In 'Everything Shakes', artist David Haines shows how instability pervades all aspects of contemporary life. Working across painting, drawing, cast objects and porcelain, he asks us to consider the personal alongside the political, the material alongside the ephemeral, revealing otherwise unnoticed subjectivities. This new, complex body of work invites viewers to question the nature of observation and interpretation while also celebrating the potential of art to articulate small as well as large-scale ambiguities, uncertainties, tremors and shakes.
The exhibition originates from deeply personal moments over the last two years, during which the artist has been caring for his mother. Initially, he began by drawing the pill strips she was taking, drawn to their minimalist geometry—simple circles and squares that suggested the stability of modernist compositions. However, as he began to combine both his mother’s and his own medications in these drawings, what started as a quiet meditation on caregiving and the passage of time evolved into a double portrait—an exploration of identity, relationships, and memory, revealing subjectivities within otherwise mundane objects. This exploration extended when Haines began casting the pill strips in porcelain—historically known as the "white gold" of the 18th century. This material choice reflected the period of the pandemic, a time when even common medications became scarce. The resulting series of over 400 cast pill strips blends both his and his mother’s medications, creating a fragile portrait that teeters on the edge of chaos. The tension between caregiving and dependency is mirrored in the material itself—porcelain’s delicacy hints at both fragility and resilience. Further casts of the packaging from the medication, rendered in plaster, initially appear as minimalist, modernist forms. However, upon closer inspection, they reveal subtle imperfections: tears, creases, and dents. These flaws disrupt the simplicity, drawing attention to the fragility and lived experience embedded within these objects. All of these works speak of an attempt to materialize what is otherwise fleeting and transient.