• Route

    My route takes us in a wide, glorious loop of central London, beginning in and taking you back to the heart of Mayfair

  • My route takes us in a wide, glorious loop of central London, beginning in and taking you back to the heart of Mayfair – an area brimming with creativity. Start at David Zwirner to visit the solo of Michaël Borremans, a visionary painter who has an excellent reputation for good reason.

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    My route takes us in a wide, glorious loop of central London, beginning in and taking you back to the heart of Mayfair – an area brimming with creativity.

     

    Start at David Zwirner to visit the solo of Michaël Borremans, a visionary painter who has an excellent reputation for good reason.

     

    Walking a few streets south, you’ll hit St James’s where a cluster of some of my favourite galleries are conveniently located. Sadie Coles HQ and Modern Art are both on Bury Street: Sadie is showing works by Uri Aran, while  Modern Art has a show by Richard Aldrich. A few streets over, you’ll find White Cube’s Mason's Yard space which has an exhibition of painter Danica Lundy which will be unmissable.

     

    From here take a walk along to Trafalgar Square and stop in at the newly transformed National Portrait Gallery - a space I easily spend a whole day in exploring their rich and varied collections.

     

    A short walk away, you’ll hit Bloomsbury where you can catch the clean lines and precise imaging of Annette Kelm’s photography at Herald St on Museum Street, before looping around to the western edge of Mayfair and to Michael Werner Gallery, which is close to my favourite park in London - Hyde Park. Raphaela Simon’s exhibition ‘Phantom’ engages the idea of the mask and its meaning; the paintings are dark, atmospheric and loaded with symbolism.

     

    Time for another museum break. Cut down through the park to the Victoria and Albert Museum, my home from home, which displays so many of my favourite artists including Zanele Muholi, Robert Mapplethorpe and Nan Goldin.

     

    On to Hauser & Wirth who will have two shows across their cavernous spaces on Savile Row. Harmony Korine’s lurid works bring in reference from his film work, while Isa Genzken recreates an installation she created two decades ago for the gallery, a complex assemblage first inspired by gargoyles encountered in Cologne.

     

    Next up Cork Street, and the historic heart of the London art world where I would stop into two spaces: Stephen Friedman Gallery, who is showing Kenturah Davis; and my great friends’ space - Nahmad Projects. Here you’ll see the juxtaposition of two generations of painters: the legendary and much loved Giorgio Morandi and the contemporary painter Alexis Ralaivao, whose work was transformed after encountering the work of the other artist during a residency in Morandi's hometown of Bologna.

     

    For the last stop, end at Thaddaeus Ropac and Robert Rauschenberg: ROCI. Having just curated an exhibition at this glorious gallery, I know the impressive space well. Rauschenberg’s show focuses on one of his key projects indicative of his global outlook.