Introducing Blain|Southern

From Jake & Dinos Chapman and Damien Hirst to Rachel Howard and Mat Collishaw, Blain|Southern represents some of the most exciting contemporary artists on the scene. We’re chuffed to announce that we’ll be helping the gallery promote its exciting programme of exhibitions across the social sphere. It’s especially exciting because its next venture – an exhibition of paintings by abstract artist Sean Scully at architect Luis Barragán’s equally colourful modernist masterpiece Cuadra San Cristóbal in Mexico City – is entirely up our brightly hued street. 


Established by art experts Harry Blain and Graham Southern in 2010, Blain|Southern exhibits an interminable roster of artists at its two gallery spaces – one on Hanover Square, Mayfair, and the other on Berlin’s Potsdamer Strasse in the former printing studios of German daily newspaper Der Tagesspiegel. But its latest exhibition, which runs from 7 February - 24 March 2018, steps outside either of these spaces to the rainbow-tinted dominion of Cuadra San Cristóbal in Mexico City, an equestrian and residential complex designed by Mexican architect Luis Barragán.


Barragán, whose trademark combination of flat walls and zingy colours has come to define the public perception of Mexican architecture, built the ranch in 1966 for the Egerstrom family who still live there today. Given the building’s geometric spaces and bold colours, it’s a perfect backdrop for the work of Irish artist Sean Scully. Even the horse stalls will be filled with colourful paintings on aluminium and copper by Scully, and the grounds will host his recent sculptures in Cor-Ten and painted steel, including large-scale geometric work Boxes of Air. Scully first visited Mexico in 1981 and has frequently used the country as inspiration for his work. A match made in heaven, and just one example of the imaginative programming that makes us so excited about collaborating with Blain|Southern.