Bernheim Gallery, 1 New Burlington St, London W1S 2JF
www.bernheimgallery.com Instagram: @bernheimgallery
Bernheim Gallery was founded in Zurich by Maria Bernheim in 2015, and that is where I first discovered its lively international programme. For example, the entertainingly extreme paintings of Mexico-based Russian Ebecho Muslimova: her invented character, Fatebe, as per the press release for the current show in Switzerland, ‘grows cow-like udders and milks herself’ and ‘appears as a magician pulling a seemingly endless supply of other Fatebes out of her vagina’. That said, I also like the somewhat lower-keyed works of Denis Savaray, Jon Rafman, Sarah Slappey and Mitchell Anderson.
So I was pleased when a London space opened in 2020. That was a just one year project on Mount Street, but it paved the way for a permanent presence, opening in the heart of Mayfair last year. Following the closure of Marlborough, I believe Bernheim’s elegantly converted townhouse just off Regent Street is the only commercial gallery in London to exhibit on three separate floors. That enables it to run two substantial shows in parallel. As many as 87 of the American Eric Oglander’s sculptures – small in size but big in wit – have occupied the top floor during two exhibitions featuring two Prix Meret-Oppenheim winning Swiss painters on the lower floors: first Miriam Cahn in April-May, now Klodin Erb during June-July. The first floor, for example, has 27 of Erb’s paintings reimagining mermaids as genderless creatures.
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.
