Spaghetti Soirée
photo by Lily Hughes, artist
Spaghetti Soirée is an ongoing domestic exhibition format organised by Jay Rechsteiner in Cliftonville, Margate.
Rather than a conventional gallery opening, it brings together paintings, food and conversation within a lived space.
Spaghetti Soirée: Bad Painting
Friday 23 October 2026
Cliftonville, Margate
By invitation only
This edition of Spaghetti Soirée is devoted entirely to Bad Painting, an ongoing series I began in 2013.
The series starts with real events. Usually something I encounter produces a feeling of anger, shock or disgust. I research the event, make drawings to find the narrative and composition, and then paint it.
For many years the paintings were small and followed a relatively consistent structure, often combining a factual sentence with a deliberately crude image. Recently that structure has begun to change. The paintings have become larger, the text is sometimes reduced or disappears altogether, and the painting itself has become more important.
In some ways this feels like a return to Bad Painting rather than a departure from it. The work is becoming closer to the original impulse behind the series: painting as an immediate response to something that is difficult to absorb or accept.
I have also become less certain that the purpose of these paintings lies entirely in what they communicate to an audience. I am increasingly interested in what the process of painting does to the painter. Painting becomes a way of taking an event that remains unresolved and physically working through it.
The soirée brings together earlier and recent works from the series so that these changes can be seen in relation to one another.
As always, Spaghetti Soirée takes place in a domestic space rather than a gallery. Paintings, food and conversation occupy the same rooms for one evening.
Spaghetti, drinks, paintings and conversation.
ARCHIVE:
Pressure. Friction. Instability.
First instalment featuring works by Adam Lucy, Rory Draper and Jay Rechsteiner.
The works are placed together to test how they behave in relation to one another. Some images hold, others resist or refuse to fully settle.
Private Spaghetti Soirée
Friday 5 June 2026
Please note: the soirée is by invitation only.
Open viewing days:
Saturday 6 June, 12 – 4pm
Saturday 13 June, 12 – 4pm
The exhibition can also be viewed by appointment during the week.
Cliftonville, Margate
For enquiries or appointments please use the contact page or Instagram.
PRESSURE. FRICTION. INSTABILITY.
Works by Jay Rechsteiner, Adam Lucy and Rory Draper.
Pressure. Friction. Instability. is the first exhibition presented as part of Spaghetti Soirée, an ongoing series of exhibitions, meals and conversations organised by Jay Rechsteiner.
The exhibition takes place across the hallway, dining room and kitchen of a house in Cliftonville, Margate. Rather than occupying a dedicated gallery space, the works are installed among the rhythms and structures of everyday domestic life.
The exhibition brings together a large grid of Bad Paintings, recent paintings by Jay Rechsteiner, paintings by Adam Lucy and works by Rory Draper. The artists were not brought together to illustrate a shared theme or position. Instead, the exhibition explores what happens when different approaches to painting are placed in close proximity and allowed to coexist within the same space.
During installation, unexpected relationships began to emerge. Paintings started to affect one another. Images, figures, colours, surfaces and moods carried across rooms. Works made independently and at different times appeared to enter into conversation. Some relationships felt obvious, while others remained uncertain and difficult to describe.
Visitors encounter the exhibition gradually as they move through the house. There is no prescribed route. Connections are discovered through movement, repetition and return rather than through a fixed narrative.
Spaghetti Soirée began as a simple idea: inviting artists into a domestic setting to share work, food and conversation. The opening takes the form of a small invitation-only dinner. The exhibition then continues through open viewing days and appointments.
Installation views
