Global Galleries returns to an expanding scene in London

The British economy is stagnating, the international economy The art market is in a recession and the rest of the world is suffering from ongoing geopolitical crises in the Middle East, Ukraine and beyond.

Yet, perhaps counterintuitively, London's contemporary art gallery scene is expanding.

Last weekend was the preview of the sixth edition of London apartment, a collaborative city exhibition with 27 invited international dealers presenting exhibitions in 23 contemporary galleries in London. Guest dealers can choose to cede 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 cost less than $20,000.

In 2016, only eight London dealers were present at the first edition of this innovative alternative to an international art fair. Since then, spin-off events have been held in Athens, Mexico City, New York, São Paulo and Shanghai. This latest version is the first in London since 2020.

The four-year gap “was due to the pandemic,” said Vanessa Carlos, co-founder of the Carlos/Ishikawa gallery in the East End and the creator of the Condo concept. “We wanted to wait for the time when most people could travel freely,” she said.

Now, she added, “new things are happening in London.” The biggest challenge was keeping Condo London “small and intimate” at a time when the city's revitalized gallery scene is growing, she said. “Scale is important. There are too many big, exhausting events,” she added, noting that Condo was small enough for many visitors to see everything.

“I feel like this is clearly a new phase, a reset,” he said Phillida Reid, one of two Condo participants from the new cluster of galleries in the Bloomsbury district near the British Museum, an area not previously associated with serious contemporary art. Reid opened her 2,500-square-foot gallery there in 2022; Last year, four more dealerships opened in the area.

During Condo, Reid presents 'Labor of Love', a solo exhibition of canvases by New Zealand artist Claudia Kogachi that lovingly depict the painter and her friend. The gallery also houses paintings by the Brazilian artist and transgender rights activist Lia D Castro, presented by Galeria Jaqueline Martins from São Paulo and Brussels. Reid said several of Castro's paintings had sold for about 6,000 euros, about $6,500, each.

Just a few hundred meters away is the recently opened London branch of the Athens gallery Hot wheels hosted a joint show for Condo with Maxwell Graham gallery from New York.

“It's competitive at an art fair. Condo is a collaboration,” said Guillaume Sultana, director of the Paris-based Sultana gallery, which presented photographs by the young French artist Nanténé Traoré at the fair. Amanda Wilkinson gallery in Farringdon during the event. These tender, topical studies of bodies in movement and transition are available for sale in an edition of three, priced between €1,200 and €5,000 per image. Six of these were sold during the preview, according to Sultana, who said there had been a steady stream of visitors to Wilkinson's gallery over the weekend. “London is such a big city. Everything you do, you have people,” he added.

In reality, unlike large 'destination fairs' – such as Art Basel or Frieze – Condo, with its concentration on young galleries and emerging artists, is not the kind of event that attracts many international visitors, especially in January. But since host gallerists only have to pay 750 pounds (about $950) to attend, dealers can take the kind of risks they can't afford at a fair. And prices at Condo are often low enough to encourage sight-unseen online purchases.

“It's much more relaxed. I can take a lot more experimental works with me, instead of spending $20,000 to $30,000 on an art fair and risking my business,” said Alexander Shulan, a Condo regular. the New York gallery Lomex.

Lomex showed paintings by Berlin-based American artist David Flaugher, whose austere, deserted interiors cost between $9,000 and $22,000. Ginny on Frederik. According to Shulan, an American collector bought one during the preview.

Given Condo's more relaxed format, the sales pace was also not that of an art fair. But there were enthusiasts at Belgium-based Senegalese artist Libasse Ka's debut exhibition of abstract paintings covered in enigmatic markings in Carlos/Ishikawa.

The gallery's star artist Oscar Murillo met 25-year-old Ka while the latter was working in a Brussels superstore. Murillo, impressed by Ka's artwork, recommended him to Carlos/Ishikawa. Several of Ka's 11 paintings had sold Sunday afternoon for between $7,000 and $38,000, Carlos said.

The Condo preview was also an opportunity for the London dealer Emalin to show off a new, second space in one of the oldest buildings in the Shoreditch area. Called the Clerk's House, the building dates from the early 18th century and now contains an elegant, white-painted gallery with works by Alvaro Barrington, Matias Faldbakken and other artists from Emalin's international stable.

Outside of Condo's programme, other London galleries showed signs of growth. Last Thursday at the dealer Niru Ratnam opened a new 2,000 square meter space in the Fitzrovia district with an exhibition of contorted figure paintings by British artist Emma Cousin.

“It's a risk to open a bigger gallery in a better location,” says Ratnam, who previously occupied a small upstairs gallery near Carnaby Street, “but you do make more of a statement and it sets our artists to create more ambitious shows.”

“It is also a risk to remain stagnant in a challenging environment,” Ratnam added. “You can just disappear.”