What are the best galleries in London? Artists choose their favorites

Multidisciplinary artist Lauren Bakerwho is exhibition at the Venice Biennale by November, she named contemporary galleries — and a hotel — as her favorite places to see art in London.

“Alice Black Gallery offers bold fine art with deeply conceptual works,” he told CNBC via email. “Not everything is pretty, there are often some dark and strange pieces that make you think about the meaning of life,” he said. The gallery is located in London’s Soho and it represents artists such as Rachael Louise Bailey, who works in a variety of media including sculpture, and abstract artist Matthew Harris.

Baker likes it too Woolf Gallery in Fitzrovia, calling his collection cheerful. “With a real focus on texture and tactile works and lots of sculptural elements, the works are fun and colorful and you just want to touch everything,” he said. The gallery represents artists such as Apoline Bokkerink, whose work focuses on snowscapes and forests, and Joanne Tinker, who reuses candy wrappers, discarded leaves and champagne cork cages in her work.

He opened the luxury Mayfair Claridge’s Hotel ArtSpace gallery in 2021 and Baker likes to visit for its “cool art crowd” in the evening or go during the day and have tea afterwards. The gallery has its own café or guests can head to the hotel’s grand Foyer and Reading Room for traditional afternoon tea.

Artist and costume designer Machine Dazzle (born Matthew Flower), likes contemporary galleries in east London Amanda Wilkinson — for its “flawless” taste — and Maureen Paley, which has shown works by artists such as Turner Prize-winning artists Gillian Wearing and Wolfgang Tillmans. Also recommends Fitzrovia Gallery Niru Ratnam of the “progressive and intelligent reports,” he told CNBC via email.

Landscape painter Katherine Edwardswho are currently working on pieces inspired by the ‘heat-scorched’ aspect of Andalucia, Spain, will exhibit at Cricket Fine Arts in Chelsea, London in September.

Her leading galleries in London include Royal academy of arts, about her “wonderful” reports, she told CNBC via email. The gallery presents its Summer Exhibition, which features more than 1,700 works selected by seven Royal Academicians, some of which are available for purchase.

Edwards also likes London’s great galleries Tate Modern and Tate Britain. “One of my favorite rooms in the Tate Modern is the Mark Rothko room, which shows Rothko’s vast series of paintings done for the Seagram building in New York. They are almost architectural in structure with vibrant color schemes. They are thoughtful, contemplative works of which I find deeply moving,” Edwards said.

Multidisciplinary artist Komal Madar she’s also a fan of the Tate Modern and can’t wait to see its “Expressionists: Kandinsky, Munter and The Blue Rider” exhibition, which runs until October 20. including the huge Turbine Hall — the gallery is housed in a former power station. Madar also suggested feminist artist Judy Chicago’s “Revelations‘ at the Serpentine North in Hyde Park (running until September 1) and the White Cube galleries in the Bermondsey and Mayfair areas of London.

Edwards also chose the Estorick Collection, showcasing futuristic Italian art in an Islington mansion. “Futurism was a movement that emerged in the early 1900s as a way for Italian artists (mostly) to express the energy of the modern world. There are Modigliani sculptures, incredibly abstract, and rooms for changing performances,” Edwards told CNBC.

Portrait photographer based in London Tom Oldham has photographed musicians such as Dave Grohl and sports stars including Usain Bolt, and his work The Hopefuls aims to encourage young people to vote in the UK general election on July 4.

The Photographers Gallery in Soho is a favorite for its “strong and edgy selections,” Oldham told CNBC via email, and recommended its bookstore and cafe. He likes it too The Gilbert & George Centre, a free-admission gallery run by artist couple Gilbert Prousch and George Passmore, for its “three huge rooms that showcase different works, small and large.” Oldham suggested a drink afterwards at the neighboring pub, the Pride of Spitalfields.

Finally, Oldham described London’s auction houses as “an art hack you can’t ignore”. “I often go to see rotating exhibitions of the best work in the world, whether it’s art prints, photography, ceramics or design at auction houses like Phillips in Berkeley Square,” he said — the auction house is in London’s posh Mayfair district. Phillips and auction houses such as Sotheby’s and Christie’s often display works for several days before the sale. “The viewing is free and it’s magical to see so much work of this quality up close,” Oldham said.