The Nightingale Frieze
Installation View
Dimensions Variable
2025

Under the big cat of Catford bridge where faces turn into oblivion

Anderson Asteclines

His paintings and drawings reflect personal responses to five years of experiences in the realm of gay cruising, exploring themes of intimacy, memory, and desire.
Asteclines' work often features archetypal characters—both human and ghostly—who serve as memories or relics of individuals encountered in public parks across Catford and Lewisham. These figures emerge through his experiences of sex, voyeurism, and the pursuit of inspiration. He describes cruising as an activity that ranges from direct and serendipitous to hazy, abrasive, and at times, confusing.

His artistic process is rooted in revisiting and interrogating the intertwined emotions of anxiety and pleasure that characterise these encounters. Through painting, Asteclines seeks a gestural release, using the medium as an extension of his emotional and cognitive landscape. He views his work as a means of material research, exploring the potential of capturing fleeting encounters as a space for practice and play.