Paint the town red

Catriona Gray meets the young stars lighting up the London art scene, from auctioneers to artists and curators to historians

- Catriona Gray

CREATIVE types have flocked to the capital for centuries because part of London’s ongoing attraction is its rich heritage: it’s home to world renowned art schools, spectacular museums, famous auction houses and long-established galleries in Mayfair and St James’s, from where you can purchase classical sculptures, Modernist masterpieces and everything in between. East or south, you’ll find spaces full of all manner of contemporary work (try Flowers Gallery in Hackney, E2, and Hannah Barry Gallery in Peckham, SE15), as well as a high density of artists’ studios. ‘London is still very much a global city where art is concerned, attracting collectors from all over the world, on top of the many engaged collectors here full time,’ says gallery owner Will Elliott.

Each passing generation brings something new to the table and the current wave of bright young things is forging fresh paths, helped, in part, by the fact that the past decade has seen an extraordinary shift in how we view and consume art. Social media has had its part to play, but so has the emergence of new venues and ways of marketing, to ensure artists have the widest possible platform on which to display their wares. Take, for example, the cura- tor using contemporary art to dress up the London Underground. Thanks to these movers and shakers, the art-world future is bright.

The curator Jessica Vaughan

As the senior curator of Transport for London’s (TfL) Art on the Underground scheme, Jessica Vaughan commissions pieces for all 272 stations, which are seen by millions of com- muters every day. The art ranges from major sculptural installations to the illustrations that enliven the covers of pocket Tube maps.