Michael Wilkinson's Uncanny Still Lifes at The Modern Institute

Michael Wilkinson's exhibition 'Still Life with Blank Canvas' at The Modern Institute in Glasgow presents four photorealistic paintings that subvert traditional still life. Running from 24 January to 5 March, the works depict vases of flowers against blank canvases, creating claustrophobic mise en abyme effects through patches of untouched linen where real material overlaps painted representation. Wilkinson employs fluorescent pigments and exquisite light handling, as seen in 'Dahlia' (2024) with its fiery sunburst center and 'Lisianthus' (2025) featuring turquoise glass vase refractions. While engaging seventeenth-century Flemish trompe l'oeil traditions, these paintings eliminate playfulness and sensuousness, instead evoking antiseptic emptiness reminiscent of hotel lobbies and curated Airbnbs. The artist's previous 2018 series erased political graffiti from May 1968 photographs, while these new works embrace blankness through raw linen and contemporary design allusions. Gabriel Levine Brislin reviewed the exhibition for ArtReview's April 2025 issue, noting the works' frictionless minimalism creates unheimlich domestic spaces that foreground their status as commercial objects.