EXISTENTIAL LICENCE is an exhibition devoted to pure abstraction, where artists find freedom rather than apprehension in the dissolution of form, and vitality in the shifting thresholds of time and energy. Abstraction becomes an existential stance, not a retreat into the intangible, but a refusal of the safe and the fixed; an embrace of the unstable as fertile ground. Against the reassurance of the ‘real’, the featured works release colour, gesture, and material as ungoverned forces, charged with the momentum of liberation.
The exhibition brings together a diverse and international constellation of mid-career and emerging artists whose practices collectively affirm abstraction as a transnational language of freedom and energy.

Participating Artists
*denotes new commission

Sinéad Aldridge (IE), James Capper (UK/IT), Diana Copperwhite (IE/UK), Rian Coughlan (IE/UK), Jo Dennis (UK), Bobby Dowler (UK/FR), Paul Embleton (UK), Sheenagh Geoghegan (IE), Christopher Green (UK), Sue Kennington (UK/IT), Erin Lawlor (IE/UK), Catherine Long (UK), Shaun McDowell (UK/IE/IT),  Meletios Meletiou (Magnus Tempus Network, CY/IT), Cristallo Odescalchi (Magnus Tempus Network, IT), Innocenzo Odescalchi (IT), Pía Ortuño (CR/UK), Joe Reihsen  (US), Mateo Revillo (ES/FR)

Curated by Shaun McDowell and Halime Özdemir di Larusso, the exhibition blends McDowell’s instinct for painterly risk and chromatic charge with Özdemir di Larusso’s global production expertise and institutional gravitas. Working extensively in the UK, Italy and internationally, and most recently through Magnus Tempus 360, a newly launched cultural platform positioning Cyprus as a cultural hub with growing international visibility for the Mediterranean, her leverage within these diverse art contexts ensures that the exhibition is not only rooted in Peckham’s independent tradition of artist-led spaces but is also connected to a wider institutional ecology.

Both McDowell and Özdemir di Larusso carry deep cultural and professional ties to the regions activated in this exhibition: London, Italy, Ireland, and the Mediterranean, with Cyprus at its heart. Their worlds have collided over the years across practices and disciplines. EXISTENTIAL LICENCE becomes a moment of convergence: a renaissance of energies, forging new pathways between the places they most cherish.
The exhibition also extends McDowell’s history of staging exhibitions in South London’s residential and occupied spaces. From the landmark gatherings at 78 Lyndhurst Way to the dynamic shows at 88 Friary Road, he has consistently drawn to SE15, creating a sense of urgency and movement within the locale. EXISTENTIAL LICENCE builds upon that legacy while opening it outward, placing Peckham in direct dialogue with the international stage and reasserting abstraction as a transnational language.

The exhibition marks the UK inauguration of the Magnus Tempus 360 network, a platform founded by Halime Özdemir di Larusso to dismantle barriers limiting the circulation of artists and their work. At its heart lies a dedication to the mobility and visibility of Cypriot artists, positioning Cyprus not at the periphery but within the active bloodstream of contemporary practice.

Meletios Meletiou makes his UK debut with a Magnus Tempus–produced triptych, a work conceived to travel and to hold its resonance across borders.

Cristallo Odescalchi enters the network as preparations advance towards the platform’s Rome–Cyprus programme, launching in 2026/27, forging a sustained, two-way exchange between the two cultural centres.

Here, Magnus Tempus operates not as an adjunct but as an engine, moving artists across geographies, reconfiguring where and how contemporary abstraction is encountered.

For McDowell, EXISTENTIAL LICENCE revisits his practice of curating in alternative spaces in London while marking his independence abroad with the construction of a new studio on his campus in Lazio, Italy, where he is relaunching the residency programme Demoni Danzanti. His paintings, celebrated for their fearless physicality, stand within the exhibition as both contribution and curatorial compass.

For Özdemir di Larusso, British-Cypriot founder of Producer 360° and visionary behind Magnus Tempus 360, the project extends a career-long commitment to infrastructural support for artists. Her work weaves together the logistical and the conceptual so that art, and the people who make it, can occupy the international stage without compromise. Theirs is a curatorship that refuses the passive role of arrangement; instead, it actively constructs routes, relationships, and resonances that extend far beyond Frieze Week.

Shaun McDowell (b. 1981, Sussex) is a British artist and curator based in the Sabine Hills of Lazio, Italy. A founding figure in the Peckham art scene, McDowell is renowned for his gestural, chromatically charged abstractions, often compared to de Kooning, Auerbach and Twombly, and has been hailed by the Financial Times as “the most exciting abstract painter of his generation.” Alongside his practice, he has a long history of organising exhibitions in London’s independent spaces, including the landmark gatherings at 78 Lyndhurst Way and 88 Friary Road.

Halime Özdemir di Larusso (b. 1983, Famagusta) is a British-Cypriot, award-winning international arts producer and cultural strategist, and the founder of Producer 360°, a London-based network facilitating high-profile collaborations across visual arts, film, performance and fashion. Born in Famagusta, Cyprus, and raised in London, she is recognised for orchestrating transformative cultural projects that bridge diverse artistic practices and create global connections. Her career spans collaborations with major institutions including the Serpentine Galleries, the British Museum and the Royal Academy of Arts, as well as leading biennials and international galleries. Producing innovative and impactful experiences that push the boundaries of contemporary art, she has consistently championed international artistic mobility. In 2025, she launched Magnus Tempus 360, a Mediterranean-focused cultural platform rooted in Cyprus, with a mission to strengthen routes of exchange and visibility across the Southern Mediterranean and beyond.

Preview Day: Friday 17 October 2025, 11 am 
Access: 15–19 October 2025, by appointment only
Venue: 88 Friary Road, London, SE15 1PX
Curated by: Shaun McDowell & Halime Özdemir di Larusso
Produced by: Producer 360°
Sponsored by: Magnus Tempus 360