John Keane
March 21, 2009
I have organized what has ended up being a very efficient and fairly comprehensive way to see contemporary art in the galleries of London. Like Paris, I don’t think I can explain to someone else how to “do it.” One really core issue is that London is not laid out in an orthogonal grid - and streets can change names several times along their not very straight course (just like Paris). The art scene in London is very large. I would guess there to be about 500 galleries if you include all the little tiny spaces that show artists who are emergently emergent (I went to a gallery today where the “artist” and his buddy drank a different bottle-brand of bourbon each night for 7 nights running and then “painted” a Ruscha-style word picture using that particular brand of booze. And I got to stand and watch a “performance“ video in the subterranean space where this creative process took place.). Narrowing things down to the serious galleries that might be here in two years, there may be 150 venues. By the time I am done with this trip I suspect I will have actually set foot in over 200 galleries. I have a pedometer and even using the Tube and buses I clock about 7 miles per day of walked steps.
The VERY best gallery guide is the large "New Exhibitions" guide (they don’t list everything and seem to have some sort of editorial quality-judgment operating.). "Artupdate.com" has a clear map but is too slim on coverage. "Galleries" is a waste of glossy paper and virtually useless. The East London "art map" is exhaustive and cluttered with minutiae - though can be a reasonable amplification of how to get where in East London. It is my 30 years of gallery trolling experience and knowing who to ask and then pay attention to for recommendations that helps make the process accomplishable.
John Keane is showing at Flowers on Kingsland Road. Flowers has two spaces in this city and used to have a Bergamot Station space. I laughed out loud seeing this juxtaposition of Darwin with a chimp. He is a very good painter and should not be judged by this simple juxtaposition.
