Mayfair Art Weekend celebrates 250 years of creativity
With over 40 galleries participating, Mayfair Art Weekend 2018 celebrates 250 years of creativity in the cultural hub of Mayfair and St James.
Taking place from the 29th June to the 1st July 2018, Mayfair Art Weekend celebrates the creative hub of Mayfair and St James. Presented in partnership with the Royal Academy of Arts, the arts festival will host an exciting programme of exhibitions, events, talks and tours around the historic, cultural district and showcase the way that the worlds of art, fashion and luxury converge.
Over 40 galleries in the area – including Gagosian and Hauser + Wirth - are participating in this year’s Mayfair Art Weekend, with new galleries for 2018 including Christie’s, Mimosa House, Peter Harrington Rare Books and Senesi Contemporanea. The festival will be launched by the Gallery Hop! on Friday night (the 29th), with over 35 of the participating galleries hosting special evening viewings and events – as well as drinks by Sipsmith Gin.
Between the Waves © Tejal Shah. Courtesy of Mimosa House
Over a third of the exhibitions displayed at Mayfair Art Weekend include British artists, ranging from street artist Ben Eine to Victorian artist, Sir Walter Sickert. This year, there is also a focus on female artists; work by contemporary video artist Tejal Shah will be on display in Mimosa House, whilst Hypnagogia at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery will showcase an exhibition of female artists whose paintings offer a distilled interpretation of reality.
As part of their 250th anniversary celebrations, the Royal Academy of Arts will hold a free arts festival in their Annaberg Courtyard. The courtyard will serve as a central hub for Mayfair Art Weekend, where visitors can eat, drink and relax; here, they can also listen to artist talks, engage in creative workshops or take part in artist-led tours of the participating galleries.
Orca Blue-Red, 1969 James Turrell. Courtesy of Levy Gorvy Gallery
Inside the Royal Academy, student curators from UAL will take over the newly re-launched Burlington Gardens space to program a student-led festival of art, film, music and performance. Called D i s s e c t i o n s, the festival uses the RA’s collection as a starting point to examine the way that the process of dissection reveals a lot about the processes of creating art.
Burlington Gardens will also be temporarily pedestrianized on Sunday afternoon (the 1st July) during Mayfair Art Weekend, in order to make space for The Long Artists’ Lunch. Hosted by British artist and Royal Academician, Bob and Roberta Smith, the lunch will be served on a 15-metre long surrealist themed art tablescape – which has been designed by artist duo Philip and Charlotte Colbert. Visitors can look forward to an afternoon of delicious food, art and lively conversation, sat on lobster chairs amongst the eccentric table settings.
Robber © Sophie Ryder. Photo by Tania Dolvers. Courtesy of Hignell Gallery
From bookbinding workshops to artist-led tours and pop-up book shops, there will be a range of over 40 special events across the weekend within the galleries, auctions and fashion houses within Mayfair and St James. To celebrate 250 years of art in the cultural hub, other landmark projects are also taking place during Mayfair Art Weekend which will continue on into the rest of the summer.
One of the other major projects includes over 200 artists, who have designed flags that will act as an installation, lining the streets of London’s West End. For the first time, London’s renowned Bond Street will also be transformed thanks to a series of art installations – brands including Victoria Beckham and Louis Vuitton will come together, unveiling an extraordinary array of artist designed window displays.
For more information, or to see the full programme of events taking place at Mayfair Art Weekend, please visit their website here. This free-to-the-public arts festival is certainly not one to miss!
