Cork Street reopens, our galleries welcome you to their Spring 2021 exhibitions

Following winter’s extended UK lockdown, Cork Street is thrilled to announce its reopening as of 12 April.

In line with government guidelines, our galleries welcome you back to experience art in real life, taking in their spring programme.

“We are delighted to be welcoming visitors back to Cork Street to view art in a gallery setting after such a long period of lockdown,” says Julian Stocks, Property Director of The Pollen Estate. “It’s important that the public can come and see art in the flesh after being deprived of it for so long.”

An historic art destination in the capital, Cork Street endures, reignited for a new era as a forward-thinking hub.

Sue Williamson, It’s a pleasure to meet you, 2016; two-channel video installation with ste-reo audio 24 minutes and 40 seconds; Edition of 5.

Layering, superimposing and condensing to establish intricate networks and relationships – with a nod to interiors! – Bernard Cohen, one of Britain’s most significant abstract painters, continues his sustained inquiry into the chaos of everyday existence at Flowers Gallery (21 Cork Street, until 22 May).

‘Jointly planned by the police / Three young people died / a necessary technique to protect’ – a text detail from one of Sue Williamson’s works in her show Testimony, at Goodman Gallery (26 Cork Street, until 24 April). Marking the first solo presentation by the British-South African artist in the UK and spanning seminal 90s work to the present day, Williamson is part of a pioneering generation of South African artists who challenged the apartheid government from the 1970s.

Richard Deacon and Bill Woodrow have been making ‘shared sculptures’ together for over thirty years. In fact, they’ve made over sixty since 1990. Often playful, and in surprising directions from each individual artists’ practice, their exhibition is the first to showcase works made throughout this period. At Holtermann Fine Art (30 Cork Street, until 4 June).

Installation view of Jonathan Monk, ‘Not Me, Me’ at Lisson Gallery, Cork Street, London, 20 January – 27 March 2021 © Jonathan Monk, courtesy Lisson Gallery.

A Paul McCarthy puppet looking at himself in a mirror while dressed as Paul McCartney, in two-dimensional black and white. Between these doppelgängers hangs an original Martin Kippenberger edition, in the form of a retro phone, while the record sleeve of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is placed below: Jonathan Monk revisits his own exhibition history, for Not Me, Me at Lisson Gallery (22 Cork Street, until 24 April), making use of his own treasure trove of memorabilia. A show of new work by Julian Opie, combining people and architecture, follows (4 May–7 June).

Painting intensely with egg tempura, Antony Williams presents Memento Mori, an exhibition of new still life paintings at Messums London (28 Cork Street, until 7 May).

Paintings by Mathieu Julien, Jin Angdoo, Kevin Pinsembert and Hams Klemens dis-played at Saatchi Yates Gallery in Allez La France! Left to Right: Jin Angdoo, Red Flower Off Center, 2020, Acrylic and spray paint on cotton canvas, 220 x 331 cm; Kevin Pinsem-bert, Sans Titre (Décor +), 2020, Acrylic on cotton, 190 x 290 cm; Kevin Pinsembert, Opel Toyota, 2020, Acrylic on cotton,190 x 300 cm; Hams Klemens, Untitled, 2020, Acrylic on canvas, 191 x 300 cm; and Hams Klemens, Untitled, 2020, Acrylic on canvas, 192 x 302 cm. Image courtesy of Saatchi Yates © Justin Piperger, 2021.

Taking its title from fans’ chants for the French national football team, Allez La France! is a group show bringing together Jin Angdoo, Mathieu Julien, Hams Klemens and Kevin Pinsembert to consider the legacy of the painting tradition in France. At Saatchi Yates (6 Cork Street, until 15 May 2021).

Shining a light on this significant but relatively overlooked artist who worked with Clement Greenberg and played a pivotal role in the careers of many seminal abstract artists, including Helen Frankenthaler, Paul Feeley is exhibited in Space Stands Still at Waddington Custot (11-12 Cork Street, until 1 June). It marks the first solo show of Feeley in the UK for over 50 years.

Slice of rainbow cake, anyone? How’s that for a lockdown flashback. Browse & Darby (19 Cork Street, until 4 June 2021) reopens with an exhibition of still-life paintings by Kate Hopkins.

Installation view: ‘Threadbare’, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London (2021). Courtesy Stephen Friedman Gallery, London. Photo by Mark Blower.

Inspired by the Amazon and Mata Atlântica rainforests, Luis Zerbini’s paintings juxtapose organic and geometric forms in Fire at Stephen Friedman Gallery (25-28 Old Burlington Street, until 15 May). The show follows his acclaimed exhibit at South London Gallery in 2018. Simultaneously, a group show, Threadbare, features new and historical work by Jonathan Baldock, Huguette Caland, Jeffrey Gibson and Tau Lewis. While Stephen Friedman Gallery and The London House of Modernity present a collaboration off-site at 14 Cavendish Square (until 28 May 2021). The unique project brings together a diverse curated selection of international contemporary art and the best of classical mid-century Nordic design.

Three Colours, Red-White-Blue at The Mayor Gallery (21 Cork Street, until 28 May) follows the success of three colour-themed online exhibitions; White as Snow in Winter, Red Celebrating Chinese New Year and Hope for Bluer Skies, presented over the first three months of 2021.

The Redfern Gallery (20 Cork Street, from 19 May–17 July) meanwhile looks forward to presenting Eileen Agar: Another Look, confirming Agar’s place as one of the most spirited, intriguing, and prolific artists of her generation, whilst offering a new perspective on her practice by exhibiting work alongside and within contemporary pieces. Featuring work by Linder, Florence Hutchings, Nadia Hebson, Olivia Fraser and Lucy Stein, The Redfern Gallery have invited five contemporary artists to respond to Agar’s work, celebrating this year’s major Eileen Agar retrospective at the Whitechapel Gallery.