North London Food & Culture

Art: your essential spring guide

Come with us on a wander round the diverse shows hitting neighbourhood galleries this season

Paul Sharits, Rapture, 1987, courtesy The Artist's Estate and LUX, London
Paul Sharits, Rapture, 1987, courtesy The Artist’s Estate and LUX, London

Without further ado, let’s begin a Saturday morning cultural crawl, blurry-eyed perhaps, at Rowing Projects.

For the uninitiated, it’s the brand new contemporary gallery tucked away in cute cobbled Leighton Place. Why bother? Because this weekend it’s your last chance to catch A Speculum That Shines (ends 12 April), a group mixed-media exhibition with works by Alastair MacKinven, Paul Sharits (pictured above) and Cathy Wilkes, amongst others.

Rose Refour at Free Space Gallery
Rose Refour at Free Space Gallery

Strong espresso from Bean About Town in hand, now head down Kentish Town Road to Flaxon Ptootch for Dark Versus Light (launch party tonight), featuring painters Nadine Wood and Elizabeth Dolby, before hopping over the road and taking a left towards the Free Space Gallery. Artism (ends 13 May) features work by those with autism from both the UK and USA.

Prince of Wales Road beckons. So make a beeline for the longstanding Beardsmore Gallery which is home to David Royle and Bruce Russell until 30 April, two abstract painters who have exhibited there on and off since the early 1990s.


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Stuart Whipps, A System For Communicating With The Ghost Of Sir Christopher Wren, 2014 (detail)
Stuart Whipps, A System For Communicating With The Ghost Of Sir Christopher Wren, 2014 (detail)

Follow the fashionable thoroughfare – not missing the Fields Beneath’s brilliant bridge sign, and, er, more coffee – to end up at the new Invites exhibition at former Methodist Chapel the Zabludowicz, which also launches tonight. As well as taking a peek at the main-room show Infinite City, don’t miss this new installation by Stuart Whipps exploring “the relationship between photography and narrative” (both end 11 May).

Two more launches next week

Fascinated with three sided shapes, illegible typography, and freeform lettering: Kate Moross
Fascinated with three sided shapes, illegible typography, and freeform lettering: Kate Moross

Cob Gallery: from April 14, this airy Royal College Street space hosts Make Your Own Luck, which unveils the world of illustrator and graphic design powerhouse Kate Moross. Her debut solo exhibition, it looks back over a prolific career and features hundreds of original illustrations, designs and working drawings, as well as her video and moving images.

Also debuting in the next seven days is the new exhibition at former factory the DRAF Gallery (from April 14 until May 24). Study #6 is an in-depth research project focused on the twenty-year Bench Painting series (1989-2009) by British artist Michael Simpson’s (b.1940). A free opening reception next Tuesday (15 April), from 7-9pm, sees performances by Tim Etchells.

Shhhhhhh!

Image: Anthony Faroux
Image: Anthony Faroux

It’s pretty damn easy to walk right past intimate gallery and performance space 43 Inverness Street. It looks just like someone’s house, and that’s because it is. But the Korean owner regularly pushes back the sofa to display work by London or Korean-based artists. Talks, screenings and shows are often held here too and the atmosphere couldn’t be much more personal. Only open Fri and Sat 12-6pm or by appointment. Next up is Anthony Faroux (pictured), from April 25 – May 24.


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The award-winning print and online title Kentishtowner was founded in 2010 and is part of London Belongs To Me, a citywide network of travel guides for locals. For more info on what we write about and why, see our About section.