Anthony Wilkinson, 44 Lexington Street (Room 2), London W1F OLW
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Amanda and Anthony Wilkinson ran the Wilkinson Gallery together from 1998-2017, latterly in an impressive purpose-built space they opened in 2007 on what was then the East End art hub of Vyner Street. Their separation in 2017 resulted in ‘two galleries for the price of one’, with the programme’s key artists and estates split: for example, George Shaw and Elizabeth Magill with Anthony, Joan Jonas and Derek Jarman with Amanda.
Anthony showed on a fairly occasional basis in collaboration with other galleries before settling into a new permanent location in Soho earlier this year – the one previously occupied by Karsten Schubert. An initial group show included five of the eleven artists represented by the gallery: A K Dolven, Matthew Higgs and Marcin Maciejowski, as well as Magill and Shaw, who have gone on to have the first solo shows in the space. Indeed, Shaw’s current exhibition in the first half of a two-parter. Inspired by Blake, he has written a prose poem describing each exhibited painting – so it proved a fairly auditory experience when I visited with friends recently, as I added my readings to the characterfully creaky floorboards of the 18th century building. For ‘The Land of Lost Contents’ Shaw starts ‘On an overgrown patch of grass sits a blue shipping container. It’s been there for a while. What looks like a window has been cut into the side but it’s closed up as if it’s never been opened or was ever there….’ The gallery also represents Matt Calderwood, Ciprian Mure?an and Barbara Probst, three favourites of mine whom I hope to see given solos soon!
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.
