Renowned Italian Villa Palazzo Foundation has commissioned a James Hawke exhibition at J/M Gallery in Notting Hill. The exhibition offers London audiences a rare opportunity to see highlights from James Hawke’s acclaimed institutional exhibition ‘Life in Transit’, which transformed Villa Pallavicino delle Peschiere in Genoa into one of Italy’s most talked-about upcoming art destinations in 2025.
Presented by The Palazzo Foundation (in partnership with NorthStandard), and curated by James Marshall, ‘Paradiso’ brings together a focused selection of works from the original four-month show alongside new paintings created especially for London.
The Genoa exhibition, staged within the sixteenth-century villa designed by Galeazzo Alessi and celebrated by Peter Paul Rubens, explored themes of transit, exchange, and cultural transference rooted in Italy’s maritime past. Now, in London, Hawke continues that journey through paintings that position everyday leisure scenes into contradictions of paradise and hell, utopia and dystopia, longing and discomfort. Illustrated through sometimes calm, sometimes chaotic yet domesticated scenes – Hawke uses analogies of tides and oceans to explore the sociological implications of boundaries. Particularly focusing on human behavior and the return to primitive and collective behaviors when spending time next to the sea, Hawke’s beach scenes are influenced by the imaginary ‘perfections’ presented to us through advertising. Using 20th century travel brochures as a strong influence, the artist is fascinated how the semiotics used to depict ‘perfection’ over the decades has shifted and changed. With advertisers adapting to new sociological and cultural norms in spite of leisure activities remaining almost unchanged for thousands of years, Hawke finds humour in how a mundane task such as sunbathing becomes so commodified.
From Life in Transit to ‘Paradiso’
Set against the Renaissance splendour of the villa, Life in Transit linked the frescoes of Giovanni Battista Castello (Il Bergamasco) to Hawke’s depictions of social crowds, reworking frescoes and responding to the local area. The show attracted international attention and was listed by Yahoo among the top ten cultural experiences in Europe. In Paradiso, Hawke reinterprets that world for a contemporary setting. Drawing on Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, he examines humanity’s search for the perfect moment, a paradise both constructed and impossible. His bright, disciplined compositions reveal not just joy but also the quiet distances that exist within modern collectivity.
About Palazzo Foundation:
Founded by Lockton P.L. Ferrari and supported by NorthStandard, The Palazzo Foundation is dedicated to revitalising Genoa’s heritage through art and cultural diplomacy. Its partnership with NorthStandard reflects a shared belief in the historic bond between seafaring, imagination, and exchange.
Exhibition Information
James Hawke ‘Paradiso’, Curated by James Marshall, runs from 15th –21th October 2025 at J/M Gallery, 230 Portobello Road, Notting Hill, London. Presented by The Palazzo Foundation in partnership with NorthStandard
Public Hours: Wednesday–Sunday, 11:00 AM–6:00 PM
