ICONIC CULTURE
ART IN THE SPOTLIGHT Ruth Millington unveils the next generation of artists brought to the forefront by Saatchi Gallery
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Art, particularly that made by emerging artists, needs an audience. But students were hit hard by lockdown: the doors to their art school studios were shut and their all-important degree shows were cancelled. Nevertheless, these creatives persisted through the pandemic – sculpting at the kitchen table, painting in their bedrooms and photographing subjects from a safe distance. Now, their efforts have been rewarded with a monumental show at Saatchi Gallery, a space renowned for launching the careers of many young artists. In London Grads Now. 21, the spotlight finally falls on over 200 artworks created and curated by MA graduates from seven of London’s leading art schools. First and foremost, this collaborative show exposes an exciting new trend: figurative painting is back in fashion. Given the past few years of isolation, many of the artists feature solitary figures in their frames. Graduate Tom White has painted a poignant oil on canvas of his friend, sitting deep in thought on the edge of a sofa bed. Commenting on the portrait, he explains: “The title Lucky Red comes from a bracelet she wears – it stood out to me very early on in the painting process. Even in the most tumultuous of
times, you’ve got to keep a little bit of hope.” Meanwhile, Emil Lombardo spent lockdown cycling across London with his camera to photograph his muses – trans and non-binary people, posed outside their homes. Luca – they/he/she belongs to the series An Unending Sunday Morning, which is a documentation of his community’s “unique experiences and feelings of isolation, separation and struggle”, particularly through periods of seclusion. Intent on “slowing down”, which the pandemic aided, Lombardo developed a relationship with his sitters, whose dissident gender identities intersect with his own experiences: “I regard my practice as a method of exploring my own gender identity and sexuality.” Also investigating sexuality is Flora Bradwell, whose soft sculpture, Greedy Mouth, is a glutinous explosion of breasts and foot, embellished with repurposed dummies in what the artist proclaims as a “vibrantly trashy” aesthetic, characterised by a “compulsion towards the camp and carnivalesque”. An emphasis on the tactile recurs throughout the exhibition, marking the importance of experiencing art in real life, rather than just online. As Bradwell says: “The
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