KAMIAR’S MONTHLY REPORT

Cromwell Place, a membership organization offering an exhibition and working space for art professionals, was an exciting opening. It is an art hub right in the center of London opposite the Natural History Museum, a venture in which, international and local galleries share temporary space in a dedicated complex. It is a facility that offers members the opportunity to use it for various needs. Facilities include offices, viewing rooms, exhibitions and spaces to hire, art storage and of course a bar for its members and clients that is curated by the incredible Olli Dabbous of HIDE Restaurant, London. Members can of course include dealers, advisors and art fairs.

Lehmann Maupin the famed New York gallery opened a permanent space at Cromwell Place and opened a great show with Billy Childish. Current exhibitions also include Aspan Gallery with artist Almagul Menlibayeva, Initio Fine Arts with artist Anna Horvath and Reda Amalou, a beautiful design project, Procreate Project (Mothers Art Prize), De Morgan Foundation and Sir Denis Mahon Foundation.

On Thursday night, I visited the gallery openings at Cork Street, partially organized by Frieze Art Fair, where all the galleries on Cork Street were open and showed some great art. We welcomed Saatchi Yates to Cork Street, a brand-new gallery founded by the daughter of the infamous Sir Charles Saatchi and her husband, whose focus will be to show unknown and unseen talent, rather than blue chip post war and contemporary masters. They will also sell secondary market works sourced from private collections. It opened with a fabulous show by artist Pascal Sender who has created 19 paintings for this show. Part of the exhibition was an app, specifically created for his show to experience the works virtually, something incredible and a must see.

Goodman Gallery’s group show Living Just Enough addresses the ongoing issue around the struggle for representation. It is a group exhibition bringing together artists of many disciplines, including Tabita Rezaire, Nolan Oswald Dennis, Hank Willis Thomas, Kiluanji Kia Henda, Kudzanai Chiurai, and Grada Kilomba. 

Lisson Gallery at Cork Street is always worth a visit with a fabulous group show exhibition of their stellar artists. Waddington Custot’s show Vortex by Fabienne Verdiers is still on view by mid-November. 

I had the great pleasure to attend the opening of 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair at Somerset House. It was the second socially distanced approved fair I got to visit with Positions Berlin having been the first in September. The layout of Somerset House was perfect for a socially distanced fair as 30 galleries were able to use each room as a gallery space, which sometimes could be split into two. 3,000 visitors were allowed at the location. Galleries that exhibited with VOLTA, such as Gallery 1957 had fabulous booths including works by Gideon Appah, Serge Attukwei Clottey, Godfried Donkor, and Yaw Owusu. Equally VOLTA exhibitor Addis Fine Art, as well as The Museum of Everything had very strong presentations. Many galleries had sold out and the mood was uplifting.

Thanks to Kathrine Nesbit and Damien Hirst I got to see the fabulous collection of Damien’s work from start to recent and some works I hadn’t seen before. His very first spot painting was on show as well as a wonderful shark, which has always been one of my favorites. One painting he gave Rauschenberg and bought back from the estate once Rauschenberg had passed away. It was truly a magical experience to walk through this exhibition. He is an artist I have always admired.

Another art treat off the beaten track occurred as my good friend, collector and founder of Artuner, Eugenio Re Rebaudengo persuaded me to go down to Brixton with him and explore an incredible show from Andy Holden, who hosted his show The Structure of Feeling at Block 336 in Brixton. A rare delight for all your senses. He is a man of many talents, videographer, painter, sculpture. The ability to drive through on self-made scooters while wearing 3D glasses just made this an incredible experience.

VOLTA New York exhibitor JD Malat also had a fabulous solo exhibit by Turkish painter Zümrütoğlu, and Edel Assanti not only had a great show by Dale Lewis in their London gallery during Frieze Week, they also had a pop up by Oren Pinhassi at St Cyprians Church.

I also saw the great new show at the London based Niru Ratnam Gallery Picture Plane, by Matthew Krishanu a must see and it is great to see a young gallery thrive in these circumstances in London.

Another young dealer, Maximillian William, was presenting a solo by Coco Captain ,on show till October at his beautiful gallery in Mortimer Street. And I finally made it down to see Jadé Fadojutimi at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery and Helen Martin at Sadie Coles. 

Text and images: Kamiar Maleki

Follow @kammaleki and @voltaartfairs for more art insights.