Slice of the City

One of my favourite places is the October Gallery on Old Gloucester Street. It’s exciting and incredibly current, and brings lots of events, speakers and new international artists to London, which is just what we need. It’s a great place to get that modern cultural hit, and it doesn’t have any of the stuffiness of some of the larger galleries.

Chili Hawes, FRGS, is one of the Founders of October Gallery and has been Director since its opening in 1979. It was originally set up as a charitable trust, and was funded by art sales, renting out the space and generous donations. It’s a great place doing meaningful things, and it’s provided works to so many huge institutions like the British Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

The gallery is located in between the British Museum and National Gallery – talk about competitors! – but it still manages to hold its own. It refers to itself as Transvangarde – trans-cultural avant-garde, which is not the catchiest term, but it’s still an interesting concept to base a gallery on, and you’ll find contemporary art from every corner of the world.

Octobergallery.co.uk