Raqib Shaw: Night Sonnets The painter who embraces the night

By Lucrezia Motta

Walking into painter Raqib Shaw’s home and studio in Peckham, South London, it’s almost impossible to focus on a single object. Statues of mythological creatures, towering shelves of books and intricately embroidered upholstery fill the space. It’s an ornate setting, one not unlike those in his works, whose opulence has shaped his reputation over the last two decades.

In the living area hangs a large Jacquard tapestry depicting a wintry palace in an imaginary landscape of icy blues. Inside, a man keeps a fire alive by burning art books, the names of Giotto and Tintoretto visible on the covers.

The work, which Shaw titled The Pragmatic Pessimist (2024), reflects on the destruction of the planet, with the artist as witness. It will be shown at Compton Verney in Warwickshire as part of Night Sonnets, Shaw’s first UK solo exhibition since 2015. 'It’s a coming home,' he says as The Art Journal sits with him in his garden, a backyard-sized Eden where the sound of a waterfall almost makes you forget the city outside.

The new paintings build on Paradise Lost, Shaw’s 30m-wide autobiographical painting currently on display at the Art Institute of Chicago. Across 21 panels, Shaw reflects on identity, the passing of time and the pursuit of beauty in the face of turmoil, weaving in references to both Western and Kashmiri thinkers. The result is a work that extends Shaw’s personal story into a broader meditation on how we make sense of a fractured world.