·        Jock McFadyen revisits 1990s Underground series for gallery’s show

·        Cityscapes and Tube stations feature in immersive exhibition at City gallery

·        Recordings of Tube lines transform artworks into “living, breathing organisms”

Huge paintings of London cityscapes and Tube stations, and layered recordings of the lines’ creaks, groans, and grinding of rails will immerse visitors to Guildhall Art Gallery’s forthcoming exhibition. 

Opening on 27 February at the City Corporation’s gallery, Jock McFadyen with Jem Finer: Underground (and Surface) brings together the Paisley-born Royal Academician and the founding member of The Pogues, whose song writing credits include Fiesta, The Sunny Side of the Street, and Fairytale of New York.

Jock McFadyen with Jem Finer: Underground (and Surface) revisits McFadyen’s series, Underground, which was first conceived in the late 1990s and is now reimagined for this unique collaboration with Finer, which has been co-curated by the City Corporation’s Head of Guildhall Art Gallery, Elizabeth Scott.

In McFadyen’s works, such as Bank and Ghost, familiar Underground signs and structures dissolve and create a tension between recognition and disorientation. In contrast, expansive cityscapes offer a counterpoint to the shadowed subway interiors, with works, such as Popular Enclosure, featuring cool and serene views of London with radiant blue skies. Each work is connected site-specifically to its respective Tube station.

Transforming the underground city in McFadyen’s paintings into a living, breathing organism, Finer’s field recordings of the Northern line and Central line are mechanical and melodic, punctuated by a range of common, but hard-to-place, urban noises - the creaks, groans, and pips that accompany commuters.

Chairman of the City of London Corporation’s Culture, Heritage, and Libraries, Brendan Barns, said:

“Jock McFadyen’s consummate skill in presenting epic views of the capital which, at the same time, convey a sense of intimacy, as well as beauty and decay, are sure to engage and impress visitors. Adding Jem Finer’s atmospheric soundscapes from the Tube network to the mix is particularly intriguing, and it will undoubtedly make for a very memorable experience.”

Jock McFadyen said:

“Many of us descend daily into the tunnels and carriages that offer rapid access to distant parts of our urban world. We see and hear a remarkable variety of things there, but how often do we pay attention to the graffiti-daubed exteriors, the rails, pipes, struts, and wires that adorn the surface of the spaces through which we pass? How often do we really listen to all the mysterious mechanical and organic sounds that emanate from the subterranean caverns that house our public transport?

“I’m honoured that Jem has contributed such a beautiful soundtrack to my Underground series, one that is far superior to my original idea of a simple raw recording of closing doors, announcements, and the rattling and grinding of rails. It is a wonderful haunting piece, which seems to unfold with new sounds every time I hear it.”

Jem Finer said:

“I hoped to find a resonance with Jock’s paintings where the figurative dissolves into abstraction. I remembered him writing “All paintings are abstract. The subject of all my paintings is the paint”. I feel the same way about sound… about it being the focus of composing.

“For me, the form is important, but the sound is the true subject. I started to flip Jock’s thinking and work with the sounds I’d recorded in the way that he might work with paint, transformed just far enough that there remains a trace of familiarity while becoming something unexpected, newly discovered.”

Following the success of a flexible ‘Pay What You Can’ admission charge for three of the gallery’s previous exhibitions, it will be applicable for Jock McFadyen with Jem Finer: Underground (and Surface).

Guildhall Art Gallery is an integral part of the City’s rich and vibrant arts and cultural offering. The gallery supports the City of London Corporation’s growth strategy, Destination City, which seeks to make the Square Mile a place where people want to live, learn, work, and explore.

The City of London Corporation is one of the largest funders of heritage and cultural activities in the UK and invests over £130m every year.

The organisation manages a range of world-class cultural and heritage institutions, including the Barbican Centre, Tower Bridge, Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Guildhall Library, Guildhall Art Gallery, The London Archives, and Keats House. It also supports the London Symphony Orchestra and London Museum, which will open this year.

ENDS

Notes for Editors:

Jock McFadyen with Jem Finer: Underground (and Surface) runs from 27 February to 20 September 2026 at Guildhall Art Gallery. Admission: Pay What You Can.

For further information, images, and interviews/photo opportunities with exhibiting artists, Jock McFadyen and Jem Finer, and the City of London Corporation’s Head of Guildhall Art Gallery Elizabeth Scott, please contact:

·       Andrew Buckingham, Media Officer (Arts, Culture, and Heritage), City of London Corporation / 07795 333060 / andrew.buckingham@cityoflondon.gov.uk

·       Matthew Brown at Sam Talbot PR matthew@sam-talbot.com

About the City of London Corporation:

The City of London Corporation is the governing body of the Square Mile dedicated to a vibrant and thriving City, supporting a diverse and sustainable London within a globally successful UK. www.cityoflondon.gov.uk 

About Guildhall Art Gallery:

The historic Guildhall Art Gallery originally opened in 1886 and is home to City of London’s magnificent art collection. Particularly rich in Victorian art and ranging from Pre-Raphaelites to depictions of London’s colourful past, the Gallery’s basement houses the remains of London’s Roman Amphitheatre, dating from AD70. The Gallery also owns one of the largest oil paintings in Britain, John Singleton Copley’s Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar (1783 – 1791), which is on permanent display.

Guildhall Art Gallery is open from Monday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm (last admission, 4.30pm). Guildhall Yard, London, EC2V 5AE. Free admission to the permanent collection. Booking recommended. Tel: 020 7332 3700

Jock McFadyen

Jock McFadyen RA was born in Paisley in 1950 and studied at Chelsea School of Art. He has had over 40 solo exhibitions and his work is held in many public and private collections in the UK and abroad, including Tate, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, National Gallery and the V & A. He was made a Royal Academician in 2012 and an Honorary Royal Scottish Academician in 2021. In 2019 he curated the RA Summer Exhibition. In 2020 and 2021, four exhibitions were held to celebrate McFadyen’s 70th birthday: Jock McFadyen Goes to the Pictures (City Art Centre, Edinburgh); Jock McFadyen: Lost Boat Party (Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh); Jock McFadyen Goes to The Lowry: A Retrospective (The Lowry, Salford); and Jock McFadyen: Tourist without a Guidebook (Royal Academy, London).

Jem Finer

Since studying computer science in the 1970s, Jem Finer has worked in a variety of fields, including photography, film, experimental and popular music, sound recording, sculpture and installation. He is one of the founding members of the Irish folk-punk band, The Pogues.