Lincoln’s Inn Fields. In 2009, Malinowski had a solo exhibition at Dulwich Picture Gallery where he painted and drew directly onto the walls of the historic gallery.