Elizabeth Englander's 'The Elizabethan Lumber Room' at A. Squire, London, through March 7

Elizabeth Englander's exhibition at A. Squire in London features 13 sculptures blending Buddhist iconography with pop culture references, displayed in Victorian barrister cabinets. The American artist uses materials like her mother's kilt, plaster-soaked jute, and Mylar balloon scraps to create gaudy, biomorphic figures that evoke parinirvana—the death of Buddha—while incorporating elements like Betty Boop and Union Jack patterns. Works such as 'Parinirvana (UNESCO Betty)' (2025) defy simple identification, oscillating between grotesquery and amiability. Englander's titles, including '(pussyhat)' and '(Barbieland)', gender the sculptures female, with fabric folds suggesting labial forms that subvert traditional masculine Buddhist structures. The installation critiques institutional displays, echoing the British Museum's nearby collection, where spiritual objects become spectacle. Referencing Virginia Woolf's 'Orlando' (1928), the exhibition explores elastic selfhood and self-erasure, framed as an archive of shed selves. The show runs through March 7, 2026, as covered in ArtReview's March 2026 issue.