London Calling. British Contemporary Art Today. From David Hockney to Idris Khan. Palazzo Cipolla, Rome. 17 March - 17 July 2022
Rome’s Palazzo Cipolla hosts one of the most unique contemporary art exhibitions ever held in Italy. “London Calling: British Contemporary Art Today, From David Hockney to Idris Khan” is an exhibition of more than thirty works by thirteen great British artists from multiple generations, for whom London has played a pivotal role in their artistic careers.
The exhibition brings together an exceptional group of artists born over five decades, from 1937 to 1978: David Hockney, Michael Craig-Martin, Sean Scully, Tony Cragg, Anish Kapoor, Julian Opie, Grayson Perry, Yinka Shonibare, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Damien Hirst, Mat Collishaw, Annie Morris, and Idris Khan.
All these artists’ careers have in some way been influenced by the British capital. Either they were born there, went to London for their education, or perhaps moved there later to be close to its great galleries and museums, or simply to visit to broaden their creative horizons. Thanks to these artists, London has become the Olympus of the artistic avant-garde, much like Florence was in the Renaissance, Paris was with Impressionism, or New York was during the second half of the twentieth century. Artists began flocking to London in the early 1960s, when it was in the throes of an economic and social transformation that paved the way for it to become one of the undisputed capitals of contemporary art.
From the oldest artist in this group, David Hockney, to the youngest, Idris Khan, the exhibition offers a cross-section of the current London art scene through a series of iconic works selected by curators Maya Binkin and Javier Molins, in collaboration with the artists themselves. Drawn from the artists’ personal collections/studios, the exhibition is supported by international galleries and collections like the Gagosian Gallery, Goodman Gallery, Victoria Miró Gallery, Modern Forms, Galerie Lelong, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Tucci Russo Gallery, and the Lisson Gallery.
This varied crop of artists offers an overview of highly different compositional techniques, from painting to sculpture, drawing, ceramics, photography, video and more, covering a variety of themes such as everyday life, confinement, exploration of what it is to be human, landscape, politics, religion, art history, literature, music, gender, violence, and the relationship between life and death.
