EDITOR’S LETTER

Welcome to The Wick

— Katy Wickremesinghe
Dear All,

With the art world decamping to Miami, expect Instagram feeds to fill with palm trees, surf shorts and kitsch cocktails. There’s an insatiable appetite for glamour and fun worldwide, and galleries and collectors are outdoing each other to create unforgettable social experiences, with La Prairie Beach Club hosting indulgent treatments as well as a dance performance by Wen-Chi Su.

Monday night will see a bedazzled red carpet rolled out at the Royal Albert Hall for The Fashion Awards. Expect joyous colour, big volumes, sexy cutaway black dresses, diamonds and gold. Billy Porter is the flamboyant host of the evening. A pre-cocktail at Claridge’s to admire Kim Jones’ Christmas Tree will be in order. And don’t forget to pick up your authentic Milanese panettone — Marchesi 1824 , the Prada-owned bakery on Mount Street serves up the best.

All best wishes from me and the KTW family,
Katy
The Wick - Home

Objects of Desire

Manolo Blahnik, Lurum Gold Mesh Crystal Embellished Mules

The Wick - Princess Alia Al-Senussi
Monday Muse

Interview Patron of the arts Princess Alia Al-Senussi

Visual Arts
The Wick - Victor Seaward
Spotlight

Feature RCA graduate and artist Victor Seaward

Visual Arts
THE WICK LIST
The Wick - Candida Höfer, Teatro Olimpico Vicenza, 2010

Viewing Candida Höfer: Libraries, museums and a theatre

The photographer’s eighth solo show at Ben Brown Fine Arts includes a selection of spectacular photographs of empty libraries, museums and a theatre across Europe

The Wick - Pippy Houldsworth Gallery. Jacqueline de Jong, De achterkant van het bestaan (The backside of existence), 1992. Courtesy the artist and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London. © Jacqueline de Jong (2021)

Viewing Art Basel Miami Beach

Art Basel Miami Beach is back for its first in-person event since 2019, with 253 of the world’s leading modern and contemporary galleries showcasing their very best works.

The Wick - Between the Two My Heart is Balanced, Lubaina Himid

Viewing Lubaina Himid

The British artist’s retrospective at Tate Britain traces her journey from her pivotal role in the British Black arts movement of the 1980s to winning the Turner Prize in 2017.

Dream & Discover

Discover Es Devlin
Visual Arts

“When creativity melds together with global issues, I believe you can bring the world together.”

Virgil Abloh

'Tis the season... Over the past few days, London has quite literally lit up with creativity, with grand Christmas trees around the capital designed by some of the most exciting artistic talents. Swipe through for The Wick's pick of the city's top Christmas trees for the culturally curious: 1. The Connaught Christmas Tree, designed by Idris Khan OBE and Annie Morris. The husband-and-wife creative duo have adorned the 9m tall fir with brilliant colourful spheres, echoing Morris' famous Stack sculptures, currently on show at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. At the top, a neon flower takes pride of place, a nod to Morris’ ‘Flower Women,’ while the base features a two-way infinity mirror illuminated in Khan’s signature blue, with the words 'Merry Christmas' translated into over a hundred languages layered in a rich script throughout. @theconnaught @annie_morris_studio @idriskhan_studio 2. ‘The Celestial Snow Globe’ Claridge's Christmas Tree, designed by Kim Jones OBE. The Artistic Director of the Dior men’s collections has taken the helm on the hotel's contemporary tree, playing with the idea of a magnificent snow globe with illuminated magical sparkles and reflecting snowflakes. There are nods to the Parisian fashion house, too — baubles are decorates with various Dior motifs, and at the top, Jones’ dog Cookie sits alongside Monsieur Dior’s lucky star. @claridgeshotel @mrkimjones 3. The London Edition's tree, designed by Ed Curtis. The London Edition has teamed up with local artist Ed Curtis and charity Choose Love to decorate their 18-foot-tall fir. The exuberant tree is adorned with hand-painted artworks, giant presents and stockings, and plenty of tinsel, conjuring the ultimate childhood dreams of Christmas trees. @londonedition @ed_curtis__ 4. Native Bankside Christmas Tree, designed by Jake Kuit. The ethical florist has created the first 'wool tree,' using 44 kilos of washed British wool (which will be returned once it comes down), cotton stems and recycled dried hydrangeas to create a striking tree with zero negative environmental impact. @kuitflowers @nativeplacesuk
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This week's Monday muse is patron of the arts, Princess Alia Al-Senussi. As a cultural strategist, advisor, patron and academic, Dr Alia Al-Senussi, PhD has worked tirelessly to open up the Middle East's art scene to the wider world. A descendant of Libyan royalty, Al-Senussi — now based in London — grew up between Egypt, South Dakota, San Diego and Minnesota, giving her a global outlook that has inspired her to speak out on how the arts can advance and shape societies. In addition to being a founding member of Tate’s acquisitions committee for the Middle East and North Africa, a board member for Art Dubai and the 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, and a senior advisor to the Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Culture, Al-Senussi is currently working on two major art gatherings: Art Basel Miami Beach and the inaugural Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale. In the midst of her jet-setting work, Al-Senussi discusses juggling her various roles, the emerging artists on her radar and why Sumayya Vally is her personal Monday Muse. #MondayMuse #AliaAlSenussi #AliaGetInstagram @artbasel @biennale_sa @tate @154artfair @artdubai @sumi_v #ArtBaselMiami #MiddleEasternArt #DiriyahContemporaryArtBiennale
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RIP to Virgil Abloh - a multi faceted visionary who committed himself to the creative worlds of design, fashion and visual arts and the increasingly fluid dialogue between them all. A trained architect, Abloh co-founded the iconic label Off White after a Fendi internship with Kanye West. He later went on to create dynamic visual arts collaborations across the blue chip gallery and fair space with Murakami and then went on to be the first African American to hold a creative director role in a French fashion house, at LVMH with Louis Vuitton. He passed on 28 November 2021 after a private and intense cancer battle. A true visionary, at The Wick we hope that the world continues to light up the worlds and education of the art curious with all that he so magnanimously built. @virgilabloh 📸 @misanharriman #virgilabloh #offwhite #louisvuitton #architecture #fashion #design #visualarts #gonetoosoon #artmeetslife #connectwithculture
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Sunset city. Seth Armstrong’s first solo exhibition ‘Overlook’ with Unit London, presents a new body of work from this unique Los Angeles painter. Each painting from Armstrong displays meticulous detail as he creates idealised vignettes capturing the dynamism of sunlight, across the Los Angeles basin into the mountains and the clouds above. At times, Armstrong creates drawings from these many photographs, using them as starting points for his canvas works. At others, he dives straight into painting, spending more time on underpainting to plan his compositions. Exhibition live until 4 December. @unitlondon @armstrongseth #setharmstrong #contemporarypainting #culturallycurious
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