Coleman Projects, 94 Webster Road, London SE16 4DF
www.colemanprojects.org.uk Instagram: @colemanprojectspace
Artist Frances Coleman lives above Coleman Projects, placing her well to act as the public face of the programme that she has directed for over two decades, with four shows in a typical year – the 20th anniversary celebration was marked in 2023 by a well-merited exhibition of her own work. Coleman runs it together with writer Rebecca Geldard and artist Clare Goodwin – they jointly decide on and develop the projects to take forward, which operate as a broader collaboration by establishing partnerships between the curators, artists and audiences involved and aim to give opportunities that would not be available in a commercial space.
The gallery – open Friday to Sunday, 12-6 – consists of what was once a hairdresser’s, together with a back garden shed that makes an atmospheric site for installations. Indeed, Nic Sanderson drew on that former use for his 2024 show ‘Basin’, which included hairdressing performances. Solo presentations have I recall include Richard Ducker (2014), Will Cruikshank (2019) and Alice Wilson (2023). They have alternated with group shows on such diverse topics as humour, the monochrome and skewed logic. Recent projects have been particularly strong, with Theo Ellison putting his own work into dialogue with George Shaw; Jonathan Parsons showing a typically innovative and thoughtful body of work; and now artist and musician Harriet Poznansky explores themes of female subjectivity, desire and autonomy through painting, drawing and a sound track influenced by time spent in the space – including its jangling keys, the raw acoustics of the architecture and radio signals picked up by the roof of the shed – joining with her violin playing.
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.
