British artist Louise Giovanelli has unveiled a striking new public artwork that dramatically transforms a 300-year-old baroque church in the heart of London. The installation, titled "Decades," features a massive trompe-l'oeil shimmering silver curtain attached to the side of St Mary le Strand, a historic church designed by James Gibbs on the eastern end of the Strand.
The artwork appears almost like a mirage to passersby, creating a haunting and strange presence that invites contemplation about worship, devotion, and history. Grand in both scale and ambition, the installation provides an unexpected moment of pause in the bustling metropolitan environment, embodying the qualities of exceptional public art through its hypnotic and ambiguous nature.
Curtains have become a signature motif for Giovanelli, who has depicted them in hyperreal, shimmering oil paint using greens, blues, and golds on vast canvases. The artist finds curtains to be a versatile subject matter rich with symbolism, tactility, and historical significance in both art and religious spaces. At her first White Cube gallery show in London in 2022, visitors came specifically to take selfies in front of her curtain paintings for social media, demonstrating the powerful effect these works have on viewers.
"I'm fascinated by how curtains change people's behavior," Giovanelli explains. "They make people feel like celebrities." The artist typically paints curtains from working men's clubs in Manchester, where she lives. The silver sequined curtain featured in "Decades" takes its name from the Joy Division song that happened to be playing at the club when she photographed it.
At the core of Giovanelli's dazzling paintings of film stills, curtains, hair, and clothing lies an obsession with contemporary forms of devotion. Despite now identifying as an atheist, her religious upbringing has instilled a deep reverence for the aesthetics of worship, though pop culture and celebrities have largely replaced traditional religious icons in her work. "I'm trying to show people that even though they might not think they believe in a God, they still need this type of worship," she says. "We have this need to aspire and to look at something and point to something that we consider to be bigger than ourselves."
The "Decades" installation represents Giovanelli's first foray into both sculpture and public art, though she approached it as an "expanded painting." The work is based on a series of paintings she recently created for her show at the Hepworth Wakefield, all inspired by curtains from Manchester working men's clubs. She finds these venues fascinating for their democratic nature, existing across various contexts from high-brow theatrical venues to nightclubs and community spaces.
The installation was created using a composite photograph of the curtain taken with a high-resolution camera, with carefully designed lighting to achieve the characteristic glow that defines much of her work. This luminosity is fundamental to her practice and connects to the religious aspects of her art. "So much of Catholicism and Christianity is based on iconography, looking at things that are glowing, shiny and dazzling," she explains. "We need to look to something that sparkles, so I try to do that in my paintings in whatever way I can."
Giovanelli's initial fascination with curtains stemmed from art history and the technical challenge of rendering fabric. She became particularly interested in how curtains affect people's behavior, noting that visitors to her White Cube exhibition would change clothes in the gallery restrooms to take better photos with her curtain paintings. After moving from Wales to Manchester, she developed a deeper appreciation for the role of curtains in working men's clubs, where they serve as backdrops for karaoke and bingo, giving community members "their license to have five minutes in the limelight on a weekend."
The artist's work explores the performative elements of curtains and their connection to celebrity culture and social media. She describes herself as fascinated by contemporary methods of devotion and worship, drawing parallels between religious reverence and modern forms of aspiration. "Going to a pop concert, for example, and looking at an iconic pop star in a dazzling, glittery dress – we have this need to aspire and to look at something and point to something that we consider to be bigger than ourselves," she explains.
Giovanelli believes this represents the same human impulse that has always existed, evolved from religious contexts to newer forms of contemporary worship. Her work aims to visually bridge this gap and demonstrate the continuity of these devotional impulses across different eras and belief systems.
The technical aspects of her painting practice involve what she calls "a kind of alchemy" with oil paint, learning from old masters how to render challenging materials like velvet, fur, and shiny objects such as cutlery and jewelry. She finds magic in the ability of paint – which she describes as "just mud" – to create convincing illusions of light and texture.
For the "Decades" installation, Giovanelli hopes the work will have a gravitational effect on viewers, slowing them down and encouraging contemplation. The piece represents a bold fusion of past and present, asking observers to momentarily surrender to something greater than themselves while walking through one of London's busiest areas.
The artwork was commissioned by Create London and will remain on display at St Mary le Strand until January 18, 2026, offering both locals and tourists an opportunity to experience this unique intersection of contemporary art, religious architecture, and urban life.
