Art insider Ekow Eshun
London Gallery Weekend is the world’s largest event of its kind and unique among global gallery weekend events in the breadth and diversity of its participating galleries. The event takes place over three days, each focusing on a different area of London. Free for all to attend, it provides an opportunity to discover and explore London’s world-class gallery scene, celebrating the city’s diverse cultural and creative communities. An extensive programme scheduled by galleries specially for the weekend includes talks, family workshops and special events. Our long-standing partnership with Art Fund allows for curators from regional art institutions across the UK to visit participating galleries as part of their bursary scheme.
Ekow Eshun says………………
My route takes us across London, travelling East to West. We begin at Victoria Miro, which is showing paintings by Geoffrey Holder and his older brother Boscoe Holder together for the first time. Born in pre-war Trinidad, the Holders were both celebrated artists. They also led incredible lives as successful dancers and choreographers in America and Britain respectively. Geoffrey even starred as a villain in the James Bond movie Live and Let Die. I’m very much looking forward to the exhibition. (Ekow Eshun. Photograph by Zeinab Batchelor.)
Moving to Central London, Thaddaeus Ropac is presenting an exhibition of works by Robert Rauschenberg, created during an epic ten country cultural exchange programme he undertook in the late 1980s, seeking inspiration from artists, artisans and cultural figures in places including China, Mexico, Cuba and the Soviet Union.
At Maximillian William, there’s the first posthumous solo exhibition of British-Indian artist Gurminder Sikand, a fascinating artist whose paintings draw from myth, dream and fable. Sikand died in 2021 but interest in her work is now on the rise – she was recently included in major group shows at the Barbican and Tate Britain.
In West London, Lisson Gallery – Bell St is presenting a solo exhibition by the multidisciplinary artist Otobong Nkanga, whose work invokes the connections between the human and natural world with a deep poetry.
Finally, at HackelBury Fine Art, there’s the first London solo exhibition by Sharon Walters. Titled ‘Seeing Ourselves’, the show features intricate hand-assembled collages celebrating black women. I’ve been following Sharon’s work for some time and I’m excited to see her show.
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