↳ Exhibitions

I.W. Payne and Beatrice Wood at Triangolo, Cremona

March 8, 2026

Beatrice Wood, I.W. Payne

He Does Not Have a Chance

February 14 – May 9, 2026

Triangolo

Cremona, Italy

“For a long time I hesitated writing about my life. For the mind is tricky, colors with infinite subtlety the ramifications of any act.

In the early part of my life, it is as if I made nothing but mistakes. I am convinced we would not be on earth, if we did not make mistakes, only through them do we learn. But through the bad I was always battling for the light.

“No” may be the most important word in the English language. Now near the end of my days, it falls glibly from my tongue. Much protected in childhood, I wanted to know what the world was like, willing to pay any price to understand humanity. I paid the price.”

An extract from the introduction to Beatrice Wood’s autobiography I Shock Myself.

Omen of Victory by Mina Loy published 1958

Women in uniform

relaxed for tea

under a shady garden tree

discover

a dove’s feather fallen in the sugar.

In Dream by Anna Akhmatova 1946

Black and enduring separation
I share equally with you.
Why weep? Give me your hand, Promise me you will come again. You and I are like high
Mountains and we can’t move closer. Just send me word
At midnight sometime through the stars.

Oh, what a lark! He Does Not Have a Chance brings together the work of I.W. Payne and Beatrice Wood. The exhibition offers brief glimpses into a mischievous femme

life. Connected through dry humour and the subtlety of line drawings; a whole world of eroticism, love and untethered radical spirit emerges. The dinner scene and the obvious domesticity of the BOHEMIAN ironing board together speak to Berthe Morisot’s The Cradle or Marie Bracquemond’s Under the Lamp. Except there is more contempt towards the masculine! The spider Widows are distant lovers scuttling up the wall whilst the almost religious power of the skipping sculpture confronts you on entering; its title taken from Wood’s drawing of the same name He Does Not Have a Chance.

This exhibition is dedicated to Grace Payne, I.W. Payne’s grandmother who left this world in December 2025 at the age of 101.

A special thanks to Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York.

I.w. payne and beatrice wood at triangolo, cremona 1 — I.W. Payne and Beatrice Wood, He Does Not Have a Chance, 2026, exhibition view, Triangolo, Cremona

I.w. payne and beatrice wood at triangolo, cremona 2 — I.W. Payne and Beatrice Wood, He Does Not Have a Chance, 2026, exhibition view, Triangolo, Cremona

I.w. payne and beatrice wood at triangolo, cremona 3 — I.W. Payne and Beatrice Wood, He Does Not Have a Chance, 2026, exhibition view, Triangolo, Cremona

I.w. payne and beatrice wood at triangolo, cremona 4 — I.W. Payne, Double Trouble, 2025, Coloured pencil on embossed flower paper, 29.7 x 42 cm

I.w. payne and beatrice wood at triangolo, cremona 5 — I.W. Payne, Study for the sculpture ‘Bohemian’, 2026, Coloured pencil on paper, 29.7 x 20.9 cm

I.w. payne and beatrice wood at triangolo, cremona 6 — I.W. Payne, Head–magic, 2026, Coloured pencil on paper, 20.9 x 29.7 cm

I.w. payne and beatrice wood at triangolo, cremona 7 — Beatrice Wood, Al frescco, 1977, Graphite and coloured pencil on paper, 27.9 x 35.3 cm

I.w. payne and beatrice wood at triangolo, cremona 8 — I.W. Payne, Margarine 5, 2026, Cast plaster, gloss paint, old fish hooks, 19 x 14 x 4.5 cm

I.w. payne and beatrice wood at triangolo, cremona 9 — I.W. Payne, Margarine 5, 2026, Cast plaster, gloss paint, old fish hooks, 19 x 14 x 4.5 cm

I.w. payne and beatrice wood at triangolo, cremona 10 — I.W. Payne, Margarine 5, 2026, Cast plaster, gloss paint, old fish hooks, 19 x 14 x 4.5 cm

I.w. payne and beatrice wood at triangolo, cremona 11 — I.W. Payne, I Pity People, 2026, Melamine plywood, UV print, 21 x 38 cm

I.w. payne and beatrice wood at triangolo, cremona 13 — I.W. Payne, Allow us to rely on our instincts, 2026, MDF, gloss paint, satin paint, posca pen, 118 x 195 cm

I.w. payne and beatrice wood at triangolo, cremona 12 — I.W. Payne, Allow us to rely on our instincts, 2026, MDF, gloss paint, satin paint, posca pen, 118 x 195 cm

I.w. payne and beatrice wood at triangolo, cremona 14 — I.W. Payne and Beatrice Wood, He Does Not Have a Chance, 2026, exhibition view, Triangolo, Cremona

I.w. payne and beatrice wood at triangolo, cremona 15 — I.W. Payne and Beatrice Wood, He Does Not Have a Chance, 2026, exhibition view, Triangolo, Cremona

I.w. payne and beatrice wood at triangolo, cremona 16 — I.W. Payne and Beatrice Wood, He Does Not Have a Chance, 2026, exhibition view, Triangolo, Cremona

I.w. payne and beatrice wood at triangolo, cremona 17 — I.W. Payne and Beatrice Wood, He Does Not Have a Chance, 2026, exhibition view, Triangolo, Cremona

I.w. payne and beatrice wood at triangolo, cremona 18 — I.W. Payne and Beatrice Wood, He Does Not Have a Chance, 2026, exhibition view, Triangolo, Cremona

I.w. payne and beatrice wood at triangolo, cremona 19 — I.W. Payne and Beatrice Wood, He Does Not Have a Chance, 2026, exhibition view, Triangolo, Cremona

I.w. payne and beatrice wood at triangolo, cremona 20 — I.W. Payne, Bohemian, 2026, Painted dead-stock leather, MDF, painted silver rings, painted aluminum wire, 150.5 x 138 cm

I.w. payne and beatrice wood at triangolo, cremona 21 — I.W. Payne, Bohemian, 2026, Painted dead-stock leather, MDF, painted silver rings, painted aluminum wire, 150.5 x 138 cm

I.w. payne and beatrice wood at triangolo, cremona 22 — I.W. Payne, Widows, 2026, Melamine plywood, UV print, 109.4 x 164 cm

I.w. payne and beatrice wood at triangolo, cremona 23 — I.W. Payne, Widows, 2026, Melamine plywood, UV print, 109.4 x 164 cm

I.w. payne and beatrice wood at triangolo, cremona 24 — I.W. Payne, Pegasus, 2025, Coloured pencil and pastel pencil on paper, 29.6 x 42 cm

I.w. payne and beatrice wood at triangolo, cremona 25 — I.W. Payne, The Swing, 2025, Coloured pencil, oil pastels, dried four leaf clovers on paper, 29.6 x 42 cm

I.w. payne and beatrice wood at triangolo, cremona 26 — Beatrice Wood, He Does Not Have a Chance, 1980, Graphite and coloured pencil on paper, 29.2 x 38 cm

I.w. payne and beatrice wood at triangolo, cremona 27 — I.W. Payne, The Invention of Man, 2026, Coloured pencil on paper, 42 x 59.3 cm

I.w. payne and beatrice wood at triangolo, cremona 28 — I.W. Payne, The Dominion of the Dream, 2026, Coloured pencil on paper, 59.3 x 42 cm

I.w. payne and beatrice wood at triangolo, cremona 29 — I.W. Payne, The Dominion of the Dream, 2026, Coloured pencil on paper, 59.3 x 42 cm

I.w. payne and beatrice wood at triangolo, cremona 30 — Beatrice Wood, J’accuse, 1988, Graphite and coloured pencil on paper, 29.5 x 24.5 cm

I.w. payne and beatrice wood at triangolo, cremona 31 — I.W. Payne, He Does Not Have a Chance, 2026, Brass sheet and brass wire, melamine plywood, UV print, 162.9 x 119 cm

I.w. payne and beatrice wood at triangolo, cremona 32 — I.W. Payne and Beatrice Wood, He Does Not Have a Chance, 2026, exhibition view, Triangolo, Cremona

Photos: ©Sarah Indriolo, I.W. Payne photo courtesy to the artist and Triangolo, Cremona. Beatrice Wood photo courtesy to Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York.