In Dreams and Michael Patterson-Carver combine for show at Timothy Taylor Gallery

Exhibitions: In Dreams and Michael Patterson-Carver, Timothy Taylor Gallery, London, September 8 – October 2 2010

Balancing American politics with five of the most thought-provoking artists in Europe, Timothy Taylor’s pair of autumn exhibitions take their social perspectives from a multinational cast.

Group exhibition In Dreams presents a range of artists across the spectrum of their careers, from 26-year-old Polish surrealist Tomasz Kowalski, who uses art history to create a “parallel universe” of landscapes and interiors, to veteran Kent painter Rose Wylie’s rich depictions of Medieval wall paintings, South Park cartoons, marvellous scenes from Match of the Day and everything in between.

The connecting theme is one of idiosyncratic narratives and hermetic alternative worlds,  peopled by Armenian Armen Eloyan’s wooden characters in watercolour, complexly crafted scenes from Europe’s darker history by German Volker Hueller and Bremen-born Norbert Schwontkowski’s monochrome canvasses, suggesting half-remembered distant memories through faded and worn canvasses.

Michael Patterson-Carver’s debut solo show in London owes more to the harsh realities of our world. Influenced by the US civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s, his cartoonish drawings mock political leaders and illustrate the plight of the people whose decisions they affect, such as in a classroom where attentive students are taught the benefits of the invasion of Iraq to oil prices.

Several of his works deal with the task facing Barack Obama, confronting the racial intolerance Patterson-Carver sees the President suffer from sections of society. Others position the artist as a lone demonstrator against bigotry and hatred.

Timothy Taylor Gallery, Carlos Place, London. Open 10am-6pm (10am-2pm Saturday, closed Sunday.) Visit the gallery online or call 020 7409 3344.