At Maximillian William gallery in London, a polite strip of monochrome lines the walls: ‘Triple Threat’, the British artist Somaya Critchlow’s first show dedicated solely to drawing, is comprised of 41 works. Mounted in frames largely similar in shape and size, some white but most black, all but ten circumnavigate the space in a single formation, interrupted by a small library of past and present publications from the artist. A kind of epilogue to this black and white trail, aesthetically each of the titles speaks to the palette that typically characterises Critchlow’s paintings, which leans to the 1970s, with covers of brown and green and orange. Indeed, even the latest catalogue, designed by Kaiya Waerea, boasts lettering in a rich red foil.
Of the drawings, all of which were produced between 2023-24, two in particular – neighbouring portraits of Black women, the artist’s primary subject – highlight the wide scope of Critchlow’s protagonists. In one, made in pencil, a figure poses seductively with her knees outstretched and hands clutched to her chest, her round breasts pushed together between elbows. Her head tilted sideways, she glances toward the viewer, while the flowers of her babydoll are a nod to the cute, sexy and playful. Beside her is a more abstract interpretation of the female nude; produced in Japanese ink on calligraphy paper, this woman’s body appears bare save for a pair of thigh highs. Her limbs are similarly open, but her eyes are closed as her head nods downwards.
