Patrick Church ‘I Tried’ London Debut

Patrick Church has finally come home, and he’s not packing light. From 16–19 September 2025, the UK-born, New York-based artist and designer took over the Solus showroom in Clerkenwell, London, with “I Tried”, a four-day exhibition curated by art collective Gone Rogue. It’s his first-ever UK solo show, and spoiler: it was perfectly messy, emotional, and downright fabulous.

Church has spent the last eight years turning survival into style, painting on bodies, clothes, canvases, basically anything that doesn’t run away. His work is raw, diaristic, and drenched in sincerity. He’s shown internationally (most recently at Soho House Miami with Poolside Paradiso), dressed celebrities, and become a cult figure for a queer generation who live fearlessly in his hand-painted pieces. Now, London finally gets the retrospective it deserves.

At I Tried, there was a little bit of everything: new cut-and-paste collage tapestries, iconic early works, and live painting sessions where bespoke Solus tiles and even live models were transformed in real time. It’s part fashion, part fine art, part therapy session, a timeline of flamboyance, fear, failure, resilience, and all the diary entries in between.

“I paint every day, always,” says Church. “I think it started as a way to get rid of whatever feeling I was having next. Something physical to push me forward and leave behind. To see them now, all lined up, I see that person and those moments with more kindness. It’s a story of someone trying.”

Gone Rogue, the curatorial crew behind the show, have built their name on putting meaningful art in unexpected places, swapping out sterile white walls for experiences that hit harder, last longer, and live beyond the traditional gallery norm. Their pairing with Church feels correct: both thrive on fearless energy, bold expression, and a refusal to play nice.
In summation, “I Tried” is not perfection, but truth. Messy, beautiful, painfully honest, and unmistakably Patrick Church.  I TRIED by Patrick Church at SOLUS curated by Gone Rogue on Sept 16-19th at 80 Clerkenwell Road, London, EC1M 5RJ.
www.gonerogueldn.com/patrick-church-i-tried-collection  