By Jack Stanley for Hypebeast
After non-essential retail and outdoor hospitality reopened last month, allowing the U.K.’s bars and restaurants to welcome customers after months of closures, the U.K. is now poised to allow the next relaxing of lockdowns. One of the key changes in this phase of restrictions easing is the opening of art galleries, many of which have been closed for the entirety of 2021 so far.
While commercial galleries were permitted to open in April, next week marks the first time that national institutions such as the Tate Modern and Whitechapel Gallery can welcome guests. Additionally, a number of venues across London are due to take part in the London Gallery Weekend, welcoming people back to locations across the capital.
As spaces prepare to open their doors, we’ve highlighted a number of the best exhibitions coming to London.
As part of the inaugural London Gallery Weekend, Skarstedt is showing a collection of paintings from Connecticut-based artist Jaclyn Conley. The body of work on display sees Conley take inspiration from historical images to create pieces that look at the present-day social and political concerns of American life.
Using famous works and documentary photography as a basis, Conley creates collages using oil paintings on wooden panels. Speaking about the work, Conley says, “In my paintings I’m referencing historic photographs in which I can often glimpse the roots of our current moment, as parallels or connections that can act as a framework to comprehend the latest headline of chaos or hope. There’s been such a shared experience in this last year. The idea of collective inherited memory is something I’m interested in.”
