A new London gallery that has opened this week is seeking to pull focus away from the capital by consciously showing work by artists based outside of it.
William Hine in Camberwell, south-east London, has been established by the eponymous Manchester-born gallerist, a former director at Grimm Gallery who has also held roles at David Zwirner and Pilar Corrias. It will focus on British contemporary artists from across the country, many of whom have shown at institutions before but not had commercial exposure.
The gallery’s inaugural exhibition is dedicated to Gwen Evans, a Welsh artist based in Manchester, who had an exhibition at the city’s Home arts centre over the summer. Her figurative paintings draw on historical genres such as the marriage diptych and noir cinema, while also conveying a sense of contemporary anxiety and unease.
Future shows at the gallery will include a solo show of the Glasgow-based artist Rae-Yen Song, taking place during London Gallery Weekend next year.
Hine explains that he came across many of the other artists he is working with at institutional shows outside London, an experience that has shed light on the amount of quality work currently not shown in the capital’s commercial art spaces. “Had I not been from another part of the country and travelling to and from these institutions out of personal interest, I might have missed some really great artists,” he says.
Hine adds that while he is a great admirer of the international programmes put on by many London venues, “there is a lot happening right under our noses” in the UK that he wishes to explore.
William Hine joins a strong and still growing community of galleries and art institutions in south London, such as The Sunday Painter near Vauxhall, Sim Smith in Camberwell, and Hannah Barry Gallery in Peckham. Hine explains: “There’s a whole trail you can do in the space of a day and I wanted to try to be part of that momentum.”
