extract from The Unhinged Critic / Matthew Caley

[ for A Plan for Living ]

supposedly says The Un-hinged Critic resemblance
and affirmation canot be uncoupled
without a gentle carnage

but never in the
architect's model where perspective leaves merely an odour
and bodies once posed vacate responsibility


A Plan for Living is an exhibition of large-scale drawings, paintings, sculpture and installations.

The show takes its name from a painting by Stephen Nicholas, now hanging in the studio home of artists Carina Diepens and A. van Campenhout in the Netherlands. This connection between old friends forms the starting point to a conversation about the process of making art. The project explores the tension between planning and making, between idea and realisation, between purpose and result. A plan sets an intention; it is an act of optimism and a gesture towards potential. It also knowingly encompasses the possibility of failure. A map, a scheme, a drawing – a plan - suggests an act that is open to new form and with this marks a beginning and an inherent capacity, a generosity of spirit.

The artists search for the dynamic between the planned and the unexpected, the controlled and the uncontrolled, between the material and the immaterial. They are not only looking for the final image but want to probe the relevance of the creative process as a parallel for human connection, feeling and understanding.

A Plan for Living acknowledges the physical space of making as well as the mental space that underlies it.

As the world grows more polarized and undergoes rapid change, its social challenges inevitably enter the studio. These issues compel artists to take a stance—though the responses are rarely straightforward. Instead, they manifest in abstract ways within the work of the four artists.

About the artists:
A. van Campenhout
A. van Campenhout (NL) creates intricate spatial worlds through a web of charcoal lines. His work begins with memories, shared histories, and current events - not as literal depictions, but as fragments of a non-linear, layered recollection. In this process, he searches for the right tone, reconstructing meaning step by step. The lines twist and converge, inviting the viewer’s eye to wander through layered realms of light and shadow.
He has exhibited internationally and is in the collection including The Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Teylers Museum, Haarlem; Jan Cunen Museum; and Oss and De Pont Museum, Tilburg. He received a MA in Drawing and Painting at Tilburg University (NL) and was associated as senior lecturer at the Drawing Department of LUCA School of Arts, Ghent from 2009-23. avancampenhout.com

Carina Diepens
Carina Diepens (NL) is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans installations, sculptures, drawings, and performances. Central to her sculptural work is the use of textile materials as a way to interpret and connect human conditions, social structures, and the physical world. The underlying systems of textile-making are conceptually deployed and questioned in her work. It resonates themes of design, physical labour, identity, and human perception. Her explorations open up new perspectives beyond the traditional boundaries of the textile medium.
Carina has exhibited internationally at institutions including De Pont Museum of Contemporary Art, Tilburg (NL); Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum, Linz (AT); Beaconsfield Gallery, London and Korean Cultural Centrum, New York amongst others. Carina received a MA in Textiles at Tilburg University (NL) and was associated as senior lecturer at the department of Visual Art, MA/BA, at LUCA School of Arts Ghent (BE) from 2005-23. www.carinadiepens.com

Stephen Nicholas
Stephen Nicholas is a John Moores Painting Prize Winner. His work has been shown at the Himalayan Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai; Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; Gimpel Fils Gallery, London; De Fabriek, Eindhoven amongst others. His paintings are autobiographical, although he never intentionally set out to work this way. He wants to surprise himself by making an image, which he couldn’t fully anticipate, yet once there, has an inevitability about it. Stephen studied painting at Falmouth School of Art. www.stephennicholas.org

Sarah Pickstone
Sarah Pickstone is a London-based artist whose work is chiefly concerned with painting, drawing and the structure of colour. She is known for her large scale works which engage with feminist histories across the visual arts and literature. She was First Prize Winner of the John Moores Painting Prize in 2012. She has exhibited extensively in the UK and internationally and is a mentor at Turps Painting School and the Royal Drawing School, London. Sarah studied at the Royal Academy Schools, London and was awarded the Rome Scholarship in Painting at the British School at Rome. www.sarahpickstone.co.uk

Matthew Caley
Matthew Caley's most recent and seventh collection is To Abandon Wizardy [ Bloodaxe, 2023 ]. His second pamphlet of loose versions from 19th Century French poets - this time all women - The Sealed Well, has just been launched by Blueprint. Recent poems have appeared in The Poetry Review, London Magazine, Bad Lily, Poetry Salzburg and The Spectator. He tutors, mentors and consults for The Poetry School and will represent the UK at the 20th Serbian Literary Festival in Novi Sad this year.
“Chief amongst British poets Caley takes seriously the vision of synaesthetic abundance laid out in Mallarmé’s essay ‘Crisis and Verse’…[ ] Caley is a great poet of transposition and vibration…[ ] Caley at his very best, an offhand philosopher and bard of the demi-monde, gently blowing our minds”.
Dai George, P0ETRY WALES


Thames-Side Studios Gallery
Thames-Side Studios
Harrington Way, Warspite Road
Royal Borough of Greenwich
London SE18 5NR

Open Thursday-Sunday, 12-5pm, during exhibitions.
For general Thames-Side Studios Gallery enquiries please email info@thames-sidestudios.co.uk
Disabled access. Free, limited parking is available on site.

How to get here:
Bicycle: Thames River cycle path (16 mins cycle from Greenwich).
Bus: 161 / 177 / 180 / 472 to Warspite Road bus stop.
DLR: Woolwich Arsenal (1 minute walk to Plumstead Road and take Route Bus 177 towards Peckham Bus Station or 472 towards North Greenwich Station).
Road: A2 corridor, first roundabout east of Thames Barrier onto Warspite Road.
Train: From Cannon Street or London Bridge to Woolwich Dockyard (8 minute walk) or Charlton (12 minute walk).
Tube: North Greenwich (Take the Route Bus 472 towards Thamesmead Town Centre).
Crossrail: Elizabeth Line to Woolwich (take Route Bus 177 towards Peckham Bus Station or 472 towards North Greenwich Station).