Where did we leave it yesterday? Something about saying there was no time to catch anything else, 8pm and Cork Street had already gone to bed. The new show at Flowers looks promising as does the view through Stephen Freedman’s big windows, resisted the opening at Stephen Friedman Gallery, the first encounter with the Jaune Quick-To-See Smith exhibition needs to be saved until the relative peace and quiet of a respectful Friday afternoon so more of that show later on, it is something rather special. London Gallery Weekend officially started on Friday, we did start the coverage with Wednesday evening’s rather strong Anderson Borba show at The Approach and then it was off to Kearsey and Gold for the opening of the Filippo Antonello exhibition on the Thursday evening and now here we are rushing in from the East of London via the wonders of the Lizzy Line to pick it up again in Cork Street on the Friday of the much hyped (within the London art bubble at least) London Gallery Weekend….

Back of the London Gallery Weekend trail then, well on the gallery trail anyway, Emily Kam Kngwarray has just opened at the big Pace space over by Hanover Square, we’re heading for Cork Street to pick up where we left off last night, and well Pace might not be part of the Weekend but hey, it is right by the Hanover Square exit of Bond Street Station and we are walking past. Hang on, Pace are an official part of the weekend you say? Well I didn’t see any of those blue stickers on the door and hey, we’re the great unwashed, our opinions aren’t popular with the London Art establishment, we don’t get the press releases or any of the advance publicity, apparently we ask too many questions and last year’s coverage didn’t go down too well with the powers that be, how dare we have an opinion! Apparently we have a “bad attitude” (snigger). There’s a talk going on in Pace, the main body of the gallery is in darkness and awash with seats and bodies sitting on those seats so really not a lot can be seen, we’ll politely slip out again and come back in a few days. the exhibition is on until August 8th. What we can see does look good, of course it does. For those who don’t know, the late Emily Kam Kngwarray (1910 – 1996) was an Aboriginal Australian artist from the Utopia community in the Northern Territory. She famously only starting painting as a septuagenarian and became one of the most prominent and successful artists in the history of Indigenous Australian art and here her work is in the very big London space of the international Pace Gallery operation almost thirty years on from her passing. I mean there are airliners named after her now, flying over Utopia painted in her style, more when we get back although she and Pace really don’t need out support…      

And on we go into the early afternoon sunshine and further into London Gallery Weekend, Unit Gallery, over the road from Pace is closed, probably floor shining day or something? They do like their floors to shine at Unit. On we go, past some good looking silver men in a shop window, the art of window dressing is always to be appreciated, on we go  past the locked blue stickered doors of one of the Pilar Corrias spaces, not a good start, the second official London Gallery Weekend participant of the day encountered and the front door is locked, I though part of it was the participating galleries guaranteed to be open for the three days of the event? We have been to that Pilar Corrias show already so no real blow, but hey?! I should report that their other space at there other end of Saville Road was open, but hey, this weekend does seem to be a rather inflated orgy of self-congratulation and a lot of talking it and not actually walking some of it, the London art scene is rather good when it comes to the art of congratulating itself. Today is the first official day f London Gallery Weekend, sign of the locked front door says they should be open, no one’s answering the door, they ain’t open, on we go… 

There’s a Rachel Whiteread piece in the middle of the floor at Ordovas, a just opened group show called Sculpted that can’t be resisted just for that one piece (assuming the two are parts of one piece). There are bits of Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Andy Warhol, Antony Gormley, Anish Kapoor and more in this show but this isn’t really what we want today. Sculpted is on at the Saville Row space until 25th July should you wish to go explore, find it directly over the street from Hauser & Wirth. That Rachel Whiteread piece is powerfully beautiful, worth the admission price for her art alone. When we say worth the admission price, we should point out once again there is generally no admission price for any of these galleries, you can just walk into these spaces for free during their opening hours at any time of the year, not just on this one hyped blue-stickered weekend. I am constantly in and out of these spaces on an almost daily basis, no one ever asks for money, these things and these spaces should never be taken for granted. I may occasionally be critical, you might say a touch cynical but it is brilliant that we can all just quietly politely walk into these spaces and enjoy art all year round without anyone charging is. Hey, they even say hello and smile in some of the West End spaces, not so much in East London, bury your head in a computer and don’t make eye contact is the way in most of East London’s spaces, enough of that, where were we? Checking out the beauty of Rachel Whiteread’s concrete before heading over the street to one of the Hauser & Wirth spaces on Saville Row…

Been intending to check out the Michaela Yearwood-Dan exhibition at Hauser & Wirth properly since it opened in mid May, so easy to think oh I’ll go next week and them miss them completely with these relatively long run shows. Now the London artist might be a little ‘nice’ and dare I say ‘twee’ for some, almost dangerously close to chocolate box rose petal ‘nice’ but there is a little bit of bite there and I do rather like her work. I could do without the music and the polite vases of flowers in here (and I could do with Hauser & Wirth remembering there’s a u in colour on their website, enough with these American spelling crimes already, this is a London show featuring the work of a London artist)

“Throughout paintings, works on paper, ceramics, and site-specific mural and sound installations, Michaela Yearwood-Dan (b. 1994; London, UK) endeavours to build spaces of community, abundance, and joy. Yearwood-Dan’s unique visual language draws on a diverse range of influences, including Blackness, queerness, femininity, and healing rituals. She often engages colo(u)rs and materials for their symbolic associations – from the hints of the oranges, pinks, purples, and blues from the lesbian and bisexual pride flags mingling through the compositions to the queer histories of the ceramic carnation and pansy petals collaged into her recent paintings.” – I hadn’t read any of this before hand, I was aware of her and her work, I wanted to see it, I deliberately avoided reading anything about the show before hand, a clear head and let the paintings do the talking as it were – it is the big paintings I wanted to see, the ceramics not so much, yes that painting bias again, I know it annoys some of you but I am first and foremost a painter myself and those paintings and the energy within the movement of paint is rather gorgeous and nothing is like painting whatever ever a sculptor or a performance artist might tell you. I have to say that it hadn’t really occurred to be me that these were the beautiful colours of an LGBTQ+ flag as much as it was positive uplifting engaging use of colour, she’s not hitting you over the head with any obvious stance or message, once you know it then it is there and wonderful that it is, but this is more than the art of protest or pride or indeed Price, these are just positively beautiful powerful painterly paintings that are to be enjoyed and celebrated as much as they are celebrate anything.     

Michaela Yearwood-Dan is a bold exciting painter and these pieces are alive with positive beauty, especially the big piece that takes up the entire backroom of the big gallery space. I do like her language and of course painting leaves is a cool thing to be doing, we all know that, do like her botanic expressiveness, do like her expressive use of paint, do like being in here with her work (could do without the music). You’d have to be even more cynical than I often am to not be lifted up by her work, by her paint by the boldness of it all, the almost defiant ambition, and yes the possibilities in terms of things to come (I mean, she’s doing this already and she’s only just turned thirty!). Michaela Yearwood-Dan’s show is on until 2nd August, her work is best enjoyed when it goes big like it is here in this gallery, do catch it if you can, here’s another #43SecondFilm…

Wanted to see the Yan Pei-Ming show at Massimodecarlo Gallery on Clifford Street, alas, another locked door unanswered, or maybe they just didn’t like the look of me on their door camera? Hey ho, no time to waste, we’re back under the banners of Cork Street, we’ve checked out Visual Symphonies at Nahmad Projects, another gallery taking part in the weekend, we’ve moved quickly on to the almost always reliable Stephen Friedman Gallery and the freshly opened much anticipated Jaune Quick-To-See Smith exhibition Rooted in Memory at their very big (are we still calling it new?) space. Actually, you know what, the Jaune Quick-To-See Smith exhibition deserves a page all to itself rather then it being crammed at the foot of this already busy page, London Gallery Weekend Part Three will be along in a moment… (sw)  

Previously

ORGAN: London Gallery Weekend pt.1 – A rather busy opening of a strong Anderson Borba show at The Approach, off to Kearsey and Gold for the opening of Filippo Antonello’s exhibition Aufheben, that and more at Canalboat Contemporary…

ORGAN PREVIEW: London Gallery Weekend is upon us again, it all kicks off tomorrow, Friday 6th June, all about the art and the exploring, don’t worry about your shoes…

Pace Gallery is at 5 Hanover Square London W1S 1HQ

Hauser & Wirth have two London spaces on Saville Row in Mayfair. Michaela Yearwood-Dan’s No Time for Despair is on view in the South Gallery until Saturday 2nd August. The gallery is open Tuesday – Saturday, 10 am – 6 pm

Stephen Friedman Gallery is at 5–6 Cork Street, London, W1S 3LQ. The gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday, 10am until 6pm (11am to 5pm on Saturdays). Previous Stephen Friedman Gallery coverage on these pages

London Gallery Weekend is on from Friday 6th June until Sunday 8th June

As always. do click on an image to see the whole thing or to run the slide show