It’s been a very difficult year for London’s art galleries as they are classified as shops and therefore were closed until 4 July, and are now closed again until 2 December, and maybe beyond. Planning art exhibitions is a complex and finely tuned business with all the making, scheduling, curating, publicising and marketing organised months, sometimes years in advance. Most Fitzrovia galleries have a sophisticated online presence that is worth looking at. This has been enhanced in many cases by the new online phenomena of ‘virtual viewing rooms’. These take many formats from simply images to interactive tours of computer-generated galleries to videos of gallery installations.
International art fairs, such as FRIEZE and ART BASEL, are available to view online, saving shoe leather and expensive trips abroad. These initiatives work with various degrees of success, and scale is often an issue. An added bonus is that many of the big international galleries display the prices of the art on offer, not so easy to discover at regular art fairs. A big bonus for Fitzrovia residents was the FRIEZE sculpture park on our doorstep in October. The highlight for me of this alfresco offering was the magnificent six metre high ‘plait’ of hair made of mild steel rods by London based artist Kalliopi Lemos.
Bartha Gallery, formerly at 25 Margaret Street, has moved to St James. Fitzrovia stalwart Rebecca Hossack, who has been in Fitzrovia since 1988, long before the ‘art boom’ of the last ten years, has closed her gallery at 28 Charlotte Street, formerly the studio of artist Adrian Heath, but is still going strong at 2A Conway Street. A newcomer to Fitzrovia is Grove Square Galleries at 156 New Cavendish Street, ‘a new London art gallery offering emerging and established collectors an avenue for exploration and discovery’. Sadly their launch exhibition, ‘Sierra’ by Christopher Kieling, due to run to 15 November has been cut short by lockdown.
Recommended Fitzrovia galleries with online exhibitions:
Edel Assanti – edelassanti.com
Josh Lilley – joshlilleygallery.com
Pilar Corrias – pilarcorrias.com
Webber Gallery – webberrepresents.com
Current list of Fitzrovia art galleries:
Alison Jacques Gallery, 18 Berners Street (http://www.alisonjacquesgallery.com)
Arup Phase 2, 8 Fitzroy Street (http://www.arup.com/phase 2)
Building Centre, Store Street (http://www.buildingcentre.co.uk)
Coningsby, 30 Tottenham Street (http://www.coningsbygallery.com)
Gallery Different, 14 Percy Street (http://www.gallerydifferent.co.uk)
Eclectic Gallery, 16 Newman Street (http://www.eclectic gallery.co.uk)
Edel Assanti, 74A Newman Street (http://www.edelassanti.com)
Fitzrovia Chapel, Pearson Square (http://fitzroviachapel.org)
Fitzrovia Gallery, 139 Whitfield Street (http://www.fitzroviagallery.co.uk)
Fold Gallery, 158 New Cavendish Street (http://www.foldgallery.com)
Grove Square Galleries, 156 New Cavendish Street (https://www.grovesquaregalleries.com)
Josh Lilley, 44-46Riding House Street (http://www.joshlilleygallery.com)
Narrative Projects, 110 New Cavendish Street (http://narrativeprojects.com)
Pi Artworks, 55 Eastcastle Street (http://www.piartworks.com)
Pilar Corrias, 54 Eastcastle Street (http://www.pilarcorrias.com)
Rebecca Hossack Gallery, 2a Conway Street (http://www.rebeccahossack.com)
Rosenfeld, 37 Rathbone Street (https://galleryrosenfeld.com)
RIBA, 66 Portland Place (http://www.architecture.com)
Saunders Fine Art, 20 Charlotte Street (http://www.saundersfineart.co.uk)
Store Street Gallery, 32 Store Street (http://www.storestreetgallery.com)
Tiwani Contemporary, 16 Little Portland Street (http://www.tiwani.co.uk)
T J Boulting, 59 Riding House Street (http://www.tjboulting.com)
Tristan Hoare, 6 Fitzroy Square (http://www.tristanhoaregallery.co.uk)
Webber Gallery, 18 Newman Street (http://www.webberrepresents.com)
Woolff Gallery, 89 Charlotte Street (http://www.woolffgallery.co.uk)
Zari Gallery, 73 Newman Street (http://www.zarigallery.co.uk)
Clive Jennings is arts editor of Fitzrovia News. He is an artist, curator, gallerist and art dealer. Follow him on Instagram @clivejenningsart