Class of 2025: Slade MA
Kisses, tension, hidden messages and some damn good painting
This weekend, we visited the final days of the Slade MA Degree Show, the first stop on this year’s London MA degree show tour, and what a way to begin! This year’s cohort were incredibly talented, but five artists in particular stood out.
Sophie Smorczewski’s paintings stole the show. Her neon-hued, ethereal works beautifully merged the figurative with the natural, glowing under the glass-roofed exhibition space. Seonhee Jung’s paintings, on both canvas and lampshades, explored the timeless artistic motif of The Kiss, alongside Tobias Gumbrill’s striking installations. Each of Gumbrill’s pieces were meticulously timed to capture a moment of maximum tension. We were hooked immediately! We loved one painting in particular by MengMeng Zhang, whose delicate washes of colour manage to contour a bodily form. The way she has used negative space to sculpt the jawline of a figure is so visually satisfying. And finally, Luo Qianxi’s works felt like a treasure hunt with hidden messages and pockets of clay rocks revealing themselves slowly. Her works captured the often overlooked, silent strength of mothers and caregivers, offering quiet surprises to those who took the time to look closely.
Together, the show offered a vibrant glimpse into what the next generation of artists are thinking, feeling, and creating.
Selected works from the show below:
Top picks from Slade MA, 2025
Sophie Smorczewski
Seonhee Jung
Tobias Gumbrill
MengMeng Zhang
Luo Qianxi
It is very cool to get insights into a grad show that is usually unknown to the masses.
It is always amazing to visit a grad show!