Liam Fallon, Aftermath II, 2022
It’s a busy and exciting month for Blackbird Rook, with several exhibitions and projects opening in the run-up to Christmas - a perfect moment to see new work, reconnect, and perhaps add something meaningful to a collection before the year closes.
On 12 November, What Remains of the Day: Marilyn Hallam and Ellie MacGarry - In Dialogue opens at General Assembly, 12 St George Street, London W1S 2FB, running until 27 November. The private view will take place on Tuesday 18 November, 6–8pm, and all are welcome (RSVP: hello@generalassemblylondon.com).
The show brings together two painters separated by generations but united in their quiet intelligence and sensitivity to space. Hallam’s interiors unfold like remembered moments - light filtered through a window, the edge of a table, a figure half-seen. MacGarry’s work, by contrast, pares the image back to its essentials: cropped bodies, suspended garments, the tension between intimacy and distance. Together they open up a conversation about perception, presence and the emotional architecture of domestic life. It’s an exhibition about noticing - how rooms hold memory and how painting still holds power.
The 13 November, marks the opening of the Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, where I’ll be showing half a dozen artists in collaboration with Patrick Davies Contemporary Art, including Edmond Brooks Beckman, Liam Fallon, Jim Cheatle and Peter Lamb. Woolwich has become one of the most energetic and democratic fairs in the UK - a place where serious collectors and first-time buyers genuinely mix. If you’re looking to discover strong new work, it’s an event well worth the trip.
Contact me for VIP preview tickets and complimentary passes.
Finally, on the writing front, the latest paid edition of Diary of an Art Advisor is now live on Substack - The Collector’s Guide to Contemporary Art, Part Two. Together with Part One, it’s grown into a handbook for collecting with intelligence and intent. This instalment looks at pricing, negotiation and the art of buying well – written from inside the workings of the art world rather than from its shopfront.
You can read the opening paragraphs free, and if you’d like access to both parts and all future essays, you can subscribe to the paid edition for £5/month. It’s a rolling subscription, cancellable any time - effectively a book in progress, unfolding one essay at a time.
Greg Rook
Blackbird Rook