LONDON.- Vardaxoglou Gallery is now presenting a solo exhibition of new paintings by British artist Lewis Brander (b. 1995, London, UK), across both floors of our newly expanded gallery space. This is the artist’s second solo exhibition with Vardaxoglou and for the first time includes a number of large-scale paintings. An extended essay by Sam Lincoln will accompany the exhibition.

An observer of the shifts in natural light in both Northern and Southern Europe, the colour of the sky has become a constant reference in Lewis Brander’s paintings since returning to London from Greece three years ago. Upon moving to Athens in 2018, the artist became exposed to a new landscape and quality of light. Now working from the top-floor of a disused factory in East London, his studio’s views of the sky have allowed him to sustain this study of light over extended periods. This exhibition comprises new works based on locations of personal significance to the artist, in London and Athens, and continue an ongoing series looking at the view from the artist’s studio window and of the nearby Regents Canal. In his painting Brander references sites of historical significance both to industrial London and also to his own familial history; his ancestors were refugees from Eastern Europe and settled near the area where he now works. Brander combines these histories with a unique interpretation of the historical movements of English romanticism, post-war American abstraction and the School of London painters. The works presented are a device for which light and atmosphere are not only observed and recorded, but a place in which the language and history of painting is played out.

Established in 2020, Vardaxoglou is a London-based gallery specialising in modern and contemporary art. The gallery’s programme features exhibitions with a number of contemporary artists in the context of regular historical surveys that present pioneering artists to new audiences.

Vardaxoglou Gallery has presented the first solo exhibitions in London by Betsy Bradley, Lewis Brander, and Tanoa Sasraku, and opened Niamh O’Malley’s first solo exhibition in London, following her representing Ireland at 59th Venice Biennale in 2022. Shaan Syed’s first solo exhibition with Vardaxoglou opened at the gallery in 2023, and in the same year Vardaxoglou presented a solo exhibition with Sebastian Lloyd Rees, the artist’s first in London for 6 years. Vardaxoglou Gallery presented at Frieze London in October 2023, the gallery’s first art fair participation, with a Tanoa Sasraku solo presentation.

In addition to working with living artists, Vardaxoglou Gallery represents the Estate of Robyn Denny, and in March 2024 will present its first Robyn Denny exhibition, a survey of the artist’s career. In 2023, in collaboration with the Estate of Richard Smith, Vardaxoglou opened an exhibition of unseen kite paintings by Richard Smith, the first exhibition of its kind, and in the same year presented a survey exhibition on Howard Hodgkin’s portraits of artists, supported by the Estate of Howard Hodgkin.