"To enter a wood is to pass into a different world in which we ourselves are transformed." Roger Deakin, Wildwood: A Journey Through Trees

During a trip to the town of Bridport in Dorset earlier this year, a walk up Allington Hill was suggested to me as a particular local place of interest. An Iron Age Hill Fort which at the summit, through the bluebell woods, you reach a bench at the top from which you can experience a full 360 degree panorama of the surrounding hills, skies and town in the valley below.

I made the trip up Allington Hill twice accompanied with camera, pencil and sketchbook, and it was here that I began my preliminary drawings which would form the basis for the 9 paintings in this exhibition.

In this set of oil paintings, Adam Laurence Hedley continues to explore the visceral quality of paint, texture and the accumulation of marks with an emphasis on colour. Having no advance visual strategy, he meanders through the subconscious using a free form approach. Encouraging a perfomative aspect in the doing and undoing of the image, the transfigurations, covering, layering and revealing of shape and line generate a dialogue between intuition and accident.

  "Wild horses couldn't drag me away." The Rolling Stones, Wild Horses, 1971, lyrics and music by Mick Jagger & Keith Richards.

Appropriate to this reviewer's own 'Icelandic expedition' to hunt down the venue in Peckham, wild horses indeed could not hold back the desire to locate this richly atmospheric solo exhibition of new paintings by Adam Laurence Hedley. As the so-called snow (more like dandruff) trickled from the sky in the afternoon of Saturday 23rd March, the suburban playground nearby brought to mind an idea of play - not just with childish energy but with meticulous painting technique.

Upon discovering The Gowlett Arms there was a fascination with the choice of venue - its down-to-earth climate and colourful environment only accentuate the accompanied paintings. Although there were no moments of quiet in the space, the scattered paintings were justly displayed close to hubbubs of conversation, sport, and leisure indicative of their homely roots. Clearly the involvement of the Parallel Point group (made up of curator Alice Lee and artist Hedley) curating Horses questions the issue of art display, discussed via their individual disciplines, and kudos goes to Point's 'middle-finger' to the frequently-used sterile and banal white cube space. The abstract fluid blobs that centrally occupy each painting 'rule their roosts' without proverbial 'iron fists'. Varying between architectural structures and fantastical objects, the exhibition sets the goal to show the viewing public what can potentially exist in a canvas, and revealing a conversation between the symbolic order and the self which succeeds with the choice of venue, and curation of the show.

To suggest that the exhibited abstract images could only be imagined by riding a 'magical mystery tour' is absurd as Hedley's inventive use of oil paint is refreshing yet calm, original and unparalleled. Each piece displays a unique visual background that re-invents previous notions of colour, turning an otherwise 'natural landscape green' into a 'dispirited intrusive monster' for example, whose goal is to accentuate the cheeky pinks and mood-swinging yellows. It is to this effect that an outstanding painting in the show is the titular Bring on the Dancing Horses which not only contains the most spectacular name but also embodies the exhibits 'no-holds barred' attitude.

The show is a surprise to someone who is used to visiting the high art galleries of Old Street, Cork Street or Baker Street for that matter and comes recommended as one of the most promising painting exhibitions in 2013.

An exhibition of works on paper by Adam Laurence Hedley

Power Lunches Arts Cafe, 446 Kingsland Road, Hackney, London E8 4AE; 020 7998 1997

Opening on Thursday 7th March, Hackney’s Power Lunches hosts Dog & Pony Show, an exhibition of works on paper by London-based artist Adam Laurence Hedley. Presenting a varied selection of work transcribed through looking at the interplay between image, contour and white space on paper, these pieces have been derived from a history of obsessive mark making and doodling. Curated with Alice Lee, this show is one of a pair of solo exhibitions of Hedley’s work, running simultaneously, representing his two main modes of practice – drawing and painting.

With a keen interest in process and exchanges between different media, the studies displayed are impulsive and quick replications of thought. These works are appropriated through various methods of production, utilising low art materials, including biro, coloured pencil and pen, as well as introducing digital manipulation into the mix, but always recall a similar vocabulary of shapes, colours and pattern, which oscillate between extremely disciplined marks and something less controlled.

Dog & Pony Show is presented in association with DIY Space for London, a project which aims to create a DIY space with radical values for music and other countercultural activities in London. Hedley has produced two limited edition prints, which will be sold during the exhibition, to raise money for the project as well as a fund-raising gig at Power Lunches on the opening night.

An exhibition of painting by Adam Laurence Hedley

The Gowlett, 62 Gowlett Road, Peckham, London SE15 4HY; 020 7635 7048

Opening on Friday 8th March, The Gowlett in Peckham presents Bring On The Dancing Horses, an exhibition of recent paintings by London-based artist Adam Laurence Hedley. Drawing together an enthused body of work focussed on the exploratory nature of paint, Hedley’s prolific production of bold abstracted images are guided by the dynamic interrelationships between colour, shape and pattern. Curated with Alice Lee, this show is one of a pair of solo exhibitions of Hedley’s work, running simultaneously, representing his two main modes of practice – drawing and painting.

Concerned predominantly with structure and texture, Hedley’s paintings are a vibrant blend of geometric shapes, rich colour fields and suggestions of three-dimensionality. Working methodically and intuitively, Hedley builds depth through the layers of paint to hide and reveal elements of the canvas and create a conversation between the order of things seen and unseen. Bring On The Dancing Horses is the second exhibition of Hedley’s paintings in Peckham, where he lives.