BAGRI FOUNDATION AND SAATCHI GALLERY PRESENT MYTHS, DREAMS AND NEW REALITIES, AN EXHIBITION PLATFORMING AN EMERGING GENERATION OF ASIAN ARTISTS

London, UK (September 2025) – Saatchi Gallery and Bagri Foundation present Myths, Dreams and New Realities, a group exhibition running from 24 October – 30 November 2025, curated by Chelsea Pettitt, Director of Bagri Foundation, together with the Saatchi Gallery Programming team.

Myths, Dreams and New Realities will spotlight 13 emerging artists from across the Asian diaspora, who each reimagine cultural identity through personal mythologies and visionary material practices. The exhibition presents bold new works across painting, sculpture, textiles and ceramics.

The show brings together a new generation of artists from the Asian diaspora who interrogate the way we relate to our bodies, heritage and natural environments through contemporary art. Audiences are invited to experience speculative worlds shaped by cultural memory, material innovation, and imaginative vision.

Across the gallery space, dreamlike visuals unfurl as the artists investigate the entangled relationship between identity, history, and mythology. Lulu Wang and Sato Sugamoto’s larger-than-life anthropomorphic shapes and tangled wires greet us at one end of the gallery, representing the messiness of human life. Colourful installations draw visitors to the other end of the space, with Wink King Moe’s cotton candy coloured landscapes and Marcos Kueh’s detailed tapestries which draw inventively from the folklore, symbolism and myth of Malaysian culture.

Throughout the exhibition, human and non-human landscapes are revealed through painting and sculpture. Artists reimagine their relationship with land and body, drawing inspiration from craft traditions and ancestral memory. Their works range from intricate textiles and surreal ceramics to ethereal paintings and symbolic assemblages. Whether working with natural pigments, found materials or industrial processes, each artist builds a unique reality, some built on myths or dreams whilst others on our own bodies, offering not just new ways of seeing, but exploring new ways of being.

Featured artists: Rabia S. Akhtar, Hoa Dung Clerget, Woo Jin Joo, Wink King Moe, Marcos Kueh, Hannah Lim, Kuniko Maeda, Hemaseh Manawi Rad, Varshga Premarasa, Sato Sugamoto, Lulu Wang, Caroline Wong, Lian Zhang

Myths, Dreams and New Realities is Bagri Foundation’s first institutionally curated exhibition in collaboration with Saatchi Gallery as part of its 40th anniversary. The partnership reflects the Foundation’s growing curatorial role in the UK cultural sector, platforming Asian excellence through its ongoing mission to cultivate a meaningful space for Asian culture to thrive. It also speaks to Saatchi Gallery’s continued ambition to present bold, relevant exhibitions that engage with global contemporary art and emerging artists.

Rooted in a commitment to support and realise unique, high-quality programmes which share traditional and contemporary Asian culture, the Foundation works to upend existing notions of Asia and create opportunities for new artistic presentations that sit equal amongst predominant Western narratives.

Chelsea Pettitt, Director of the Bagri Foundation and curator, said: “I was thrilled to delve into the minds of the artists in this exhibition. Each of whom uniquely build upon inherited knowledge and cultural memory to dream new futures into being. These are not only aesthetic explorations, but acts of contribution, to tradition, to imagination and to the evolving language of Asian diasporic art. It has been a privilege to curate this exhibition as part of the Foundation’s wider mission to cultivate a meaningful space for Asian culture to thrive, in this case highlighting exciting new voices on the scene.”

Drop-in Curatorial & Artist Walkthroughs

Two curatorial walkthroughs will take place during the run of the exhibition. Find out more by dropping in on the dates below. No need to book in advance.

• 12pm, Sunday 26 October with artist Hemaseh Manawi Rad

• 12pm, Saturday 29 November with artist Woo Jin Joo and Varshga Premarasa

−ENDS−

NOTES TO EDITORS

For all press enquiries, please contact:
Niamh Elain, Marketing & Press Executive – [email protected]

Open to the public: 24 October – 30 November 2025
Spaces: The exhibition will occupy Gallery 4 on the Ground Floor.
Admission: Free of charge. No booking required.

About the Bagri Foundation

The Bagri Foundation, established in 1990, is a family foundation driven by a spirit of curiosity. Our vision is to cultivate a meaningful space for Asian culture to thrive, shift perspectives and deepen connections.

The Foundation works within a network of leading cultural organisations who share this mission, to give artists and experts from across Asia, wider visibility on the global stage. We champion diverse artistic initiatives that challenge and inspire us and our audiences. Through grants and strategic partnerships, we realise unique, high-quality programmes which share traditional and contemporary Asian culture.

Recent partnerships and projects include the exhibition Asian Bronze: 4000 years of Beauty at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; a touring co-production, Thikra: Night of Remembering , by Akram Khan Company; and three first-time UK solo institutional presentations by female artists from Asia, Arpita Singh at Serpentine Gallery, London, Citra Sasmita at the Curve Gallery, Barbican, London and Seulgi Lee at Ikon Gallery, Birmingham.

In addition to the public-facing arts programme, three generations of the family continue to support education, poverty relief and health initiatives.

https://bagrifoundation.org/

About Saatchi Gallery

Since 1985, Saatchi Gallery has provided an innovative platform for contemporary art. Exhibitions have presented works by largely unseen young artists, or by international artists whose work has been rarely or never exhibited in the UK. This approach has made the Gallery one of the most recognised names in contemporary art. Since moving to its current 70,000 square feet space in the Duke of York’s Headquarters in Chelsea, London, the Gallery has welcomed over 10 million visitors. The Gallery hosts thousands of school visits annually and has over 6 million followers on social media. In 2019 Saatchi Gallery became a registered charity, beginning a new chapter in its history.

www.saatchigallery.com

Registered Charity Number: 1182328 | Duke of York’s HQ, King’s Rd, London SW3 4RY

London, UK (June 2025) – Saatchi Gallery presents HIP HOP – Living a Dream, an exhibition showcasing the work of renowned photographers Jamel Shabazz (b. 1960), Joseph Rodriguez (b. 1951), and Gregory Bojorquez (b. 1972). From the early 1980s on, each of these three American chroniclers provides distinct insights into the rise and global impact of American Hip Hop culture. HIP HOP – Living a Dream delves into the lifestyle that, in combination with music, graffiti, breakdancing, and fashion, evolved into a worldwide phenomenon – from the streets of 1980s New York to Los Angeles, the Southern United States, Europe, and beyond, persisting into the present day.

Jamel Shabazz’s work from the 1980s serves as both a personal visual diary and a historical document, capturing the birth of the Hip Hop movement in the vibrant metropolis of New York City. Shabazz’s portraits embody the zeitgeist of New York, illustrating a pivotal era of music, fashion, and art. Jamel was stationed in the US Army in Germany when he heard one of the first major Hip Hop groups, Positive Force, debut their 1979 hit song “We Got the Funk”. His love for the genre is manifested in the images he would produce over the decades. The first of many Hip Hop artists he photographed were LL Cool J, and Public Enemy. Today, his portraits are synonymous with the movement itself.

In his series East Side Stories – Gang Life in East L.A., Brooklyn-born photographer Joseph Rodriguez provides a documentary-style look at gang culture during the 1990s. His work portrays the lived experiences, nuances, and harsh realities of gang life. According to Rodriguez, “My interest in going to L.A. began in early 1992. I was strongly influenced by the Hip Hop coming out of the streets of Los Angeles and other cities across the country. These youth were rapping about the very important issues in their communities. Their music were like the newspapers of the streets.” In addition to his documentation of American Hip Hop on both the West and East Coast, Rodriguez’s portraits of groups in Sweden point to the many facets of international forms of Hip Hop and its prevalence in cities beyond New York, such as Los Angeles and New Orleans, where Rodriguez documented notable figures Master P and the No Limit Crew.

Los Angeles native Gregory Bojorquez has been documenting the Hip Hop scene since the 1990s: “Before I started photographing it, I was a fan of L.A. Hip Hop. The first things I photographed in Hip Hop were underground Hip Hop shows. Some were promoted by Orlando and Bigga B. Those shows were called Unity. Some artists they featured were Wu Tang affiliated artists, Goodie Mob, Big Pun. Sway & Tech had the Wake up Shows reunions. Some acts were OutKast, Gang Star, Pharoahe Monch and the legendary freestyle battle between Supernatural & Juice.” His works also feature Snoop Dogg & Tha Dogg Pound (DPG), 50 Cent, Eminem, DMX, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, Missy Elliott, Mos Def, Swizz Beatz, and Ice Cube.

Like Hip Hop itself, the three photographers Shabazz, Rodriguez, and Bojorquez have garnered international acclaim, reaching audiences far beyond the United States. Jamel Shabazz’s photographs are part of esteemed collections worldwide, including the National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC); the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation (Frankfurt am Main), the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles), and the Gordon Parks Foundation in New York. Gregory Bojorquez’s works have been exhibited at the Vincent Price Art Museum in Los Angeles and internationally in Cologne, Berlin, and other locations. Joseph Rodriguez’s photographs are housed in institutions such as the Los Angeles County Museum, the International Center of Photography in New York, the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, Museum Ludwig in Cologne, and the Albertina in Vienna.

This exhibition is produced with Galerie Bene Taschen.

NOTES TO EDITORS

For all press enquiries, please contact:
Niamh Elain, Marketing & Press Executive – [email protected]

Dates open to the public: 31 July – 11 September 2025
Location in the gallery: Galleries 3 & 4
Admission: Free entry, pre-booking not required.

About Galerie Bene Taschen

Founded in 2011 in Cologne, Galerie Bene Taschen represents some of the world’s leading artists in contemporary photography and painting. The gallery is committed to promoting its international artists through regular participation in major art fairs such as Paris Photo and Art Cologne, as well as a comprehensive exhibition program. In 2011, the gallery made its debut with LA photographer Gregory Bojorquez; in 2013, it began working with Joseph Rodriguez from New York. In 2014, the acclaimed Berlin-based photographer Miron Zownir joined the gallery’s program. American photographers Jamel Shabazz and Arlene Gottfried from New York also joined in 2015. Since autumn 2017, the gallery has been pleased to represent the New York-based photographer Jeff Mermelstein and the German painter Charlotte Trossbach, and since the autumn/winter of 2019, it has been working with the renowned photographers Sebastião Salgado and Larry Fink. Most recently, Donnie Molls from Los Angeles and Prague-born artist Josef Achrer have joined the gallery.

www.benetaschen.com

Lindenstr. 19, 50674 Cologne, Germany

About Saatchi Gallery

www.saatchigallery.com

Registered Charity Number: 1182328 | Duke of York’s HQ, King’s Rd, London SW3 4RY

Monday, 09 June 2025 – As part of its role as Principal Patron of Saatchi Gallery for 2025, PEUGEOT is collaborating with the Gallery to launch the Artist of the Future prize worth £10,000, an initiative designed to promote artists from all backgrounds and showcase cutting-edge digital art, inspire new audiences and empower the next generation of talent.

Artist of the Future, Powered by PEUGEOT in collaboration with Saatchi Gallery, has been designed with innovation at its core to promote new artists from all backgrounds. The prize aims to showcase cutting-edge digital art that resonates with PEUGEOT’s focus on innovation, its wider ambition to inspire new audiences, and empower the next generation of emerging talent. The winner will receive a prize worth £10,000, made up of a £5,000 cash prize as well as a media package worth £5,000.

Since 1985, Saatchi Gallery has provided an innovative platform for contemporary art, showcasing exhibitions by largely unseen emerging artists. Today, Saatchi Gallery is a registered charity dedicated to creating meaningful opportunities to engage with art and presenting an ever-evolving exhibition programme that reflects the breadth and diversity of contemporary creativity.

Artists are invited to submit one piece of digital artwork as part of the entry and provide an autobiography covering their background, artistic journey and influences that informed their work. In addition, the submission will require a statement of up to 300 words highlighting why the artist’s work should be considered for the prize. With innovation as the theme of the competition, PEUGEOT is looking for submissions that push the boundaries of digital art and incorporate new technologies, techniques and ideas into the creative process.

The competition is free to enter, and submissions must be made by 31 August 2025. The competition is open to all forms of digital art, including but not limited to digital paintings, 3D modelling, motion graphics, animation, generative art and interactive media.

An expert panel of judges from the arts, technology and culture space will judge the submissions, creating a shortlist of 10 before the winner is decided. The shortlisted pieces will be displayed at Saatchi Gallery during Q4 2025.

Nicola Dobson, Managing Director PEUGEOT UK, said: “We‘re excited to announce the Artist of the Future prize, Powered by PEUGEOT, as part of our role as Principal Patron of Saatchi Gallery. As a brand with a reputation for bold design and a commitment to future technology, the theme of innovation for the Artist of the Future prize perfectly complements PEUGEOT’s values, along with Saatchi Gallery’s unwavering commitment to innovation and experimentation.”

At PEUGEOT, we’re serious about pleasure. We believe in creating a better world; a world where progress is driven by pleasure. Pleasure is how we stand out from the anonymous, banish the banal, and champion excellence. I’m excited to see all the submissions for the prize and look forward to announcing the winner.

PEUGEOT’s role as Principal Patron is visible across Saatchi Gallery’s physical and digital platforms. From onsite branding to inclusion in printed and digital materials, the collaboration ensures that PEUGEOT will be at the forefront of promoting creativity and cultural engagement.

For more details on how to enter Artist of the Future, Powered by PEUGEOT, please visit: peugeot.co.uk/artist-of-the-future

SOCIAL LINKS

Follow PEUGEOT PR on Instagram: @PeugeotUKPR
Follow PEUGEOT PR on X: @PeugeotUKPR

ABOUT PEUGEOT

PEUGEOT is an inventive high-end mainstream brand. The ‘Power of Allure’ is our brand promise, epitomised in all of our models and services. Allure (attractive design), Emotion (instinctive driving pleasure) and Excellence (uncompromising quality, efficiency and technology) represent our values. PEUGEOT is present in more than 130 countries worldwide and sold more than 1,050,000 vehicles in 2022. By 2025, all of our models (PC and LCV) will be electric. The PEUGEOT E-LION Project is a 360° approach to deliver our Carbon Net Zero objective by 2038. The electrified PEUGEOT 9X8 Hypercar demonstrates our passion for motorsport, competing in the World Endurance Championship (WEC), including the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans.

June 2025, Bristol: The exhibiting artists for the 166^th edition of the Royal Photographic Society’s International Photography Exhibition (IPE), the world’s longest-running photography exhibition, have been announced. Renowned for showcasing the diversity of contemporary photography from around the world, the works will be on display at London’s Saatchi Gallery from Tuesday 5^th August to Thursday 18^th September 2025.

More than 4,000 photographers, both amateur and professional, submitted work for consideration in the 166^th IPE open call. 113 prints from 51 photographers were selected by a guest panel for inclusion in the exhibition.

The IPE has always reflected the times and this year’s submissions are no exception with many photographers focussing on themes that include environmental issues, identity, community, family, and culture, showing how contemporary photographers engage with and capture aspects of the world that are not only visually compelling but also socially and culturally significant.

With this edition showing at Saatchi Gallery, London, more people than ever will be able to view the work and appreciate the broad range of photography and themes captured in the final selection.

Victoria Humphries, CEO of the RPS comments: “This is another edition of the RPS International Photography Exhibition that pushes the boundaries of creative expression and celebrates the diversity and evolution of photography. When you view this exhibition and see the same themes evolving from every corner of the world you can’t underestimate the importance of the RPS International Photography Exhibition in bringing these works together.”

The selection panel of experts consisted of Yuxing Chen, a Chinese artist and researcher based in the UK and previous recipient of the IPE 165 award; Kalpesh Lathigra, a British Indian artist occupying documentary and art practise and senior lecturer at London College of Communication/ University of the Arts London; Anne Nwakalor, a British Nigerian Photo Editor and Communications Officer and founding editor of No! Wahala Magazine; Nicola Shipley, Curator, Producer, Mentor and co-founder and Director of GRAIN projects; and photography consultant and long-term member of the IPE selection panel, Dr Michael Pritchard.

The two award recipients for the 166^th edition of the International Photography Exhibition have been announced, with Lydia Goldblatt, and Keerthana Kunnath receiving the honours. Lydia Goldblatt received the IPE Award for her series Fugue, which explores motherhood as a central theme, considering love and grief, mothering and losing a mother, as well as intimacy and distance.The Under 30s Award was presented to Keerthana Kunnath for her series Not What You Saw, which centres on South Indian female bodybuilders who challenge entrenched gender and beauty norms by embracing physical strength, a trait often considered as masculine.

On receiving the IPE award Lydia Goldblatt said: “It is a huge honour to have my work selected for the RPS IPE 166. I am deeply humbled and very grateful to receive the IPE Award, and so excited to exhibit Fugue in the company of wonderful photographers. I am profoundly moved to know that this project, which began so quietly and privately, has resonated with the esteemed jury, and that it will have the opportunity to be seen by others who might a/so connect to its themes. To have my work recognised and seen within the rich context and history of the RPS is a very great privilege.”

On receiving the Under 30s IPE Award Keerthana Kunnath said: ” I am honoured to be named one of the two award winners at this year’s RPS International Photography Exhibition. This recognition from such a prestigious institution marks a significant milestone in my photographic journey. It’s a joy to see the series being appreciated and celebrated. Thanks to all the judges.”

Simon Hill Hon FRPS, RPS President, comments: “The RPS is proud to champion a dynamic and inclusive international photographic community. The International Photography Exhibition, with its unique legacy and global reputation, continues to be a vital platform for celebrating the richness and significance of contemporary photography. This 166^th edition showcases an extraordinary collection of work from some of the most innovative and talented photographers worldwide. It is a testament to the power of photography to inspire, challenge, and connect us, and we are confident that this carefully curated exhibition will captivate and resonate with audiences through its diverse subjects, themes, techniques, and aesthetics.”

The complete list of IPE166 exhibitors, images and further information about the exhibition is available here: RPS International Photography Exhibition 166

The exhibition will be open at Saatchi Gallery, London between Tuesday 5^th August to Thursday 18th September,10am until 6pm and will be free entry.

The International Photography Exhibition is supported by theprintspace.

– ENDS –

For press enquiries, interviews, or additional information, please contact
Sam Trenerry [email protected] +44 (0)7780 991811

About International Photography Exhibition 166

Photographers and image-makers,of all ages, can submit their work to the RPS International Photography Exhibition. Submissions are encouraged from new, emerging and established photographers worldwide.

The IPE presents a unique opportunity to exhibit in a group exhibition touring the UK, alongside a prize fund to support future photographic projects. Exhibition selection is anonymous throughout, including the award winners, with a changing guest selection panel for each edition. The process is both rigorous and fair, where digital image and print work form part of the selection process. Each IPE edition is a unique celebration of photography today.

Images

All images that appear in this release are © the artist and courtesy of The Royal Photographic Society. For a full set of press images with credits please go to www.saatchjgallery.com/press

Exhibition Artists:

Mark Aitken	Mat Hay	Emilie Rondal Nielsen
Jocelyn Allen	Ronya Hirsma	Hyunmin Ryu
Debe Arlook	Peter Holliday	Aindreas Scholz
Murray Ballard	Lawrence W. Ivy	Kate Schultze
Timon Benson	Ayesha Jones	Nirvana Seepersaud
John Boaz	Keerthana Kunnath	Aria Shahrokhshahi
Sean Cham	Jacopo Locarno	Xu Shengzhe
Raeann Kit-Yee Cheung	Deacon Lui	Gokhan Tannover
Alex Currie	Mehdi Moghimnejad	Valentin Valette
Megan K Eagles	Aidan Murgatroyd	lnes Ventura
ThomasDryden-Kelsey	Albert Ng	Katie Waite
Andy Fell	Ville Niiranen	Alastair Philip Wiper
Stefano Ferrarin	Ryan O’Toole Collett	Hanna Wolf Austn
Fischer	Ana Paganini	Naoto Yoshida
Margarita Galandina	Andy Pilsbury	Zeng Fengyang
Lydia Goldblatt	Tine Poppe	ChengLong Zhang
Francisco Gonzalez Camacho	Matthew Renew	Danilo ZocatelliCesco

About The Royal Photographic Society

The Royal Photographic Society (The RPS) is an educational charity with an international membership. Founded in 1853, when photography was in its infancy, the objective of The RPS is to make the art and science of photography more widely available and is committed to bringing photography to everyone. Today, The RPS is a world-leading photographic community, made up of accomplished artists, dedicated academics,hobbyists, and seasoned professionals. The RPS aims to inspire people through its innovative exhibitions,its award-winning RPS Journal, and its highly respected awards and events. The RPS helps photographers create images through its educational programmes, qualifications, and its public initiatives; and it seeks to connect photographers through its UK and international community groups.Membership is open to everyone.

www.rps.org

About Saatchi Gallery

www.saatchigallery.com

Responding to popular demand, Saatchi Gallery will reopen FLOWERS – FLORA IN CONTEMPORARY ART & CULTURE to the public from 30 May – 31 August. Supported by Cazenove Capital and Buccellati, the exhibition celebrates the extraordinary breadth of flora within both art and culture and explores how flowers have remained a vital and relevant motif throughout history, while continuing to inspire contemporary creativity. Following its critically acclaimed spring run, which has seen sold-out weekends and overwhelmingly positive visitor feedback, the exhibition reopens on 30 May for an extended summer season. Across two floors and nine major gallery spaces, visitors now have another chance to explore the enduring symbolism and impact of flowers – and their unwavering ability to speak to beauty, memory, emotion, and meaning.

FLOWERS spans a wide array of media – including large-scale installations, fine art, photography, sculpture, fashion, film, literature, and music – offering a multifaceted exploration of the flower as artistic and cultural muse. The exhibition invites visitors of all ages to engage, learn and reflect on their personal response to flowers, with each section of the exhibition revealing different instance of flora through art, culture and our everyday lives.

Saatchi Gallery Director Paul Foster comments: “We’ve been overwhelmed by the incredible response to Flowers. Visitor numbers and feedback have been exceptional, with audiences of all ages sharing feelings of joy, nostalgia, and wonder. We look forward to welcoming new audiences over the summer period, and those returning to enjoy the exhibition again.”

Exhibition Highlights

Greeting visitors at the entrance is Journey of Progress, a monumental 50m² mural by British artist Sophie Mess. Spray-painted over nine days along the height of the Gallery’s stairwell, the work is a symbolic meditation on growth, gradually blooming from tranquil blue hues to fiery oranges and yellows, echoing the arc of personal and creative transformation.

Room 1: ROOTS explores the rich history of artists depicting flowers, from the Renaissance to the modernist works of the 20th century. Flowers have long been a significant theme in Western art, with countless examples across genres and centuries. Renaissance artists blended floral mythology with scientific curiosity to create works of symbolic depth and accuracy, while Dutch flower painting of the 17th and 18th centuries emphasised both symbolism and representational excellence. The 19th- century Arts C Crafts Movement integrated floral beauty into everyday life through various art forms, and the Impressionists, including Van Gogh, shifted the focus to light and colour. In the 20th century, modernist artists moved away from realistic depictions, emphasising instead the emotional impact of flowers. Photography and later movements, such as pop art and conceptual art, further transformed our relationship with flowers, offering new ways to appreciate their significance in both historical and contemporary art.

Room 2: IN FULL BLOOM showcases works by established contemporary artists from the past 40 years, demonstrating how flowers continue to inspire in the modern age. Over the past four decades, contemporary art has become increasingly globalised, with ideas and aesthetics flowing freely across borders. Artists worldwide have drawn inspiration from the flora around them and its symbolism. This exhibition room features internationally renowned artists, each exploring the possibilities of depicting flowers. While their techniques and messages vary, all share a deep admiration for nature and its energy. In Full Bloom highlights the ongoing significance of flowers in contemporary art, whether as an escape from the world’s challenges or as a way to understand our place within it.

Room 3: FLOWERS IN FASHION explores the enduring relationship between flowers and fashion, showcasing how flowers have inspired adornment throughout history, from ancient rituals to modern designs. Featuring jewellery and silverware by Buccellati, renowned for its distinctive style and hand- engraving techniques, the display demonstrates how flowers continue to captivate both haute couture and high-street fashion. Flowers have long been used to enhance beauty and express vitality, energy, and youth. Here, we see how floral motifs continue to inspire contemporary fashion, with designers like Vivienne Westwood and Mary Ǫuant using the body as a canvas, while artists like Daniel The Gardener merge fashion with “living art” through tattoos. Read more about this section here.

Room 4: FLOWERS IN PHOTOGRAPHY AND SCULPTURE features contemporary photographers and sculptors, capturing moments of beauty in two and three dimensions. Over 30 internationally renowned photographers, including Pedro Almodóvar, Valérie Belin, and Vik Muniz, present diverse floral imagery, from landscapes to studio settings. Their work ranges from homage to art history to bold subversion.

On the floor, sculptural representations of flora are created using techniques from traditional wood carving to modern 3D printing. This contrast between photography and sculpture invites viewers to reflect on how each medium approaches the same subject. This collection, co-organised by the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography (FEP), was originally curated as Flora Imaginaria by Danaé Panchaud and William Ewing.

Room 5 is a stunning 2,000 sq ft gallery entirely dedicated to LA FLEUR MORTE, an awe-inspiring, bespoke installation by internationally renowned artist Rebecca Louise Law. This immersive work features over 100,000 dried flowers, creating a breathtaking space for visitors to explore and contemplate.

La Fleur Morte delves into the space between life and death, memorialising nature through flowers. By using the “dead flower” as her sculptural material, Law examines our capitalist culture and our insatiable desire for more. Since 2003, she has collected flowers from the commercial flower industry, donations from gardens worldwide, and even grows her own, ensuring nothing is wasted. Theinstallation invites reflection on our human connection to the earth, with each flower representing a deeper appreciation for nature.

Law believes in the spiritual connection that occurs within her work, which engages viewers and local community groups to foster a shared sense of belonging to something greater. Known for creating immersive, site-specific pieces, Law’s work spans Europe and the USA, using materials from her vast 20-ear archive alongside locally sourced donations. Her installations encourage a profound, collective appreciation of nature and our place within it.

Room 6: FLOWERS IN MUSIC, FILM, AND LITERATURE highlights the role of flowers as symbols and motifs across these different media. A wall of vinyl records displays floral themes on album covers over the past 50 years, while separate sections explore how flowers serve as meaningful metaphors in film and literature.

Flowers often appear on book covers, conveying emotions like love or mysticism, and in children’s literature, they evoke adventure and wonder. In music, flowers on album covers enhance the emotional impact, reinforcing the artist’s message. In film, flowers create unforgettable imagery, from their dreamy presence in The Wizard of Oz to their symbolic roles in American Beauty, Midsommar, and The Wicker Man.

Room 7: MIGUEL CHEVALIER, EXTRA-NATURAL is a generative and interactive virtual reality installation, bringing virtual flowers and plants to life across 70 square metres while interacting with visitors’ movements. Extra-Natural presents a lush, virtual garden that blends dream and reality, filled with imaginary plants—luminescent, fluid, and vibrant. Using algorithms, Chevalier creates a dynamic environment where plants grow, bloom, and fade in endless cycles. The garden constantly evolves, with plants responding to movements through infrared sensors, undulating and shifting in a graceful, poetic dance. This interactive installation invites reflection on the fragility of nature and the urgent need to preserve biodiversity, creating a new symbiosis between humans and the environment.

Room 8: SCIENCE: LIFE OR DEATH. In collaboration with the Chelsea Physic Garden, this room explores the scientific aspects of flowers, highlighting their medicinal and poisonous properties, as well as the mathematical principles behind natural floral phenomena. The influence of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show is also explored, along with a collection of stunning botanical illustrations from the Schroder Collection, showing the meticulous breeding and development of orchids in the 20th century. Contemporary artworks complement the display, leading to the conclusion with Worlds Within Worlds, a newly commissioned film by Floral Designer and Spatial Artist, Tom de Houwer.

Room 9: NEW SHOOTS presents vibrant artworks by emerging and early-career artists, showcasing a wide range of styles, approaches, and media. Like walking through a secret garden, the space is filled with blooming works, many created in recent months and shown for the first time. It highlights how contemporary artists continue to draw inspiration from flowers, using them to capture beauty, vitality, light, symbolism, and to explore themes of life, mortality, and human nature. Many pieces are available for sale, with details provided in the Gallery Shop. New Shoots offers a snapshot of the current artistic landscape, demonstrating that the influence of flowers remains a rich source of creativity.

Featured artists include:

Cristina Alcantara, Pedro Almodóvar, Nobuyoshi Araki, Nick Archer, Gillian Ayres, Jessica Backhaus, Mandy Barker, Brendan Barry, Susan Beech, Valérie Belin, Andy Bettles, Elizabeth Blackadder, John Blakemore, Jean Baptiste Bosschaert, Faye Bridgwater, Orlanda Broom, Buccellati, Olga Cafiero, Ann Carrington, Rob C Nick Carter, Miguel Chevalier, Christo, Philip Colbert, Lottie Cole, Stephanie Comilang, Sharon Core, Michael Craig-Martin, Reuben Dangoor, Lia Darjes, William Darrell, Tom de Houwer, Richard de Tscharner, Elspeth Diederix, Jim Dine, Nathalie Djurberg C Hans Berg, Ron van Dongen, Xuebing Du, Elaine Duigenan, Pamela Ellis Hawkes, Ruud van Empel, Joanna Epstein, Mary Fedden, Robert Frank, Anne von Freyburg, Erwan Frotin, Adam Fuss, Matthieu Gafsou, Kate Gibb, Grace Gillespie, Sky Glabush, Daniel Gordon, Maro Gorky, Roberto Greco, Jo Grogan, Anna Halm Schudel, Joanna Ham, Rose Electra Harris, Dan Hays, George Henry, Realf Heygate, Damien Hirst, Aimée Hoving, Gary Hume, Florence Hutchings, Mila Ilingina, Yinka Ilori, Michelle Jung, Nadav Kander, Heath Kane, Sandra Kantanen, Neil Kellerhouse, Rob Kesseler, Kior Ko, Jan Sebastian Koch, Irene Küng, Wole Lagunju, Caroline Larsen, Rebecca Louise Law, David Lebe, Laura Letinsky, Kathrin Linkersdorff, Brigitte Lustenberger, Mari Mahr, Martin Maloney, Ann Mandelbaum, Tony Matelli, Margaret Mellis, Sophie Mess, Ally McIntyre, Anastasija Michailova, Andrew Millar, Banita Mistry, Carmen Mitrotta, Abelardo Morell, William Morris, Alphonse Mucha, Vik Muniz, Galina Munroe, Takashi Murakami, Winifred Nicholson, Jesse Pollock, Janet Pulcho, Stormy Pyeatte, Marc Ǫuinn, Dan Rawlings, Marcel Rickli, Almudena Romero, Paul Rousteau, Andrew Salgado, Frederick Sander, Viviane Sassen, Thirza Schaap, Schiaparelli, Helene Schmitz, Martin Schoeller, Megan Seiter, Amy Shelton, Ann Shelton, David Shrigley, Niki Simpson, Chieska Smith, Leonard “Soldier” Iheagwam, Rudolf Steiner, Holly Stevenson, Florent Stosskopf, Daniel The Gardener, Rebecca Thomas, Mimei Thompson, Miriam Tölke, VOYDER, Robert Walker, Tim Walker, Tom Wesselmann, Vivienne Westwood, Jo Whaley, Jess Wilson, Emma Witter, Kasia Wozniak, Nadirah Zakariya, Christina Zimpel, Victoria Zschommler, Andrew Zuckerman

Curatorial project partners include:

Chelsea Physic Garden, Cinema Poster Gallery, The Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography (FEP), Marimekko, Mary Ǫuant Limited, Sanderson Design Group including Morris C Co., William Morris Gallery

NOTES TO EDITORS

For all press enquiries, please contact +44 (0) 20 7811 3091, or:

Niamh Elain, Marketing & Press Executive, [email protected]
Amelia Okell, Head of Communications, [email protected]

Dates

Open to the public: 30 May – 31 August
Saatchi Lates: 13 June, 27 June, 4 July, 8 August, 5 September

Spaces

FLOWERS occupies both the first and second floors of the Gallery.

Admission

This is a ticketed exhibition. Walk-ins are welcome but pre-booking is advised. Tickets can be booked online from 10 December at saatchigallery.com. Tickets start at £10.

Images

Press images can be obtained via our press page: www.saatchigallery.com/press. By using the images, you acknowledge and accept the terms and conditions found on our website. These images can only be reproduced to illustrate a review or criticism of a work or report as defined by section 30 (i) and (ii) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Social Media

Join the discussion about the exhibition online with #SaatchiGalleryFlowers
Instagram: @saatchi_gallery TikTok, X: @saatchi_gallery Facebook: @saatchigalleryofficial

School visits & Community groups

With the generous support of all our patrons, for each major exhibition, there are opportunities for students and community groups to engage in creative projects and workshops. For more details, visit www.saatchigallery.com/learning or call +44 (0) 20 7811 3087.

About Saatchi Gallery

www.saatchigallery.com

Registered Charity Number: 1182328 | Duke of York’s HQ, King’s Rd, Chelsea, London SW3 4RY

About Cazenove Capital

Cazenove Capital is a leading provider of personalised wealth management services to ultra- high-net-worth and high-net-worth clients, family offices and trusts. As well as discretionary and advisory investment services, we offer wider wealth management services such as advice on philanthropy and impact investment, wealth planning, cash management, deposit-taking and lending.

As the UK’s largest manager of charitable assets, our charity team provides a range of specialised services to a wide range of endowments, foundations and other charity clients. We also work in partnership with financial advisers to provide discretionary fund management to their clients.

Cazenove Capital is a subsidiary of Schroders plc, a major FTSE 100 company. The Schroder family still own a significant percentage of the company, having founded it over 200 years ago. This enables us to take a long-term view and to continue investing in our people, systems and services to deliver the high standards that we set of ourselves and that our clients expect of us.

For more information on our ultra-high and high-net-worth business in the UK, please visit cazenovecapital.com.

About Buccellati

Buccellati is a renowned high-jewelry and silverware Maison, admired for its craftmanship and the uniqueness of its creations. Distinctive is the use of rare stones with extraordinary colors, mixed with white and yellow gold, all nicely carved like laces. Today, the Buccellati jewels stand out for their design and for the techniques used to create them, such as the hand-engraving technique, dating back to the ancient goldsmithing traditions of the Italian “bottega” during the Renaissance times. The shapes of the collections are all inspired the historical archive drawings and by the very first creations of the founder, Mario Buccellati. Today, the Maison is 100% owned by Richemont, but the Buccellati family is still present in the company with top level managerial functions. Buccellati boutiques are present in the most important cities and in the most prestigious Malls of the world.

About The Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography

An independent non-profit organization, The Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography (FEP) produces unique and influential museum-quality photography exhibitions and circulates them around the world. The Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography (Minneapolis/Paris/Lausanne) aims to enlighten, delight, and inspire people around the world through the presentation of photography exhibitions, publications, related online content, symposia, lectures, and other forms of educational events and materials. Founded in 2003, FEP is based in Minneapolis, a city with a vibrant tradition of support for the arts. The organization has achieved substantial results in its first two decades, with shows travelling to 35 countries on 4 continents, and with catalogues produced in many different languages.

LONDON, UK – Saatchi Gallery presents its 2025 RHS Chelsea Flower Show garden, Three Coverings, with multi-disciplinary artist Darcey Fleming and garden designer Naomi Ferrett-Cohen.

Titled Three Coverings, Fleming’s larger-than-life, abstract sculptures occupy a garden evocative of the British countryside. The brightly-coloured woven works are made from discarded baling twine, donated by farmers living locally to Fleming in Oxfordshire and Berkshire. To create her sculptural forms, she embarks on a repetitive “building” practice – a self-developed weaving process which involves stretching and unravelling the twine to produce masses of material. Fleming says her practice represents “a need to continually make, to fill time.” The result is a visually and sensorially arresting experience.

Three Coverings include an immersive wall hanging, a chair sculpture, and a conical freestanding structure draped with a large woven sculptural form. A winding gravel path will guide visitors through the garden, with the main sculpture loosely referencing and evoking traditional celebrations connected to the land. In the same way that people would gather around Stonehenge or the maypole, Fleming’s sculptures seem to have a joyful, vibrant magnetism that draws people to them. The meeting of past, present and future is always an undercurrent in Fleming’s work. An important theme in Fleming’s practice is connection; the artist describes her works as ‘conversational tools’, accessible objects to be enjoyed.

Fleming has worked closely with garden designer Naomi Ferrett-Cohen to craft the setting that her sculptures inhabit. The organic nature of her medium is important to Fleming, as is her frugal and waste-free method of acquiring it. Everything must be locally sourced and naturally occurring within the UK. Thus, her sculptures stand in a sea of wild flowers and soft grasses. Hazel wood fencing and climbing ivy surround the garden.

Echoing the abundance of colour, texture, and volume of the material that Fleming employs, the garden abounds with repeated patterns of plants. The theme of duality also plays a significant role. Digitalis purpurea (common foxgloves) – like the reams of recycled plastic waste product that makes up Fleming’s twine – are pretty but poisonous. Lamium orvala (balm-leaved red deadnettle) carry pairs of dark, pointed, strongly-veined leaves with spikes of whorled pinkish-purple flowers. Here, it is used to represent nettles, notorious for its sting, and known to offer protection in some folkloric traditions by warding off evil. All of this points towards the power in Fleming’s work, of taking something toxic and turning it into something unexpected and ‘playful’.

The garden is supported by HSBC UK. This is Saatchi Gallery’s fifth year partaking in the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. It is an important part of the Gallery’s summer programme, offering emerging artists the opportunity to reach new audiences while exploring different materials and formats. Flowers play an important role in the Gallery’s 40th anniversary year, with its major exhibition FLOWERS – Flora in Contemporary Art & Culture presenting over 500 works and installations inspired by flora – from art, photography and sculpture to fashion, film, music and science.

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KEY DATES

RHS Chelsea Flower Show: 20 -24 May. Apply for press accreditation at rhs.org.uk/press/shows/accreditation

IMAGES

Publicity images can be downloaded via the Saatchi Gallery press page (saatchigallery.com/press) or by contacting the press team: [email protected]

By downloading the images, you acknowledge and accept the terms and conditions found within the link. These images can only be reproduced to illustrate a review or criticism of a work or report as defined by section 30 (i) and (ii) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Instagram: @saatchi_gallery @the_rhs @darceyfleming_

Twitter: @saatchi_gallery @the_rhs @NFerrettCohen

TikTok: @saatchi_gallery

Facebook: @saatchigalleryofficial @rhshome

ABOUT DARCEY FLEMING

Darcey Fleming is an artist who works across sculpture, photography and performance. She is currently an artist in residence on the Lee Alexander McQueen Sarabande foundation, having been awarded a second year on the foundation. Fleming has exhibited across England, including at MK Gallery, and the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2023 where David Remfry stated that Fleming’s work ‘captured the true essence of the show’ (‘only connect’). She was recently shortlisted for the East London Art Prize and her works are in Tim Marlow’s (OBE) private collection. Fleming was recently commissioned to make the biggest artwork in the Soho House art collection, and has collaborated with Porsche and Soho House to make a sculpture for International Woman’s Day.

Her work has also been featured in numerous print publications including: W Magazine, Luncheon Magazine, Pirelli Calendar, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue Scandinavia, Vogue Portugal, Plaster Magazine, Savills, The Times and The Telegraph, to name a few. She holds a BSc in Social Sciences from UCL and is currently completing an MSc at The London School of Economics.

ABOUT NAOMI FERRETT-COHEN

Naomi Ferrett-Cohen is a planting and garden designer. Having previously worked in the care sector supporting people with mental health problems and learning disabilities, Naomi understands the importance of horticulture for human wellbeing. After attaining her RHS Level II in Horticulture, Naomi went on to train with the London College of Garden Design, gaining a Garden Design Diploma in 2015 and a Planting Design Diploma in 2016, both with Distinction. In 2018, she won a Silver-Gilt medal at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show for the design of A Life Without Walls garden. She has also volunteered in the gardens at Parham House. Today, Naomi proudly heads up her very own planting and garden design practice, nestled at the foot of the beautiful South Downs in Sussex.

ABOUT HSBC UK

HSBC UK serves over 15 million active customers across the UK, supported by 23,900 colleagues. HSBC UK offers a complete range of retail banking and wealth management to personal and private banking customers, as well as commercial banking for small to medium businesses and large corporates. HSBC UK is a ring-fenced bank and wholly-owned subsidiary of HSBC Holdings plc.

HSBC Holdings plc, the parent company of HSBC, is headquartered in London. HSBC serves customers worldwide from offices in 58 countries and territories. With assets of US$3,017bn at 31 December 2024, HSBC is one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organisations.

For more information visit https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

ABOUT SAATCHI GALLERY

Since 1985, Saatchi Gallery has provided an innovative platform for contemporary art. Exhibitions have presented works by largely unseen young artists, or by international artists whose work has been rarely or never exhibited in the UK. This approach has made the Gallery one of the most recognised names in contemporary art. Since moving to its current 70,000 square feet space in the Duke of York’s Headquarters in Chelsea, London, the Gallery has welcomed over 10 million visitors. The Gallery hosts over 5,000 schools visits annually and has over 6 million followers on social media. In 2019 Saatchi Gallery became a charity, beginning a new chapter in its history.

For more information visit www.saatchigallery.com

Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York’s HQ, King’s Rd, Chelsea, London SW3 4RY
Saatchi Gallery Registered Charity No. 1182328

ABOUT ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY (RHS)

Since our formation in 1804, the RHS has grown into the UK’s leading gardening charity, touching the lives of millions of people. Perhaps the secret to our longevity is that we’ve never stood still. In the last decade alone we’ve taken on the largest hands-on project the RHS has ever tackled by opening the new RHS Garden Bridgewater in Salford, Greater Manchester, and invested in the science that underpins all our work by building RHS Hilltop – The Home of Gardening Science.

We have committed to being net positive for nature and people by 2030. We are also committed to being truly inclusive and to reflect all the communities of the UK.

Across our five RHS gardens we welcome more than three million visitors each year to enjoy over 34,000 different cultivated plants. Events such as the world famous RHS Chelsea Flower Show, other national shows, our schools and community work, and partnerships such as Britain in Bloom, all spread the shared joy of gardening to wide-reaching audiences.

Throughout it all we’ve held true to our charitable core – to encourage and improve the science, art and practice of horticulture – to share the love of gardening and the positive benefits it brings.

For more information visit www.rhs.org.uk

Botanical art and photography from around the world will be on show at the Saatchi Gallery this summer as the annual RHS exhibition returns for a fifth year.

The RHS Botanical Art and Photography Show in partnership with Saatchi Gallery, taking place from 13 June to 27 July 2025, will feature a rich variety of subjects including stunning Japanese Cherry blossom, the unusual ‘Kangaroo paw’ plants of Australia, and plants used in traditional cosmetics by Korean Women. Portfolio photography features a diverse range of plants, gardens and natural habitats with subjects ranging from Tuscan olive trees to the Acacia cyclops of South Africa’s richly biodiverse Cape floral kingdom. A common theme in this year’s exhibit is plants that have been useful for humans, whether for beauty, clothing, medicine or fuel.

All of the artworks submitted have undergone a meticulous reviewing process by an expert judging panel and assessed on aesthetic appeal, scientific accuracy and technical skill. Once on display, the artists compete for an RHS medal – Gold, Silver-Gilt, and Bronze, as well as a ‘best in show’ award, namely Best Botanical Artwork, Best Botanical Art Exhibit, Best Portfolio Photography Exhibit, Best Single Image and Judges Special Award. The public will once again have the opportunity to vote in the People’s Choice award via the RHS website.

The Show contributes to a long legacy of botanical art collecting and display by the RHS, and complements the work of the RHS Lindley Collections, which holds more than 30,000 botanical paintings and heritage photographs.

Charlotte Brooks, RHS Art Curator, said: “We are delighted to be showcasing the incredible talent of botanical artists and photographers from around the world at the Saatchi Gallery once again. This year’s exhibit highlights the deep connection between plants and people, highlighting their significance in our everyday lives and demonstrating the enduring relevance of botanical art.”

The RHS Botanical Art & Photography Show will be open to the public from 13 June – 27 July 2025 at Saatchi Gallery, London. For the first time ever, the exhibition will be free to enter with visitors invited to make a donation to the Gallery as a registered charity.

The show is supported by UK based wealth management firm, TrinityBridge. Once known as Close Brothers Asset Management, TrinityBridge have been helping individuals, families, professionals and businesses to make confident financial choices for more than 30 years.

For more information about the RHS Botanical Art & Photography Show visit: https://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-botanical-art-and-photography-show

– ENDS –

DATES AND OPENING HOURS
Press Preview: 12 June 5:30pm
Winners announced: 12 June
Open to the public: 13 June – 27 July 2025
Opening Hours: Monday – Sunday: 10AM – 6PM (last admission: 5.20PM)

ADMISSION
Free entry with a suggested donation. Pre-booking is not required.

SOCIAL MEDIA
Join the discussion about the exhibition online at: #RHSSaatchiGallery
Instagram: @saatchi_gallery @the_rhs
Twitter @saatchi_gallery @The_RHS
TikTok: @saatchi_gallery @rhshome
Facebook: @saatchigalleryofficial @rhshome

ORGANISATION
The RHS Botanical Art 2025 judging panel secretary is Charlotte Brooks, Art Curator at RHS Lindley Library and the RHS Photographic Competition judging panel secretary Claire Allnutt.

SCHOOL VISITS & COMMUNITY GROUPS
With the generous support of our Gallery Patrons, for each major exhibition there are opportunities to engage with creative projects and workshops whether that be in-gallery, virtually, in the classroom or at home. For more information visit saatchigallery.com/learning and to book your group contact [email protected] | +44(0)20 7811 3087

ABOUT THE RHS

We have committed to being net positive for nature and people by 2030. We are also committed to being truly inclusive and to reflect all the communities of the UK.

For more information visit www.rhs.org.uk

RHS Registered Charity No. 222879/SC038262

ABOUT SAATCHI GALLERY

Since 1985, Saatchi Gallery has provided an innovative platform for contemporary art. Exhibitions have presented works by largely unseen young artists, or by international artists whose work has been rarely or never exhibited in the UK. This approach has made the Gallery one of the most recognised names in contemporary art. Since moving to its current 70,000 square feet space in the Duke of York’s Headquarters in Chelsea, London, the Gallery has welcomed over 10 million visitors. The Gallery hosts over 5,000 schools visits annually and has over 6 million followers on social media. In 2019 Saatchi Gallery became a charity, beginning a new chapter in its history.

For more information visit www.saatchigallery.com

Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York’s HQ, King’s Rd, Chelsea, London SW3 4RY

Saatchi Gallery Registered Charity No. 1182328

ABOUT TRINITYBRIDGE

Once Close Brothers Asset Management, now TrinityBridge, we have been helping individuals, families, professionals and businesses to make confident financial choices for more than 30 years.

Our approach to wealth management is strategic – recognising the essential relationships that exist between our clients, their investment managers and their professional advisers. Our research led, multi-asset class investment management services are geared to generate the best possible returns for each client. Our financial planning services are considered and long-term in outlook – designed with financial freedom and security in mind.

With teams and offices across the UK – from Chichester to Edinburgh and Bristol to London, TrinityBridge is set up to offer financial clarity wherever and whenever our clients need us.

Find out more at www.trinitybridge.com

10 Crown Place, London, EC2A 4FT

London, UK (March 2025) – Saatchi Gallery is delighted to present works by Anne von Freyburg in Filthy Cute running from 28 March to 11 May 2025. This solo exhibition features stunning large-scale pieces that highlight von Freyburg’s approach, which reimagines textile as a medium within the tradition of painting.

Von Freyburg embraces and subverts the female gaze, as well as the feminine and the pretty. Historically, craft and decoration have been regarded as inferior to the “intellectual” fine arts. By merging these elements, she challenges this hierarchical system.

Two main works in Filthy Cute reimagine scenes from the Rococo paintings of Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s Progress of Love series – known as one of the most powerful evocations of love in the history of art. Commissioned by Comtesse du Barry, mistress of Louis XV, in 1771, the series depicts “four stages of love,” advancing from a flirtatious proposal, to a furtive meeting, then consummation or marriage, and finally the calm enjoyment of a happy union. Du Barry ultimately rejected the canvases, and they were kept in storage for the next twenty years.

Von Freyburg’s works, which incorporate acrylic ink, fabric, sequins, and tassel fringes to create ‘textile paintings’ on canvases in a retelling of this story, are a reflection on relationships – namely, the clichés and tropes that have been associated with heterosexual romance, as typically depicted in Hollywood movies and throughout popular culture.

Von Freyburg considers the pressures of society and the struggles women face from the expectations often imbued upon them to be the ‘caretaker’ and ‘pleaser,’ and how women who reject this lifestyle are commonly seen as ‘selfish’ and ‘egocentric.’ While these ideas aren’t directly visualised through her work, they have informed her approach – as she attempts to raise questions about taste, femininity, high and low art, and the constructs of female identity.

Her interpretation of the story reminds the viewer to consider different kinds of love – for oneself and for one another: “It’s a declaration of kindness, staying true to yourself and to being kind to yourself. It’s about being free. No more fairy tales about men saving women, but women being the heroine in their own life story,” says von Freyburg.

The power of these works is emphasised by their size and vibrancy. Von Freyburg aims to disrupt, disturb, and destabilise the ideas behind the original imagery. Within the composition are playful elements recalling childhood delights like My Little Pony, Hello Kitty, and Love Hearts; as well as cute prints, swirling patterns, and candy-like colours to express the idea of impressionable young minds growing up in a world in flux.

Filthy Cute also includes von Freyburg’s floral series, in which the artist has looked at the still life flower paintings of 17th-century Dutch Masters like Jan van Huysum, and considered the question: “Who consumes what, and at whose expense?” She has responded by bearing what she calls the “commodity fetishism” of these works.

Commissioned by the wealthy middle class, who wanted to display their wealth and taste, flower paintings of this kind were considered largely decorative and were one of the few subjects female painters were allowed to approach. Von Freyburg’s response imbues these works with new life through exuberant textiles – renewing the significance of the traditional flower painting while celebrating the feminine.

The floral works of von Freyburg celebrate the sensual, textural, and visual pleasures of materials and ornaments. The work Tuttifrutti includes snakeskin fabric and ornaments like exotic birds, fruit, and cut-outs of flowers, while Kabloom makes strong references to pop art and pop culture, once again referencing the commodity aspect of the 17th-century paintings. Von Freyburg comments, “Both works are partly a post-colonial critique and exaggerate the exoticism of the West for foreign objects and flowers.” In addition to this solo exhibition, a work by von Freyburg also features within Saatchi Gallery’s current major exhibition Flowers – Flora in Contemporary Art & Culture.

—ENDS—

NOTES TO EDITORS

For all press enquiries, please contact:
Niamh Elain, Marketing & Press Executive – [email protected]
Dates open to the public: 28 March – 11 May 2025
Location in the gallery: Gallery 3
Admission: Free entry, pre-booking not required.

About the artist

Anne von Freyburg (b. 1979) is a Dutch artist based in London. She received her MFA from Goldsmiths (2016) and holds a BA in Fashion Design from ArtEZ Arnhem, The Netherlands. Von Freyburg is the winner of Robert Walters UK New Artists Award (2021) and exhibited several times at Saatchi Gallery, London. She was nominated for The Ingram Prize (2021). Her work was part of the Tapestry Triennial at the Central Textile Museum in Lodz, Poland (2022-2023) one of the most prominent international Textile Museums worldwide. Von Freyburg’s work is in several private collections all over the world.

About Saatchi Gallery

Registered Charity Number: 1182328 | Duke of York’s HQ, King’s Rd, London SW3 4RY

A cultural connection

In 2025, Aesop partners with Saatchi Gallery as their first Sensory Patron – enriching the visitor experience through an enlivening of the senses. This is not out of character for a brand that has long been an enthusiastic supporter of the arts, and whose deep-seated creative streak emerges in its nonconformist approach to all endeavours, from customer service to fragrance creation to store design. With Saatchi Gallery’s unparalleled heritage as a curatorial luminary in British contemporary arts, the relationship is a natural merging of the sensorial and the cultural.

A new sensation

As Sensory Patron, Aesop will hang its formulations in the bathrooms and galleries, to be generously enjoyed by visitors eager to cleanse and hydrate their hands to a level that is the sensorial equivalent of the culturally enlightening environs. Meanwhile, intensely hydrated fingers will make moments of heavy chin stroking pleasurably smoother. Visitors who are as taken with the hand washes and balms as they are with the cerebrum-spurring artworks will be able to purchase Aesop formulations from the gallery’s gift shop.

A partnership rooted in philanthropy

It is not merely on a creative plane that the interests of Aesop and Saatchi Gallery intersect, but also on a philanthropic one. Saatchi Gallery is self-funded, reinvesting all revenues into its core charitable activities and philanthropic mission to make contemporary art accessible to all. As a registered charity, the Gallery relies on the support of its partners and patrons. Similarly, Aesop has always taken its social responsibility seriously – most visibly since 2017 with the establishment of the Aesop Foundation, although the brand has been actively supporting the communities and neighbourhoods in which it operates since its creation in 1987. As Saatchi Gallery is located but a minute’s walk from Aesop’s Duke of York store in Chelsea, the partnership is a natural continuation of this legacy. Delightedly, it occurs as the Gallery celebrates its 40th anniversary with a year of showpiece exhibitions and activities. To aid with such activities, members of Aesop staff will also have the option—and distinct privilege—of volunteering in the Gallery’s learning department during their working hours.

A shopfront for young artists

Endowed as Aesop is with a number of retail spaces of well-considered design, the brand will utilise a selection of their London stores to exhibit five emerging artists selected by Saatchi Gallery. In addition to creating an opportunity to promote their talents beyond the Gallery walls, this will offer moments of artistic gratification to the culturally curious individuals who peruse Aesop’s shelves. A separate collaboration will see a Saatchi associated artist design a floral installation at Aesop Duke of York as part of the neighbourhood’s annual Chelsea in Bloom extravaganza.

A series of sensorial support

Aesop’s partnership with Saatchi Gallery will be followed by other such collaborations. In April 2025, the brand will become the first official Sensory Patron of Milan’s Salone del Mobile—the annual showcase of the world’s most innovative and intriguing furniture design.

About Aesop

Aesop was established in Melbourne in 1987, and has since been formulating products with efficacy foremost in mind – their complex, distinctive aromas are but an incidental treat. The range now spans skin, hair and body care, as well as fragrance and accessories for the self and home. Some of the ingredients used are plant-based; others are laboratory-made; all are ethically sourced and have a proven record of safety. Aesop -a Certified B Corporation™ – does not test its formulations or ingredients on animals. All Aesop products are vegan, Leaping Bunny approved, and included on PETA’s cruelty-free and vegan lists. They are available at aesop.com, in Aesop signature stores and department store counters, and from select like-minded retailers across the globe.

The Thread of Colour, a major show, and celebration of the life and work of Armenian-American artist Maro Gorky (b. New York 1943) will open at Saatchi Gallery, London on 28 March and runs until 13 May 2025. The exhibition features a selection of important oil paintings spanning her career as an artist from the 1980s to the present day. Subject matter includes Gorky’s family, the Tuscan home she has lived in with her sculptor husband Matthew Spender since the 1960s, and landscapes from the Sienese countryside and beyond. Gorky studied at the Slade School of Art under Frank Auerbach and began to exhibit her work in the early 1980s with exhibitions in London, Milan, Los Angeles and New York.

This exhibition follows on from Gorky’s highly successful 2023 retrospective show at Long & Ryle in London, which celebrated her 80^th birthday. The accompanying exhibition Maps of Feelings opens at Long & Ryle from 5^th March – 12^th May 2025, and features a selection of Gorky’s works on paper, an important element of her artistic practice.

Dominating the Saatchi Gallery exhibition are two large-scale landscapes, Autumn Vines (2025) and Spring Vines (2025). These ambitious works, only recently completed with the last strokes being added just in time for the show, demonstrate that Maro Gorky, in her eighties, remains as powerful and prolific a painter as she was in her twenties.

Maro Gorky’s landscapes are very satisfying to look at. Her stained-glass colour, crisp shapes and compositional majesty instil her syntheses of previous art with the force of an individual intently focused personality. You can’t ask much more of art – Roberta Smith, New York Times

In the 80s and 90s Gorky’s personal view of the world was expressed in portraits of people she knew and loved. These works strike a deep note when they reflect upon personal memories, such as Connecticut Wedding (1991) which depicts the marriage of her great-grandmother. In The Etruscans (1991) painted in earthy colours, Gorky emphasises her and her husband’s commitment to their home in Tuscany and the local inhabitants, who have become their lasting friends.

Last Act (1980), exhibited in Gorky’s first London exhibition in 1983 at the Wraxall Gallery with Sarah Long, depicts a young girl with her lover. Amidst the Tuscan landscape, she stands in lovingly painted fronds and petals of wildflowers, and the couple gaze outward in an idealised, romantic pose. Gorky has consistently painted her daughters, Saskia and Cosima, along with their friends and families. Over time, the portraits have become more simplified, and a sense of medieval maternity is often referred to in the portraits of her daughters.

Both Gorky’s landscapes and portraits suggest a newfound reverence for the sacred, expressed through simplified shapes while maintaining a focus on the Tuscan landscape’s formal structure. Discerning influences and derivations in Gorky’s work is complex, as her canvases exude powerful emotions and energy. While Gorky references Byzantine icons, Botticelli, and medieval religious art, her art transcends simple categorisation.

The accompanying exhibition Maps of Feelings at Long & Ryle features a selection of Gorky’s works on paper. These luminous landscapes, painted in watercolour or egg tempera (a technique learned from a Greek Orthodox nun), are a response to the countryside surrounding her home, as well as travels in China, Greece, and the Sinai Desert.

A short film made by Gorky’s daughter Cosima Spender, an award-winning film director, producer and writer, will be premiered alongside the Saatchi exhibition. The film explores her mother’s artistic practice and style, delving into her perception of the world and how it translates into her landscapes and portraits. Through Gorky’s own words, the film reveals the artist’s intentions and aspirations behind her life’s work.

About Maro Gorky

Maro Gorky was born in New York in 1943, the eldest daughter of the Armenian / American painter Arshile Gorky, one of the originators of Abstract Expressionism. Growing up surrounded by the heroes of Modernism, her first art tutors – before she had properly learnt to walk – were Andre Breton and Roberto Matta. Her father’s suicide when she was five years old, and the subsequent recognition of his epic legacy for American Art, set Maro Gorky on an artistic voyage that seemed both inborn and eternally restless.

Maro Gorky studied at the Slade School of Art, under Frank Auerbach, where she met her husband Matthew Spender, the sculptor and writer. Over the last 60 years, Gorky and Spender have rebuilt and resided in what was once an old ruin of a farmhouse, in the Tuscan village of San Sano in Avane. This house and the surrounding garden have become as much a creative endeavour as Gorky’s painting. One can distinctly see the impression that Gorky and Spender have left on the landscape. Upon approach to the farmhouse, peacocks wander through a profusion of plants, morning glory clambers over the terraces, and the life-size marble and terracotta sculptures by Spender populate the olive groves. Inside the house, Gorky has frescoed the walls, wardrobe panels and even bathroom tiles with animals, plants and patterns as a lasting imprint of her brush.

Describing the setting of the Tuscan landscape as the inspiration for many of Gorky’s paintings would not accurately convey the deep-seated impact that the landscape has had on her artwork. Rather, it is apparent that Gorky, Spender, the farmhouse and the natural surroundings, through maintaining a constant retrospective dialogue with one another over the years, have grown to become inextricably linked; a feeling that is evocatively manifested in Gorky’s landscapes included this exhibition. From the early-romanticised landscapes of undulating Tuscan hills, they move towards an abstracted discourse on colour and pattern, whilst retaining the vibrancy and warmth of the rural Italian environment.

Gorky’s work continues a tradition of an academic training fleshed out by modernism that includes André Derain, Leland Bell and Louisa Matthiasdottir – Roberta Smith, New York Times

In Maro’s own words…

Speaking about how living in Tuscany has inspired her work, Gorky says: “You have to be a city slicker to feel romantic about the countryside, but I am not urban. When I think of the word “home,” I see a lit fire – the hearth. And rats in the granary, peacocks, tortoises and turtledoves, hoopoes, swallows and screaming swifts. The “Tusk” of Tuscany, the hunters yelling “qua, qua, qua”, the dogs out of control and the cars called Cherokee. The secret camera in my wood spying on nocturnal animals, counting those breeders in the dark. Terra di Siena being chomped by mechanical dinosaurs reshaping the hills for vines, the sound of rocks grinding as the landscape is de-boned.”

“It has nothing to do with painting and yet it has everything to do with painting. There is intention, there is composition. Green is a usual colour, so you don’t want it, except for peacocks. Green must be split into its fractions, the components of yellow and blue – and we’re back to Agent Orange. The quiet of the country does not exist. There is no such thing as silence. I feel as if we are as we were a hundred years ago, on the verge of revolution.

“Landscape painting used to signify for me a narrative without a beginning or an end, a visual echo of my thoughts. Then I discovered the desert. Near Mount Ouinat, on the frontier of Libya, Egypt and the Sudan, 500 miles from the nearest Egyptian outpost, I observed that the landscape has been ferociously simplified under the irresistible erosion of wind and sand. Crystals cut like jewels were methodically distributed from under my feet, right up to the horizon. This world without human beings was incredibly peaceful.

“Since that moment I have been trying to simplify my landscapes down to their essential underlying structure. The line becomes a path. Colours are what I perceive when I walk along that path. Shapes, as containers in which to place my emotions. Every now and again, like a crystal in the desert, one touch of absolute precision, that last sharp point of white on the pupil of the eye of a Byzantine hermit, painted with a brush made from a special feather found only in a kingfisher’s thumb.” – Maro Gorky

Notes to Editors

Listings information:

Maro Gorky 2025
The Thread of Colour
28^th March – 13^th May
Saatchi Gallery
Duke of York’s HQ, King’s Rd, London SW3 4RY
Monday – Sunday 10am – 6pm

Maro Gorky
Maps of Feelings
12^th March – 12^th May
Long and Ryle
4 John Islip Street, London SW1P 4PX
Monday – Friday: 10.00am – 5.30pm
Saturday: by appointment (please email gallery@long-and-ryle)

About Saatchi Gallery

www.saatchigallery.com

Registered Charity Number: 1182328 | Duke of York’s HQ, King’s Rd, Chelsea, London SW3 4RY

With special thanks to Katherine Benson, Exhibition Programming Executive, Saatchi Gallery

About Long & Ryle

Long & Ryle was founded in 1988. Over the last thirty-five years, the gallery has built a reputation for introducing distinctive, poetic and resonant contemporary art from established British and International artists, as well as young and emerging talent. Long & Ryle Gallery is situated just behind the Tate Britain, in Westminster, London.

For further press information please contact Sitwell Dearden PR:

Nicole Dearden | [email protected] | +44 7734 709833
Henrietta Sitwell | [email protected] | +44 7811 344540

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