Art in the Street
A new program of temporary commissions taking art to unexpected locations
Art in the Street is a new program of temporary commissions that takes art to unexpected locations through takeovers of building hoardings and advertising billboards. Devised by our Global Creative Director, Neil Wenman, the project sees works placed in sites outside of gallery spaces and museums, allowing international audiences to encounter the works at new scales and within the urban fabric of the city.
The first site launched this week to coincide with Frieze features a site-specific commission by Frank Bowling at scale to wrap the ground floor of Hauser & Wirth’s future London flagship gallery, a grade two-listed Victorian building at 19 South Audley Street in Mayfair, currently undergoing conversion. The commission by Frank Bowling features elements of the painting ‘#4 to the Lighthouse’ (2021) in repeat and at a much larger scale. Each project remains in place for up to six months as part of the ongoing series.
Art in the Street: Frank Bowling, London, UK, 2023 © Frank Bowling. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2023. Photo: Todd White Photography
Sir Frank Bowling, 2020 © Frank Bowling. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2023. Photo: Sacha Bowling
Neil Wenman says: ‘The idea for ‘Art in the Street’ emerged through conversations with our artists. I kept seeing these blank canvases in the street, sometimes up to 100 meters long or on the third floor of building and I thought this could be a site for creating new immediate ways for the artist to consider their practice. Each commission is made in collaboration with the artist to allow them a new way to occupy—to think bigger.’
We are delighted to unveil the first project by Frank Bowling, an artist beloved of so many whose dynamic engagement with the materiality of paint, and its evolution in the broad sweep of art history, has resulted in works of unparalleled originality and power.
