Sabato De Sarno

My itinerary starts from central London and then expands towards the east and south-east. In Mayfair, you will find two of the most important exhibitions that are taking place over London Gallery Weekend: that of the beloved Ugo Rondinone at Sadie Coles HQ on Davies Street, as well as Pace Gallery’s retrospective of Emily Kam Kngwarray, an Australian Aboriginal artist and member of the Anmatyerr people of Alhalker. To see Kngwarray’s work in this intimate space is a rare gift: a meditation on colour and gesture that anticipates Tate Modern’s major exhibition of her work in July.

From here you have options. You could drift through Soho’s backstreets to Cedric Bardawil, or stroll north towards Fitzrovia, where London-based artist Ki Yoong is exhibiting at WORKPLACE. Just next door, Ab Anbar—originally from Tehran, now in London—is showcasing an exciting array of young and established Middle Eastern artists. 

Alternatively, walk south through Mayfair, past Ione & Mann, where Anna Higgins’ works blush with sunset reds. Then pause at Luxembourg & Co., which is bringing together selected sculptural works by Man Ray, Piero Manzoni, and Gino De Dominicis that push the boundaries between what is hidden and what is invisible. Finally, just around the corner from the Royal Academy, Mazzoleni hosts Andrea Francolino’s cement “kintsugi”: fragile cracks filled with gold; ruins turned relics.

This is an itinerary where red is memory, form is narrative, each exhibition a threshold, each artwork matter turned into meaning.

From Mayfair, the route continues east and then south-east—less dense, more open, but no less compelling. Start in Hackney with Margarita Gluzberg at Alma Pearl, then head south through Dalston towards Shoreditch, where Emalin’s Clerk’s House space explores a visual dialogue between the abstract paintings of Kate Spencer Stewart—also exploring shades of red—and the nineteenth-century lithographs of Odilon Redon. 

From Emalin, take the Northern Line from Old Street south to London Bridge. Tate Modern recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, and, since its inauguration, Southwark and southeast London has redefined the parameters of London’s art scene. I suggest the permanent collection of Tate Modern—a place very dear to me, and where, last year, I held a fashion show—or Richard Hunt at White Cube Bermondsey (just ten minutes away) to experience another master of twentieth-century art. It’s definitely worth making the fifteen walk south to SOUP gallery for Tulani Hlalo’s exhibition ‘Silly Bitch’, an ironic exploration of the concept of identity through the niche subculture of competitive dog grooming. 

Finish your afternoon at Sid Motion in Peckham, which is just a short walk from SOUP. Here, Sheelagh Boyce and Annabelle Party present quilts that feel like inverse pattern-making—garments unstitched and reimagined as two-dimensional geometries. As someone trained in model-making, this reversal—from form to flatness—is a fascinating exercise in process and vision. 

Sabato De Sarno

in collaboration with Beniamino Marini