This is the 40th anniversary year of Southwark Park Galleries – the operating name of the Bermondsey Artists’ Group, a registered charity and an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation. Exhibitions take place across two distinctive venues within Southwark Park, reached easily enough from Canada Water or Surrey Quays stations: the Lake Gallery is a purpose-built space and adjoining community garden, with a café nearby overlooking the park’s lake; a couple of hundred yards away, the Dilston Gallery is a Grade II Listed deconsecrated church with a very different vibe. The combination gives plenty of options for one large or two contrasting shows. The varied programme includes an annual open, works around the park, and group shows (should I mention my own, in 2021?).
Most typically, though, Judith Carlton – director for nine years – gives upcoming artists the chance to make work on what is likely to be their most ambitious scale to date: Appau Jnr Boakye-Yiadom, Florence Peake, Lydia Blakeley and Bedwyr Williams, for example, in the 2020s. Consistent with that, the current show across both spaces is the first stop for the Jerwood’s biennial touring ‘Survey’ of promising artists a few years into their postgraduate practise. Ten such – chosen by asking established artists to make suggestions, then seeking proposals, some forty of them – are supported to make a new work. Perhaps the most striking single image is the human hot water bottle from Lindsey Mendick’s nominee, Sam Keelan. (seen above)
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.
