Spectral Interference
27 March - 6 May 2026
Admission: Free Entry. Pre-booking is not required.About
Spectral Interference is a solo exhibition by London-based painter Anna Liber Lewis, presented with Hannah Payne Art. Bringing together a new body of work, it marks a rupture from her earlier grid-based paintings, embracing abstraction as a site of risk, embodiment, and perceptual instability.
Across paintings of varying scale, Liber Lewis leaves behind the grid and earlier line work. Structure remains, not as a fixed system, but as a generative structure that can be disrupted, softened, or pushed to breaking point. The surfaces evolve through cycles of editing and return: worked into, scraped back, reactivated, and at times deliberately destabilised. Old works are revisited and altered, reflecting a willingness to give up control in pursuit of something more alive.
Central to this body of work is an interest in high-stakes painting and the tension between abstraction and figuration, structure and the body, control and risk. Influenced by artists including Helen Frankenthaler and Carroll Dunham, Liber Lewis approaches abstraction as a physical, confronting act, where the mark carries memory, effort, and jeopardy. Gesture operates as a record of decision-making, endurance, and doubt.
The exhibition brings together significant new and recent works, including Embodied Other, My GRB Afterglow, and Very Rare Picture of Earth II, alongside large-scale canvases shown publicly for the first time. It represents her most ambitious institutional presentation to date, following her inclusion in Unreal City: Abstract Painting at Saatchi Gallery in 2024.
Artist walk-through with Anna Liber Lewis and Geir Haraldseth: Saturday 28 March, 1pm
Meet the artist in Gallery 1 for a special walking tour of the exhibition. Anna Liber Lewis will be in conversation with Geir Haraldseth, Senior Curator at the National Museum, Norway. Together, they will move through the exhibition, discussing the ideas and processes behind the work — from gesture and material to risk, revision and the evolving language of abstraction. Should you wish to attend, please RSVP here.
Images courtesy of the Artist and Hannah Payne Art. Photography by Benjamin Deakin.
About Hannah Payne Art
Hannah Payne Art is a nomadic gallery platform working between Oxford and London, supporting emerging and mid-career artists through ambitious exhibitions, institutional collaborations and dialogue-led programming. The gallery champions artists at pivotal moments in their careers, fostering the development and presentation of new work through thoughtfully curated exhibitions and partnerships.
