London's Roman Road gallery presents "Lize Bartelli: The Hour of the Star," the artist's third solo exhibition, opening January 23, 2026, at Pipeline Contemporary as part of the Visiting Curators Initiative. The show features 14 new paintings that explore feminine expression, identity, and the tension between becoming and performing the self, drawing inspiration from Clarice Lispector's 1977 novel of the same name. Bartelli's graphic style reduces subjects to elemental forms, with red emerging as a structural color that embodies contradiction.
The exhibition matters because it captures a decisive shift in Bartelli's practice, as noted by curator Marisa Bellani, with tighter compositions and clearer symbols. It also engages directly with contemporary culture's obsession with curated identities and social media performance, asking where authentic self-construction ends and staged representation begins. This show marks Roman Road's first guest appearance at Pipeline Contemporary, highlighting a new curatorial collaboration in London's art scene.