It is almost the last painting you find as you wander through the fine classical interiors of the 18th century former townhouse; – upstairs in the front room overlooking Dover Street in Mayfair you find a painting of a gallery within a gallery - Marcin Maciejowski’s painting of this very room during the Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac‘s […]
Ever since the Royal Academy took on the old Museum of Mankind in Burlington Gardens, it has been a frustration that the two buildings were not joined and, if visiting exhibitions in both, you had to walk round the streets from one to the other – though Burlington Arcade is always a pleasure to walk […]
Donald Trump has given Vauxhall in London a huge amount of publicity recently when he declined to open the new US Embassy, though when you see some of the new buildings around the Embassy, you can have some sympathy with his views. Whatever happened to the idea of creating places for people enjoy, rather than […]
Once one of London’s centres for art galleries, Cork Street in Mayfair has been suffering recently. Galleries such as Alan Cristea have gone elsewhere and those who have remained, such as Waddington Custot, Flowers and Mayor on the first floor above Flowers have suffered from an environment of building contractors, construction hoardings and vehicles with […]
Look at the websites of galleries and art exhibitions – they are all taken with bright daylight, often in brilliant sunshine, even in cities like London. Yet, in winter in London, with the time that darkness falls and the grey weather during the day, many people visit galleries in grey light or in darkness when […]
Here is a question for your Christmas cracker. What is an art gallery? Is it an iconic building like the National Gallery in London, the Getty in Los Angeles or the Guggenheim in Bilbao? Unit London believes it is the art,, not the architecture, as it moves from space to space, taking a great group […]
Remember those old black and white photographs of art galleries with the rooms full of potted palms and little chairs on which well-dressed ladies could sit and chat; with similarities to the glass houses at botanical gardens where white classical sculptures were interspersed among the palm trees? All that was missing was the palm court […]
Goodbye white walls: Norwegian artist Sverre Bjertnæs has brought colour to Beers London with walls painted in colours which he has chosen to complement his art. ‘Silent Conditions’ is the first UK exhibition of the work of one of Norway’s most prominent artists, Sverre Bjertnæs, including collaborations with artists Bjarne Melgaard, Christer Glein and writer […]
Phillips in London has its impressive modern glass eight-story building in Grosvenor Square. In New York, it’s competitor Christie’s is the one with the large building. Phillips does not have that opportunity, but it makes up for it with its location, in prime downtown space in Park Avenue, which last week had Ai Weiwei’s “Circle of Work: Zodiac Heads” […]
I have to admit that the Bernard Jacobson Gallery opposite Fortnum & Masons remains one of my favourite new galleries in London. While the building itself is quietly modernist, with ground floor rents in London at a premium, the gallery has just enough fully glazed double height frontage to provide a taster for its exhibitions providing […]
"The many great gardens of the world, of literature and poetry, of painting and music, of religion and architecture, all make the point as clear as possible: The soul cannot thrive in the absence of a garden. If you don't want paradise, you are not human; and if you are not human, you don't have a soul."
(Thomas Moore)
To be an architect means having a wide range of interests - architecture, art and creativity in all its variety of forms, sustainability, science and innovation. The greatest interest is often where these different worlds overlap and collide - that is when something imaginative often occurs that pushes us all forward to another place
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