October Highlight – the Opening of Damien Hirst’s South London Gallery
“Painting is the will and the whole self in harmony, without self-deception.”
John Hoyland
Fans of the world renowned artist, art collector and infamous hellraiser Damien Hirst might well be strangely pleased to see an end to the summer of 2015 as October heralds the opening of his long awaited £25 million gallery.
Hirst’s ambition has long been to share his diverse collection and the Newport Street Gallery includes over 3,000 works. It is free to enter, with the inaugural show being ‘Power Stations’, a solo exhibition of paintings by leading abstract painter John Hoyland, which kicks off on October 8.
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Funnily enough, it’s not surprising that this should be the inaugural exhibition for the new Lambeth gallery, as Damien Hirst was known to describe the works of Hoyland as “a massive celebration of life”.
Considered an important and innovative force within international abstraction, Hoyland has previously been the subject of retrospectives at the Serpentine Gallery (1979–80) and the Royal Academy of Arts (1999). This time the exhibition of his works will include paintings dating from 1964 to 1982, taken from Hirst’s collection, which will give new insights into the huge colour-stained canvases of the 1960s, textured surfaces of the 1970s and the more spatially complex paintings of the early 1980s.
The works of the exhibition display a particularly significant period in the artist’s career, when he was starting to make a name for himself and it is the first major exhibition of his work since his death in 2011. In Hirst’s own words, the man who became one of the most famous artists alive said:
“I’ve always loved art and art deserves to be shown in great spaces, so I’ve always dreamed of having my own gallery where I can exhibit work by the artists I love.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/visualarts/article4499559.ece
I believe art should be experienced by as many people as possible and I’ve felt guilty owning work that is stored away in boxes where no one can see it, so having a space where I can put on shows from the collection is a dream come true. Sometimes I still can’t believe that I’m lucky enough to actually own work by some of the artists who first inspired me and made me want to become an artist – like Picasso or Francis Bacon – but my favourite works by far are those by my contemporaries, and I definitely feel a responsibility to share them as much as I can.”
Curated by Hirst himself, Newport Street will present images from his Murderme collection, which was started in the late 1980s and includes work spanning several generations from international artists such as Francis Bacon, Banksy, Tracey Emin, Richard Hamilton, Jeff Koons, Sarah Lucas and Pablo Picasso. It also features natural history specimens, taxidermy, anatomical models and historical artefacts.
At 37,000 square feet the gallery, which was designed by Caruso St John (who recently remodelled Tate Britain), includes a restaurant and shop as well as a large-scale LED screen on the outside of the building which will display exhibition information, and provide a platform for artists’ projects and interventions.
- For further information, visit the gallery website at http://www.newportstreetgallery.com
Giving a Little Back
Successful artists often show a generous spirit when it comes to giving a little something back in the later stages of their careers, and this offers a tremendous opportunity for art lovers and younger artists who also aspire to emulate their idols and mentors. It is just this sense of community that the London art scene is famous for, and it includes not only the artists themselves, but also the galleries, venues, art collages and patrons, which includes such names as Abigail Baratta, Joseph P Baratta II, Victoria Barnsley, OBE, John Botts, CBE, Yassmin Ghandehari and Sasan Ghandehari
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