Pete McKee's DON'T ADJUST YOUR MIND SET Takes Over London's Hoxton Arches

In just one week, Pete McKee brings his most satirical and observational exhibition ever to London's Hoxton Arches. Comprising paintings, sculptures, photographs, and installations, Don't Adjust Your Mindset explores modern British life and how we communicate today. Created in response to what he observed online during the 2020/21 lockdowns, this show explores multiple ideas, and while there is no singular theme, what unites these pieces is that they all were made in order to examine concepts derived from scrolling through social media.

The work in the show represents the biggest seismic shift in Pete's career to date. He has long been known for his observational and warm portrayals of working-class life, often set in the 1960s and '70s, drawing on memories from his childhood. Although this trademark humour still punctuates throughout, uncomfortable and unflinching examinations of contemporary life are also on offer.

Don't Adjust Your Mindset is a free exhibition that takes over London's Hoxton Arches 22 April - 01 May before heading to Sheffield's Millennium Gallery 13 - 22 May 2022.

A selection of the works and their descriptions can be found below:

NFC (No f-ing Clue)

A comment on the artist's own confusion about non-fungible tokens and how they work. Designed to look like non-fungible tokens all of Pete's images feature a self-portrait of the artist looking confused in different outfit combinations.

Happy Jack

An undeniable sign of our times is the increasing financial pressure placed on all of us, including older generations by the steady increase in the state pension age. Happy Jack depicts an individual forced to continue working because his state pension isn't enough to support his household. Some people choose to continue working however, Jack is an individual who doesn't have a choice.

The Face of Pending Doom from the Pictodrama series

Most of us use emojis when we talk to others online or via text. We replace words, sentences and emotional responses with these small icons, using them like a visual language. Online conversations are punctuated with one or several of these tiny potent symbols. Pete decided to explore this widely used form of communication by placing emojis in the context of the three-dimensional world, creating scenes in which people wore large emoji heads featuring expressions relevant to the scene.

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