Here we go again… another city-wide art event, another guide of what to see and where to eat and drink.
London Gallery Weekend was founded in 2021, in the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic. The idea was to promote art across the city by getting galleries to open their doors all weekend. Plus, Berlin had one, and the London art scene doesn’t like to be one-upped. This year, between 31st May – 2nd June, more than 130 galleries will participate, alongside a programme of talks, performances, workshops, book launches and parties. Plus, there’s our competition, the Plaster One-Liner (write a one-sentence review of any London Gallery Weekend show and you could win £1,000 – full details here).
We’ve published a few of these guides now and each time we’ve spent an afternoon checking our camera rolls and reading Google reviews. So we had a better idea: get other people to do the hard work for us by spamming our contacts for reccs. Here they are, and here’s the Google Map.
Editor-in-chief at EPOCH, artistic director at Vienna Contemporary, monthly on NTS
Paintings of German gay saunas by Trinidadian painter Ryan Huggins in a young space in Bloomsbury. What’s not to love?
Old Soho, the way it is supposed to be. I recommend ordering bubble and squeak, ripe avocado and a single fried egg.
It’s worth getting on the tube to Arsenal for the best natural wine in London. These boys are fire. Book ahead.
Artist, model, curator, DJ
In recent times, Amanda Wilkinson moved from her Soho abode to the Farringdon area with an exciting roster of artists. I’m a huge fan of the artistic outpourings that Amanda Wilkinson gallery brings to the proceedings. ‘Land Art’, her current solo exhibition with Shimabuku bridges humankind with natural landscapes and offers us a setting to reflect on our place in the world in a meditative way. Thinking about the harsh world we inhabit, we all need some sort of peace: peace within ourselves and with others.
Around the corner, enjoy Fergus Henderson’s original arty ambience at the original outpost of St John. There are seasonal meaty vibes, and also non-meat selections on the menu, like Welsh Rarebit. Bottoms up dears – it’s buzzing!
Miel for french pastries, try the canneles and the croissants. Berenjak for Iranian food. Get the bread and aubergines.
Ham Yard is the best spot for cocktails. It’s spacious and there is outside seating!
Model, podcast host
I love Nan Goldin – she’s a maverick and has such a strong vision.
I would also suggest Donlon Books, where you can always get lost. It’s not very big but there is real variety and depth in their stock and range of books.
Some personal favourites are Sessions Arts Club, I love the atmosphere as much as the food, and Café Cecilia, which is stylish and delicious.
My favourite place to hang out has got to be Space Talk, which is a new spot on St John’s st. It is a curated experience and so giving to anyone dropping by – beautiful, thoughtful and unique.
Artist, illustrator, Plaster contributor
Mother’s Tankstation has a solo show of Matt Bollinger’s paintings. I first discovered his work through his tender hand painted animations of lamp-lit doughy Americans in CVS parking lots.
Dinner at July on Charlotte Street is delicious Alsatian wine and food strictly NOT for sharing. The menu is constantly changing but I’d recommend sausage, schnitzel and the rhubarb crepe if you can.
Foreign Exchange on Leinster Terrace is a beautiful coffee spot that bridges the awkward gap between West London and anywhere fun. Excellent coffee, second-hand book selection, magazines and still an actual foreign exchange architecturally Wes Anderson-Ed by Wendover Partners.
For a hidden gem, I’d recommend Tenderbooks on Cecil Court. Excellent bookstore specialising in independent publishing and constant host to art world events. Neatly tucked in amongst a bunch of brutally priced antiquarian booksellers.
Art historian, director of Chisenhale Gallery
Generally, I think printmakers receive too little of our time and attention despite their fundamentally collaborative approach and expert techniques. Magda Stawarska is specifically a master printmaker whose brilliant work I really appreciate. She’s showing this weekend at Yamamoto Keiko Rochaix.
I have to recommend Willie’s Pies. I am actually addicted to them and I buy them weekly from my local deli, Pantry in southeast London, but they’re made in Hackney, so if you’re East, a detour to London Fields is a must… and best of all you can buy one (or more!) to take home.
Since I’m recommending a little trek for food, the bar is essentially on the gallery’s doorstep: Discount Suit Company. With some inspired cocktail remixes that make ordering fun and Northern Soul on the speakers, you’ll want to spend more time than you realised in a former tailor’s stockroom.
Writer, editor, runs The London Culture Edit, a weekly curated selection of London’s cultural offerings from across the arts.
I’ve loved Jodie Carey’s quiet but muscular sculptures for years – as a writer, the firing of the narrative synapses stimulated by her explorations of memory, mortality, ritual and the fierce determination of life are irresistible.
Queen’s Park’s brilliant Eastern Mediterranean restaurant Carmel has opened a much bigger space in Fitzrovia, five minutes walk from at least ten of the galleries participating in London Gallery Weekend. I could spend a merry lunchtime just greedily scooping up the mezze onto their za’atar flatbread but everything is delicious – you’ll be thinking about the hispi cabbage for days.
This itsy bitsy bar is about as social as you can legally get in public. How they fit bands in the tiny space downstairs I can never quite fathom but it’s got a great soundsystem, good DJs, a buzzy vibe and the beer is fine. Very, very London.
Journalist, former NFT trader, Plaster contributor
Bernheim Gallery is showing Swiss artist Klodin Erb opening May 31. Because Maria has the tallest art building in LGW, five floors, it’s incredibly good exercise. You never know who you’re gonna find all the way at the top, where the gallery becomes a living room. Sometimes it’s Jon Rafman, sometimes it’s Lola Kramer from Artnet (my aunt).
Shreeji Newsagents on Chiltern Street because you can pose with all the art magazines like Art Review and pretend to read them without buying, while looking at the gate of Chiltern Firehouse. Take a note of collectors checking in and out of the hotel, then move closer to the reception desk.
Miznon: they shove a whole cauliflower in a pita. So it’s both gluttony and a veg meal. Don’t forget to add tahini.
Place to fly from: London Gatwick cause it’s called LGW. Most glum airport in London.
Director of Ilenia
Matthew Barney is an American artist working across film, sculpture, drawing and photography. ‘SECONDARY: light lens parallax’ at Sadie Coles HQ, Kingly Street, presents the artist’s most recent film alongside a new series of sculptures. Drawing inspiration from the infamous 1978 Raiders vs. Patriots game, Barney’s film SECONDARY addresses the relationship between the body and its physical limits, transmogrification, and the deep-rooted history of violence in American culture. Consistent with the artist’s practice, the sculptural works in the exhibition are drawn directly from the film, blurring the distance between the cinematic narratives and the physical.
Bar Crispin, also on Kingly Street, is a great spot for wines and snacks served in a beautiful space designed by Jermaine Gallacher. I especially enjoy sitting in the green room downstairs.
Just around the corner is Kiln, a small restaurant serving Thai food made with the best British produce. Sit at the counter and try the crab glass noodles!
Director of Bernheim Gallery
At Burlington Arcade, you have the chance to see works that are genuine and sincere, photographs of Goldin’s transgender friends in the 70s. Cool before their time, more relevant than ever. Then, put your walking shoes on and check out her show ‘Sisters, Saints, Sibyls’ at the Welsh Chapel, 83 Charing Cross Road, part of Gagosian Open.
Better food than Cipriani, you can always sit at the bar and why try to reinvent the wheel when their appetisers are the best in the city.
Is there even another place in the city?
Director of Studio Voltaire (which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year)
I think Vincent Fecteau’s sculptures are so weird and brilliant, they seem to both talk to the world while being completely happy in their own existence and singularity. This contradictory-ness seems to continue throughout his work, the sculptures are generous to the audiences with their multiple references which give so many layers of inferences, but at the same time, they are somewhat closed off to communication and dialogue. I could look at them for hours.
I have such fondness for Retro Bar. It is queer pub tucked away down a little alley just off The Strand. I first went there when I moved to London in the late 1990s. Its kitsch-y interior with its rock ‘n’ roll gallery walls and retro pop and indie hits has always made this place feel a bit out of step. It felt retro back in the 1990s, and it certainly does now, but that is a massive part of its charm.
I wanted to recommend Crispin at Studio Voltaire, our new fantastic restaurant which opened a couple of months back in Clapham. I don’t want to be seen as too nepotistic, so I am recommending its sister restaurant Bistro Freddie in Shoreditch. The restaurant is pure comfort, both with its food and drink offer and its dining experience. They do the best chips and mayo in London – and their pies have already become a thing of infamy. I’d also recommend their desserts and great wine list.
All galleries participating in London Gallery Weekend 2024 are open Friday 31 May: 11 am – 6 pm, Saturday 1 June: 11 am – 6 pm, and Sunday 2 June: 12 – 5 pm. londongalleryweekend.art
19 min read
The Photo London guide nobody asked for
12 min read
The Venice Biennale guide nobody asked for
11 min read
London art exhibitions: Plaster staff picks
6 min read
Want to win £1,000? Enter the Plaster One-Liner, a new writing prize for London Gallery Weekend
