Studio 73

17/10/2026

HARUMI TANAKA : CARPE DIEM

On Thursday 29th October we are honoured to open the doors at Arch 18 to Harumi Tanaka, and her show, Carpe Diem.

Some of you will remember 2022, and the first Brixton Art Prize, with its theme of Conflict & Integration. Of the forty-one shortlisted artists, it was Harumi’s Self Portrait As A Doll that held us.

It spoke to that theme quietly, and with great honesty, and was awarded First Prize.

Carpe Diem is her first solo show since.

Harumi returns to the doll and to sculpture, and she guides us with a sense of immediacy in all of her creations. 

Tanaka writes, ‘Carpe Diem ———The main theme of my recent work is death and life. 

“Carpe is the second-person singular present active imperative of cargo “pick or pluck” used by Horace to mean “enjoy, seize, use, make us of”. (Wikipedia)

As flowers are one of my favourite motifs, I rather liked the fact that a word meaning to pick / pluck was used.’

Arguably, a perfect reflection of our current times. 

We would be so pleased if you could join us, and Harumi, for the Private View.

Carpe Diem opens on Thursday 29th October
18:00 - 21:00
Studio 73
Railway Arch 18
Valentia Place
SW9 8PJ

Entry is free. RSVP Link/bio^

Carpe Diem then runs Thursday to Sunday, 13:00 until 18:00, until Sunday 15th November.

01/10/2026

CARPE DIEM: HARUMI TANAKA’S FIRST SOLO SHOW OPENS AT STUDIO 73, BRIXTON

London, September 2026 — In 2019, Studio 73 founder Adrian Flower watched the everyday cordiality of Brixton Market — the greetings and smiles exchanged across every background — and saw in it the model for an art prize: open to everyone, judged on nothing but the work. That idea became the Brixton Art Prize, launched in 2022 with 41 shortlisted artists showing at Department Store, Brixton.

The first winner was Harumi Tanaka, for Self Portrait As A Doll. This October, four years after Studio 73 itself went quiet and re-opened in a new railway arch space, Tanaka returns with Carpe Diem — her first solo exhibition since that win.

Tanaka makes ball-jointed dolls — sculpted, carved and sanded by hand — a craft she first learned in Tokyo in 1990, in a part-time class under the doll artist Yotsuya Simon, while she was studying philosophy. She spent six years there before moving to London to study Mixed Media Art at the University of Westminster.

“I usually go straight to modelling,” she says of her process. “Developing the shape through trial and error — building the clay up, then carving and sanding it down.”

For years, she says, her focus was purely aesthetic. That’s changed. “After experiencing a couple of life-changing events, I use my dolls in a narrative way — to express fear, resentment, despair, restore and hope.” In her words, the work returns again and again to life and death, eros and thanatos. “It’s a type of bodily discharge,” she says. “It comes out of me.”

The exhibition opens with a Private View on Thursday 29 October, 18:00–21:00, and continues Thursday to Sunday, 13:00–18:00, until Sunday 15 November 2026, at Studio 73, Railway Arch 18, Valentia Place, Brixton SW9 8PJ.

Tickets for the Private View are free and available via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/carpe-diem-by-harumi-tanaka-tickets-2001402094541

BrixtonArt SouthLondonArt LondonArt LondonExhibition ContemporaryCeramics ContemporarySculpture ArtistsOnInstagram

17/09/2026

After closing 73 in the Village, we went off the radar for a bit and resurfaced via Brixton Art Prize which landed triumphantly in 2022. In our inaugural celebration we showcased 41 shortlisted artists' work at Department Store here in Brixton.

Of the 41 shortlisted; we presented 4 prizes, awarding the John Purcell Paper Prize to Sarrah El-Bushra, our Third Prize went to Marlowe Campbell, Second Prize to Claudette Forbes and First Prize went to Harumi Tanaka with her submission Self Portrait As A Doll.

Winning us over because the art work was presented as an almost quiet/screaming snapshot of her life at that particular moment at that particular time. Self Portrait As A Doll took all of our focus, with the heartbeat behind it in mind.

Speed forward 2026 and we are pleased to announce that on Thursday 29th October 2026 we will be opening the doors to a brand new selection of works from Harumi Tanaka.

‘Eros and Thanatos’ opens on Thursday 29th October from 18:00 - 21:00

The show continues Thursday to Sundays until Sunday 15th November - 13:00-18:00 HRS

Please make a note in your diaries today.

Click on the link below to book yourself a space (with a plus 1) ahead of our opening at Railway Arch 18, Valentia Place SW9 8PJ

A Brixton gallery and exhibition space at Railway Arch 18, showing new work by artists and creatives. Original art for sale, plus upcoming shows to visit.

08/08/2026

At the Beach Bar today! Come see… come beeeee Beach Bar!

And here we are stretching out on the sand, our perfect selves.

Strangers from another planet, welcome to our home.

Open until 21:00

18/06/2026

Keep Brixton independent, whatever the rock cliff.

Shop at Gail’s if you are too busy to connect with your independent community. Write letters of complaint at the community noise that surrounds you as you run late for work. And then look up excited. H and M World, loyalty carded, you, you independent thinker. Not thinking.

05/02/2026

7 Artists
___

Jane Ward, Rachel Wright, Michael Bradbury, Laura Ward, Simon Lawson, Ania Tomaszewska-Nelson and Adrian Flower.

——

The Transformation Gallery
Railway Arch
Valentia Place
SW9 8PJ

Saturday
7th February
14:00-18.00

Sunday Finnisage
8th February
14:00-20.00

——

05/02/2026

7 Artists
___

The Transformation Gallery
Railway Arch
Valentia Place
SW9 8PJ

Saturday
7th February
14:00-18.00

Sunday Finnisage 🍾
8th February
14:00-20.00

——

Blink
You’ll miss it

We took great photography, created 60x40” posters, and actively looked for unusual spaces in London to present them, and we did! We did it!

On Saturday 24th January 2026.

Featuring the Artists; Jane Ward, Rachel Wright, Michael Bradbury, Laura Ward, Simon Lawson, Ania Tomaszewska-Nelson and Adrian Flower.

We found 5 London centric spaces to showcase our art using magnets and metal surfaces.

A super fast pop up art show. Snap them up, document them, enjoy them! Then take them down leaving the found surfaces, as found. Good old magnets.

The group show is now available to view at The Transformation Gallery, in Brixton. For one weekend only!

Pottle on down across this weekend. Come see the artwork large and friendly at the railway arch, Railway Arch 18, to be precise.

Find Valentia Place, find the big open gates between the railway bridges and we are down to the left. Follow the branding!

///merit.call.menu

All the artworks, as seen in the reel, are available to purchase.

The 60x40” lofiposters are limited to 10, worldwide at £250.00 each.

An A3 Art Giclee Print, hand signed, edition of 20 are £85.00.

01/02/2026

7 Artists

Streets of
London Gallery

24th January 2026
___

The Transformation Gallery
Railway Arch
Valentia Place
SW9 8PJ

7th & 8th February 2026
14:00-18.00

——

///merit.call.menu

Blink
You’ll miss it

Not sure where the idea to print up large photographic poster prints, to then hit the streets, came from.

Maybe as a consequence of running a small art gallery for 10 years, confined. Maybe the pandemic and all the closed institutions and public art spaces. Maybe because I never wanted to see a picture framing request ever again.

I digress!



Here we roll.

We took great photography, created 60x40” posters, and actively looked for unusual spaces in London to present them, and we did! We did it!

On Saturday 24th January 2026.

Featuring the Artists; Jane Ward, Rachel Wright, Michael Bradbury, Laura Ward, Simon Lawson, Ania Tomaszewska-Nelson and myself; Adrian Flower.

We found 5 London centric spaces to showcase our art using magnets and metal surfaces.

A super fast pop up art show. Snap them up, document them, enjoy them! Then take them down leaving the found surfaces, as found. Good old magnets.

The group show is now available to view in one exhibition space, namely The Transformation Gallery, in Brixton.

The show days are Saturday 7th & Sunday 8th February from 14:00 until 18:00. As the show draws to a close on Sunday 8th, we will bring all the artists together to toast our first lofipostershow of 2026.

All the artworks, as seen in the reel, are available for purchase.

The 60x40” lofiposters are limited to 10, worldwide at £250.00 each.

An A3 Art Giclee Print, hand signed, edition of 20, starting at £85.00.

22/01/2026

Showtime!

Presenting a new means to enjoy photographic art on the streets of London.

Kicks off from 10am this Saturday from the Royal Festival Hall. Featuring 7 Artists.

Quick up! Quick down! Multi venue art show.

Guerrilla art show stylee, followed by an Evening Exhibition, in Brixton, featuring all of the work displayed in the daytime.

Join us.

Streets
10:00+

Railway Arch 18
Valentia Place
SW9 8PJ
18-21:00

21/01/2026

On Saturday 24th January 2026 - LOFIPOSTERSHOW returns to the outside spaces of London.

A guerrilla styled fast moving pop up photographic art show. Say that after a sherry! Come on.

Different spaces in the daytime. Followed by an evening celebration at Railway Arch 18, Valentia Place SW9 8PJ from 18:00 until 21:00

Join us in the daytime chaos! Venues to be announced from 10am on Saturday, mostly along and not far from Southbank. Do bring a pushbike! You must keep up.

Join us in the evening! As we salute the 7 gorgeous artists taking a part in our first of 2026.

More on the Artists as we roll/reveal on Saturday. What else? Late January.. flying.