London Art
Global Galleries Return to an Expanding London Scene
Britain’s economy is stagnant, the international art market is in a downturn and the wider world is weighed down with ongoing geopolitical crises in the Middle East, Ukraine and beyond.
Yet, perhaps counter-intuitively, London’s contemporary art gallery scene is expanding.
This past weekend was the preview of the sixth edition of Condo London, a collaborative citywide exhibition featuring 27 invited international dealerships presenting exhibitions at 23 London contemporary galleries. Host dealers can choose to give over their spaces to their visiting colleagues, or hold their own exhibitions alongside them. Most of the works at the event, which runs through Feb. 17, are by emerging artists and are priced at under $20,000.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/22/arts/design/condo-london.html
In this post, I summarise every exhibition I’ve seen over the last few weeks, not just those I write about in other publications, and you get my honest thoughts on them.
This shorter version covers the final shows I caught in December, so I’ve made it free for all subscribers. The normal fuller-length diary entries will resume in two weeks, make sure you’re a paid subscriber to receive those and future interviews.
Read more: https://londonisturbanpalette.substack.com/p/diary-of-a-london-art-critic-the?utm_medium=web
As the art market shows signs of slowing, London is looking to attract a new generation of art buyers — and showcase young emerging artists in the process.
Global art sales slid 4% year-on-year in 2023, according to the Art Basel & UBS Art Market Report 2024, falling to $65 billion after two years of growth.
It has led industry professionals — such as Elio D’Anna, co-founder and CEO of the House of Fine Art (HOFA) gallery in London’s Mayfair district — to shift their focus toward both younger collectors and younger artists.
“Five years ago … our target was more in the 35- to 45-year-old buyers, almost 50/50 men and women. But now we are seeing more the 25- to 35-[year-old] buyers,” he told CNBC’s “The Art of Appreciation.”
This increase in younger collectors comes as artificial intelligence — and how it can be used to create work — remains a hot topic in the art world.
It’s certainly a focus for D’Anna. HOFA represents artist Sougwen Chung, who uses a robot Chung designed to co-create work. Chung, who uses the pronoun they, calls the machine a drawing operations unit, or DOUG.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/28/art-in-london-the-city-wants-to-attract-younger-collectors.html
The JD Malat Gallery hosts contemporary Romanian artist Ur Kasin’s debut solo exhibition in London. Titled All Is Blurred, the show features six monumental compositions “that explore the psychological journey of a character that he has created, navigating his way through a complex and unforgiving world.”
Kasin subverts the traditional subject matter of the large-scale canvas, typically reserved for grand historical subjects, by focusing on everyday actions, the gallery explained.
“Whether it’s enjoying a glass of Asahi, indulging in that McDonald’s drive-through meal, or clutching onto your morning coffee as you rush to work: Kasin depicts these habitual actions, inviting viewers to look beyond the ordinary. What initially seems like routine behaviour reveals deeper layers of hidden pressures and unhealthy societal habits embedded in our daily lives, transforming common actions into a powerful critique of contemporary culture,” reads the press release.
Read more: https://www.romania-insider.com/ur-kasin-exhibition-london-gallery-nov-2024
