Intrinsic to each work is its materiality. As described by Canonico, ‘only just’ is composed of “work that looks upon its own making”1. Each visual annotation is an assemblage of various everyday, discarded, found, reused elements, from cardboard to MDF board. The story of each is important, too: parts were found, others gifted, the whole an overall exercise in making use of what’s available to you. Distinctly, there is an emphasis on transparency: each work quite simply is what it is. Playful in arrangement and composition, it’s the balance of each and how it’s brought together that speaks to Canonico’s language.

Alexandre Canonico, OHSH Projects, London, 2023. Photography Robert Glowacki

Permeating ‘only just’ is a strong sense of exploration, especially around ‘negative’ space, what is in between or unseen. ‘Lambent dip’ (2023), for example, extends from the wall into the exhibition space. Reliant on its individual components, from the MDF board to an aluminium sheet and the wall it rests on, it makes use of the invisible tensions, pushes and pulls. ‘Cough’ (2023), in its composition of a metal strapping with protruding wooden dowels, reaches out beyond the delineations and contours of the sinuous central shape. Meanwhile ‘only just’ (2023), in its stacking and balancing, builds a relationship between the individual MDF components and their delicate precarity.

The exhibition is also a ground for new components and their incorporation into Canonico’s visual language. The metal strapping series, such as the diptych ‘Fun’ (2023), introduces carton, which brings pops of primary colour. The snippets of metal strap from this series extend and jump over to the work ‘Tool’ (2023), which serves through its title as a play on words, incorporating found and carved MDF along with sprayed cardboard. The possibilities of the latter are further explored in ‘Unfurl’ (2023) and ‘None the wiser’ (2023) that present layers and curves, a mixture of various densities, forms, and movement. Finally ‘Almost not’ (2023), composed of a spray painted cloth, broomstick and hooks, addresses a titular sense of reveal.

Alexandre Canonico, OHSH Projects, London, 2023. Photography Robert Glowacki

Set with precision in the space, the emphasis is on pace: the works’ presence but more crucially the time taken to observe, connect and jump between them. You are urged, at your own viewing beat, and that of the surrounding environment, to lean into the exhibition’s rhythm. ‘only just’ is not about filling or domineering an environment, it is about finding a balance with it. The work “operates as these volumes”2, integrated vehicles for contemplating what’s there, and what is not. Like a pause in a musical score, or silence in a conversation, ‘only just’ is an exercise in visual expression and restraint. With reference back to the pervading notion of response, the works are ‘in conversation’ with, rather than simply being and existing.

Overall, ‘only just’ is an ongoing approach to conversing visually. Location, site and context-conscious, it’s a moment that goes beyond a strict exhibition. Crucially conveying Canonico’s nuanced language of sensitive observation and restraint it’s a rare and important consideration in a global prevalence of coated excess.

Text by Jenn Ellis