George Shaw: The Last Days of Belief, Wilkinson

George Shaw occupies a strange land of neglect and ritual, where a mound of earth or an abandoned piece of kitchen hardboard can suddenly become significant. Often thought of as a nostalgic artist, capturing the deserted world of graffitied housing estates and empty playing fields, Shaw has actually made a splash in the contemporary art world for his forward thinking. Nominated for the Turner Prize in 2011, Shaw has group shows at White Cube, Tate Britain and Whitechapel already under his belt, which embraced his unique brand of modernist energy combined with a detailed knowledge of Neo Romantic British painting. 
Wilkinson gallery London exhibition
For his latest show at Wilkinson in east London, Shaw returns to familiar territory with a series of Humbrol Enamel paintings of carved tree trunks and bollards arranged like a magical Stone Henge ring. It's curious to think that this material normally coats toy trains, but Shaw was first inspired when he learnt that a group of children had killed another child with Humbrol Enamel. For Last Days of Belief, makes a clear nod to the Stations of the Cross and the Christian implications of his work. Look out for the modest subtitles below each painting which are lyrics taken from a song released in 1980.
Catch George Shaw's eerie brand of everyday gravitas at this unearthly new contemporary art exhibition in London's Wilkinson Gallery.