Page 129 - home and garden

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A YEAR OF PAINTING FLOWERS,
DANIELLE ARNAUD GALLERY, LONDON
DANIELLE ARNAUD and GERRY SMITH

Long before Damian Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery opened in Vaux-
hall, or the White Cube set up residence in Bermondsey, Danielle
Arnaud turned two floors of her Georgian house on Kennington
Road in south-east London into an art gallery. In the intervening 20
years, she has held over 120 exhibitions, featuring works by Phyllida
Barlow, Marcel Broodthaers and John Stezaker.
Gerry Smith has been part of the Danielle Arnaud stable since
1995 and held a solo show here this summer: ‘He hadn’t been well,
and we needed to get him out of his black hole,’ says Danielle. This
exhibition provided Gerry with the perfect excuse to start work-
ing again. The result was a collection of works created from found
objects or paintings, informed by everyday encounters. ‘Gerry has
exhibited with me for 20 years and I have learned so much from him:
how to curate, how to set up a show, how to interpret a space.’
Unlike a large gallery or commercial space, this is very much a
home and it’s where the Arnaud family grew up. Gerry recalls playing
croquet with Danielle’s son in the garden – a welcome distraction
from installing an exhibition. There are no assistants, no cordons, no
professional lights. There are however, pieces of furniture, sash win-
dows, wooden floorboards and three resident chihuahuas. ‘I wanted to
keep the spirit of the house,’ says Danielle. ‘It is a very intimate space
with its own identity.’ As a result, the relationship between the visitor
and the art is very different. ‘You have this direct contact,’ which, adds
Gerry, ‘is really quite special’. daniellearnaud.com