Messums London

Messums London Messums London is the West End outpost of Messums West founded in 2016 by Johnny Messum. Messum's is a member of BADA and SLAD.

Messums London is the West End outpost of the Messums Wiltshire brand founded in 2016 by Johnny Messum. It celebrates the best of artists, conceptual craft and the skill of the hand when applied to creativity across the ages. Regular exhibitions across the year complete and compliment the programme of events that our 13th Century Tithe Barn near Salisbury. We also engage actively with museums and

public institutions - including Tate Britain, Tate St Ives, the National Maritime Museum, Birmingham Art Museum and Penlee House and Galleries - to promote British art. Equally, Messum's advise private clients on collection management, research, conservation, framing and valuation.

Some images here from a recent studio visit to artist Jack McGarrity ahead of his solo exhibition at Messums London in S...
05/08/2026

Some images here from a recent studio visit to artist Jack McGarrity ahead of his solo exhibition at Messums London in September.

McGarrity works with oil alongside flashe, the matte, almost fresco-like vinyl paint, on jute, on linen, and most recently on the back of stretched tea towels. The found cloths are part of a new series exploring landscape and nostalgia.

McGarrity was part of our Messums Emerging Talents Programme in 2021.

For all artwork enquiries, email [email protected]

Frink · Himid · Barrett · Hicks · Edwards Through diverse materials and approaches, the artists represented in Totemic ...
04/08/2026

Frink · Himid · Barrett · Hicks · Edwards

Through diverse materials and approaches, the artists represented in Totemic have found a means to grapple with humanity and our environment presenting work that expresses aspects of the human predicament at a given moment in time.

Elisabeth Frink’s work responds to postwar anxiety, the psychological trauma and the vulnerability of the human condition.

Lubaina Himid’s work is politically charged, tackling issues of race, gender and class while addressing her own cultural heritage.

Sonia Elizabeth Barrett works with the found object, her reimagined colonial era travel-desks carrying the weight of their inherent memory into the present, conveying cultural narratives where material becomes the message.

Nicola Hicks’ work relates the individual to the universal – her subject matter drawn from both personal experiences and collective understanding, works that express humanity in all its vulnerability and strength.

Laurence Edwards’ figures are constantly emerging and evolving in states of becoming, they seem to stand for the transient nature of time itself, holding presence in a world in a constant state of flux.

Does this offer a possible understanding of the meaning of Totemic in art today? Is it the ability of the work to have agency at a given moment in time but also to continue to have weight and meaning across period, to retain our histories but ultimately speak to the continuing narrative of the human condition?

Christie Brown · Dante Marioni Manipulating clay, a medium that is inherently anthropomorphic, Christie Brown’s hybrid a...
31/07/2026

Christie Brown · Dante Marioni

Manipulating clay, a medium that is inherently anthropomorphic, Christie Brown’s hybrid and otherworldly creatures have their roots in myth and legend and have frequently taken inspiration from European folk rituals. Her work also references the mythology, narrative and symbolism associated with the medium of clay itself. Brown’s bronze Jackal in the exhibition historically references an Egyptian deity Anubis ‘protector of the dead’ who guided souls to the underworld. For Brown, myths offer a constant source of knowledge and wisdom for today’s world. She comments, “They can both delight and alarm us, thrill us and warn us of the dangers, and offer a sense of continuity with history and a way forward.”

The exquisitely crafted vessel forms created by American glass blower Dante Marioni similarly embody historical culture and symbolism, referencing Greek and Etruscan prototypes and the rich tradition of classical Mediterranean pottery in their origin. Trained in Venetian glassblowing techniques with some of the greatest masters in contemporary glass, Marioni’s understanding of the material coupled with technical proficiency enables him to explore the limitations of the medium. Akin to clay, glass is weighted in its symbolic value – from the stained-glass windows of medieval architecture to the everyday vessel of utility, in its translucence and purity, its ability to transform, and as a material which fluctuates between fragility and structural stability.

Working with mediums steeped in symbolic history, these are artists who are invested in bringing contemporary relevance to a material permeated with the past.

Christie Brown 'Jackal' and Dante Marioni ‘Fuchsia in Purple Z Leaf Vessels' are on view in the Totemic exhibition at Messums London on Cork Street.

Edwards · Williams · Hicks There is a unique history in the way any work of art is realised. Through the artist’s distin...
29/07/2026

Edwards · Williams · Hicks

There is a unique history in the way any work of art is realised. Through the artist’s distinctive handling of the material, the weight of memory is embedded. Using a diverse array of mediums, the artists who are represented in this exhibition share in their ability to powerfully imbue form with meaning.

The humanity conveyed in Antony Williams’ serene portraits is created through intense observation, meticulously recording and constructing, building pigment layer upon layer in his skilful handling of the tempera process. With each brushmark considered and deliberate, he builds form with every area of his paintings given equal attention. Through the slow and patient process required by tempera, Williams has mastered a medium appropriate to his scrutiny of analysis and honesty of depiction. Through this, his paintings convey stilled moments in time but with a presence that speaks of a far greater human understanding.

Nicola Hicks animals and hybrid figures are modelled in plaster and straw, materials of great fragility, before being cast into the stability of bronze. Her process allows for a raw, instinctive and emotive response which is retained when the works find their permanent form in bronze, creating expressive creatures that are both symbolic and individual, infused with empathy, tenderness and human understanding.

Laurence Edwards’ bronze figures have their origin in the ground upon which we walk. Constructed from gathered organic matter – leaves, branches, silt, debris, rope, they hold the memory of the landscape through which they are born together with the marks of their creation. Caught emerging from the ground or striding the earth, his figures carry the resonance of ancient history into the present while journeying into the future.

It is in the mastery of their craft and relationship to their chosen material that these artists are able to create works with such potency and relevance, totemic forms aiding an element of our comprehension of today’s world.

All three artists work is on view at the Totemic exhibition at Messums London.

.bronze

For Matthew Darbyshire, sculpture isn't about fixed meanings. It's about what happens when familiar symbols are placed i...
27/07/2026

For Matthew Darbyshire, sculpture isn't about fixed meanings. It's about what happens when familiar symbols are placed into new relationships, allowing unexpected associations, tensions and interpretations to emerge.

Visit the Totemic exhibition at Messums London on Cork Street. Totemic asks what the word holds for contemporary art and sculpture.

New artworks added this week to the Totemic exhibition at Messums London. Be the first to see the works, including two n...
23/07/2026

New artworks added this week to the Totemic exhibition at Messums London. Be the first to see the works, including two new paintings by Tom Robinson and sculptures by Jonathan Freemantle.

Totemic – Edie Flowers In ConversationWednesday 12 August, 6pmJoin artist Edie Flowers, one of the artists exhibiting in...
21/07/2026

Totemic – Edie Flowers In Conversation
Wednesday 12 August, 6pm

Join artist Edie Flowers, one of the artists exhibiting in the current exhibition ‘Totemic’ at Messums London, in conversation about her work and practice.

Edie Flowers is a contemporary visual artist and sculptor who studied at the Royal Drawing School. Her work spans multiple mediums including ink, paint, and sculpture, frequently exploring themes related to the human experience, vulnerability, and domestic life.

This talk is part of a series of events we are running alongside the exhibition ‘Totemic’ designed to offer informal conversations in the gallery beginning with a single work and unfolding through discussion with artists, curators and guests.

Free event but due to limited space, sign up on our website if you wish to come along.

16/07/2026

Associate Director Lisa Anderson unpacks the work of Motunrayo Akinola, one of the artists exhibiting in Totemic at Messums London, Cork Street.

Motunrayo Akinola is a cross-disciplinary artist, working across sculpture and installation. His work explores themes of class, access and a sense of belonging. The work, made primarily from cardboard, tape and shellac, reflects the artist’s architectural sensitivity to our contemporary social environment; part of a post-colonial dialogue guided by conversations of care, collective memory and the politics of hierarchy.

A totem is more than an object.It carries meaning.It gathers stories.It becomes a marker of memory, identity or belief.T...
15/07/2026

A totem is more than an object.

It carries meaning.

It gathers stories.

It becomes a marker of memory, identity or belief.

This week, the exhibition 'Totemic' considers how contemporary artists continue to create works that operate in this space—objects that ask us to think beyond their material form.

Sonia Elizabeth Barrett explores memory through process and making.

Motunrayo Akinola's 'A Tale of Two Cities Y' reflects on movement, connection and the spaces between places.

Christie Brown's 'Jackal' reminds us of the enduring symbolic power of the animal form.

Different works. Different stories.

Yet each asks the same question:

When does an object become more than an object?

'Totemic' continues throughout the summer at Messums London.

📍28 Cork Street, London

14/07/2026

Last week at Messums London we held our first in the series of Totemic Talks with artists Matthew Darbyshire and Sonia Elizabeth Barrett.

These talks are running alongside the exhibition ‘Totemic’ and offer informal conversations in the gallery beginning with a single work and unfolding through discussion with artists, curators and guests.

The next Totemic Talk is Edie Flowers In Conversation on Wednesday 12 August at 6pm. Do come along and join in, email [email protected]

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