- Venue
- South London Gallery
- Location
- London
According to their website, The South London Fine Art Gallery opened on 4 May 1891 and was founded as a ‘gallery for the people of south London open to the public free, and on Sundays’. After a year of renovations, it reopened at the end of June. The gallery now comprises a bookshop, garden, education space, a lovely café, and a flat for artists-in-residence, all together with a new extension to add to the main gallery.
The show “Nothing Is Forever” coincides with the re-opening of the gallery and it is literally, a one-off chance to see the work of 20 international artists in this space. As the title suggests, the work will disappear when the show ends. It will be painted over, to be forever embedded in the walls of the gallery, becoming one with them.
As a whole, the exhibition is a hit. It shows work from artists of different generations, most of them working with text and reviving the practice of Art writing (referring to the practice of using text as art, playing with either its aesthetic form or the meaning itself). The show is very enjoyable, and the high-ceiling main gallery adds to a sense of grandeur, lending itself to this kind of semi-monumental work.
Perhaps what the artistic community will be most happy about is the new artist’s flat. A space renovated exclusively for artistic residencies it is one of the very few that offer accommodation in the gallery to potential residents. For the exhibition it is open to the public and it shows the result of inviting Sam Porritt to inhabit the space for two nights and produce a work before inviting someone chosen by him to do the same, and so on. The result is playful and sometimes a bit eerie, as the flat is completely empty – save for a bed.
Due to the simplicity of the works, it would be too easy to describe them individually in this text and they would loose their awing capacity. Instead, I recommend you go along and spend some time in the gallery, take a book or a friend along and sit in the garden, or even better take part in one of their weekly activities – it’s all free. And this is where the greatness of the gallery lies – even during the opening night, the gallery has kept its community feel, inviting local residents to an event normally reserved for VIPs, and thus returning the space to those who benefit the most from it. For years, the SLG has been known for its award-winning education programmes, and its integration of the local community, drawing them towards new and contemporary art. The new space plays exactly on that, and the SLG is now even more a place to hang out, spend a weekend in the garden or taking part in the activities, or simply going for a coffee and a browse. Like the website suggests, it is still very much a gallery for the people.
