London art scene

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The defining moment for the contemporary London art scene was Freeze, the 1988 warehouse exhibition organised by Damien Hirst. Up to that point, the traditional career path for an artist in London would involve several years in relative obscurity with limited sales, possibly subsidised by teaching work. The patronage of Charles Saatchi as a collector of Young British Artists (YBAs), made it possible for artists in their early twenties to have viable careers. Following on the antiques of the East End based artist duo Gilbert and George, after Freeze, there was an explosion of similar exhibitions in non-traditional gallery space — often temporarily vacant commercial space in the near East End. The Freeze show was heavily influenced by the London underground scene in the mid eighties. A number of enterprising artists, in particular, Joe Rush of the Mutoid Waste Company, seeing the great numbers of vacant buildings, organised large events or raves mixing art with music in empty warehouses around London.

Socially that London art scene is organised around private views, exhibition openings and the 'after party', the latter usually held at a club, local pub or studio space. In the nineties and under the patronage of Damien Hirst, the Groucho Club in Soho became an important hangout for those wanting to associate with the London art scene. Blacks and Soho House were also favoured while the pub Charlie Wright's in Hoxton is a favourite for many artists.

There are, of course, many divisions within the art scene of the city. The West End is thriving, where the largest dealers (Hauser & Wirth, Gagosian) can open up new large spaces in prime locations. Also, there is a large number of loosely associated scenes, such as a sound art scene, film makers, collaborative artist groups, studio collectives, the live art scene etc. who all put on their own events, exhibitions, concerts, screenings and shows. The concentration of such groups is likely to be higher in the East End than anywhere else in London, but the artists move freely and might live in one part of the city, have their studio somewhere else and go to shows on the other side of the river.

[edit] Location

The traditional geographical focus of many of London's artists in the mid-1980s, had been the East End. With increasing gentrification and the development of Docklands as an extension of the finance sector, many artists began to seek alternative accommodation. Using proceeds from the sales of paintings in the early 1990s, artist Gary Hume purchased a number of properties in Hoxton Square. The area quickly became a focus for the YBAs. Curtain Road Arts, an artists run gallery and studio complex opened in 1993, while Joshua Compston opened "Factual Nonsense" in nearby Charlotte Road. The area developed further until Jay Jopling opened the White Cube gallery there in 2000. As property prices around Hoxton, Shoreditch and Hackney have risen many artists who did not tap into the boom and young artists were forced to look for studio space and cheap accommodation further East (i.e. Hackney Wick, Stepney, Bow and Mile End) or South of the River (i.e. Peckham, Deptford, New Cross or Camberwell).