FOR STARTERS
1
My quarterly pick of UK-based artists to have on your radar, beyond the major galleries. NO. 1 — EMILY POPE “Full moon energy, the new perfume of the masses.” “Just imagine being reincarnated as an email.” Emily Pope’s witty text-based work, in posters, light boxes and videos, skewers the affirmational absurdities of the moment. Pope is currently part of Discord & Harmony , a group show at Karst in Plymouth (until April 18 ), curated in tribute to beloved local artist Beryl Cook’s long career of painting the under-represented with joy and humour. NO. 2 — KV DUONG London-based Vietnamese Canadian artist KV Duong recently opened his first solo show, Where Wound Becomes Water, at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery (until March 14 ) to much excitement. Group shows in New York and Stoke-on-Trent follow later this year. Since graduating from the Royal College of Art’s MA painting programme in 2024 , Duong has caught the eye of gallerists and awards bodies for his original approach to painting on stretched latex. Continuing an exploration of migration, postcolonialism and queer identity, his latest body of work features family portraits that resemble faded photographs and large panelled landscapes of regions scarred by war. NO. 3 — VERONICA RYAN OBE, RA Montserrat-born, London-raised sculptor Veronica Ryan needs little introduction to art insiders. She began her career with a series of celebrated institutional exhibitions across the UK in the 1980 s and ’ 90 s, and in more recent years has won the Freelands Award ( 2018 ), the Turner Prize ( 2022 ) and was commissioned to permanently honour the Windrush generation in Hackney with her marble and bronze Caribbean fruits. But a spring showcase at Whitechapel Gallery (April 1 to June 14 ) featuring more than 100 works, some brand new, puts Ryan’s whole career in the spotlight and deserves to be seen by the widest possible audience. Gemma Rolls-Bentley is an art writer, lecturer, creative consultant and curator of the largest permanent display of queer art in the UK, the Brighton Beacon Collection. Her new book, Queer Art , will be published by Thames & Hudson in June. Three Artists To Watch By Gemma Rolls-Bentley
MY NEIGHBOURHOOD Stephen Jones’s Covent Garden By Ella Alexander
“My history with Covent Garden began over 45 years ago, when I opened my first shop on Endell Street,” says Stephen Jones, the legendary milliner whose creations have sat atop the heads of Princess Diana, Grace Jones, Björk and even Glenn Close’s Cruella de Vil. “Back then, the area was still boarded up after the food market moved to Nine Elms in late 1974 . Much of historic Covent Garden was about to be demolished … and there were only two shops on Long Acre. Everything else was closed. I opened my current store and studio on Great Queen Street in 1995 and have learnt that there is a side to the area that only locals see, like parents taking their kids to school on Drury Lane and the sound of a playground. Tourists love it here because it’s how they imagine ‘Old London’ to be. Covent Garden is unrecognisable today, but it’s still village-like and compact.” OREE — “ A French patisserie and coffee shop with a pale blue exterior on the corner of Wellington Street. The staff are very nice. Even if I’m right at the back of the queue, I get served my skinny flat white first.” SIMPSON’S IN THE STRAND — “It was always one of London’s most legendary restaurants, but it became very fuddy-duddy. I am delighted that Jeremy King has transformed it. I’m sure it’ll once again be the place to be seen.” JUBILEE HALL GYM — “I first visited when it was a roller disco in 1976 , and I’d whizz around in bright blue lycra. Now I’m there wearing black Nike, being put through my paces by my trainer, Erykson [ Mendes ] , who stretches my body to places that I never knew it could go.” PAUL SMITH — “The window displays on Floral Street are always wonderful, and I just love the aura of the place. Paul Smith was the first person to do modern menswear, and I used to see him and his wife Pauline around town in the earlier stages of our careers. They were such successful, glamorous people.” ROYAL OPERA HOUSE — “If you’re an aficionado of the 1964 film My Fair Lady , you’ll know that Audrey Hepburn is [ in a scene ] outside the Opera House selling violets. What you see onscreen was, in fact, created in a Hollywood studio, but I love the film’s celebration of hats, especially in the unforgettable Royal Ascot scene. Because of that I have the most intimate connection to the Opera House.” THE CLUB AT THE IVY — “A members-only club that occupies three floors above The Ivy restaurant. It’s so grown-up and makes you feel as if you’ve really arrived in London.” LONDON GRAPHIC CENTRE — “One of London’s best art and graphics suppliers, LGC really is a great resource. Whenever I go, I always think, ‘I wish I had more time to use everything here.’ I’m so happy that somewhere like it exists and it hasn’t all been swallowed by the internet.” DRURY LANE GARDENS — “I love the little garden opposite St Clement Danes School on Drury Lane. It’s postage-stamp size – a pergola and planters surround a small children’s playground – and unless you were from the area you wouldn’t know it existed. It was actually the first heritage site saved by Octavia Hill, the founder of the National Trust.”
2
3 1 — © Emily Pope, 2024 . Courtesy the artist and Quench Gallery. 2 — © KV Duong, Where Wound Becomes Water, Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London, 2026 . Courtesy the artist and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London. Photo by Mark Blower 3 — © Veronica Ryan. Courtesy Alison Jacques and Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. Photo by Eva Herzog Studio.
14
1 5
Photos by Amy Heycock
Made with FlippingBook Digital Proposal Creator