Artist: Max Bainbridge

Sim Smith presents two solo exhibitions for London Gallery Weekend 2026, Heft by New York based artist Melissa Joseph and A Thin Place by British sculptor Max Bainbridge.

A Thin Place explores the fragile threshold between earth and sky, presence and absence, body and landscape. Drawing on a deeply personal engagement with nature, Bainbridge’s sculptures emerge from a physical and spiritual process where material absorbs the energy of its making — trunks become torsos, sap becomes skin, and hollowed forms echo the human body. An ash tree’s suspended crown, pared back to a delicate membrane, hovers above its solid, earthbound heart, forming a physical manifestation of a psychological state shared by artist and environment. These works navigate a “thin place, ” where boundaries between people and nature dissolve, reflecting personal experiences of fear, loss, and grief. The exhibition invites viewers to pause within this in-between space, offering room to see, feel, and encounter new ways of being connected.