Gazelli Art House, 39 Dover Street, London, W1S 4NN
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Gazelli Art House has an unusual mixture of shows, most of which could be categorised under four rather disparate headings. First Azerbaijani art, in line with the origins of Mila Askarova, who founded the gallery in 2010 – though that, logically enough, is shown in the Baku space more than in London. Second, abstract expressionism by once-ignored American women, following on from a revelatory 2020 exhibition featuring works from Elaine de Kooning, Perle Fine, Grace Hartigan and Mercedes Matter, as well as Helen Frankenthaler, Lee Krasner and Joan Mitchell. That was inspired by Mary Gabriel’s acclaimed book ‘Ninth Street Women’ about their work, lives and spirit. Since then, Perle Fine in particular has been shown extensively by Gazelli. Third, British-influenced pop, with solo shows for Derek Boshier, Jann Haworth – confirming that she is much more than the co-designer with former husband Peter Blake of the Sergeant Pepper album cover – and the current survey of Pauline Boty, whose glamorous but tragically brief career is increasingly well-regarded. Fourth, and most consistently, the gallery features art on the cutting edge of technology.
The GAZELL.iO Project Space in the basement incorporates a VR Library, online residency and an NFT marketplace, and presents a parallel programme. That enables upper floor shows such as Harold Cohen’s pioneering computer art and Jake Elwes’ investigations of machine learning and artificial intelligence to be complemented by adventurous presentations of virtual and digital trends. Overseeing all that, most times I’ve been there over the past decade has been George Barker – the friendliest Director of Sales you can imagine, even though I’ve never bought anything from him!
London’s gallery scene is varied, from small artist-run spaces to major institutions and everything in between. Each week, art writer and curator Paul Carey-Kent gives a personal view of a space worth visiting.
