Opening tonight with a private view at Silian Gallery on Chelsea's King's Road, What Is Wild? presents a compelling new body of work by Dutch artist Kimi Zoet. Developed through months of observational painting directly within rewilding habitats and ongoing dialogues with ecologists, the exhibition explores how ecological knowledge reshapes artistic vision and questions our persistent impulse to tame natural landscapes.
The project originated from a deceptively elementary question: What is a healthy tree? While conventional perceptions often equate beauty with manicured symmetry and view fallen timber as neglected decay, ecological science reveals the opposite. Rotting wood, tangled undergrowth, and dying trunks form the cornerstone of regenerative ecosystems – an ecological reality crystallized in the exhibition's guiding premise: "mess is good."
The presentation unites expansive plein-air canvases created in untamed reserves with intimate, exploratory studio studies. Working outdoors in shifting weather, Zoet allows the physical behaviour of materials, chance occurrences, and intense scrutiny of organic forms to direct the composition. Rather than merely depicting wilderness as passive scenery, her paintings register the tension between human attempts at stewardship and the self-willed complexity of natural regeneration.
Exhibition Information
- Exhibition: What Is Wild?
- Artist: Kimi Zoet
- Dates: 13 November – 10 December 2026
- Private View: Thursday 12 November 2026
- Venue: Silian Gallery, 434 King’s Road, London SW10 0LJ
- Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 10:00 – 18:00
Featured Image: Kimi Zoet, What Is Wild? exhibition view at Silian Gallery. Photography: Tom Beldam. Courtesy of the artist and Silian Gallery.
