After an amazing vegan lunch at Saf, we toured several galleries including Saatchi & Stolen Space.
Sylvia Ji is a painter from San Francisco. I have followed her work and have collected limited edition prints of hers for a few years now. But my timing is always off, because I have never had the opportunity to view a hanging show.
A couple of years ago, while we were in San Francisco, we went to White Walls only to arrive to a gallery in complete transition. A new group show was just being uncrated and nothing was hanging. The owner, Justin, was very hospitable and said we could mill through the new arrivals if we wanted to.
Ji's show had just ended and I couldn't find any of her paintings. I was disappointed that we had missed the remnants of her show and that her work had been removed. As I sifted through the new arrivals, I spied a loose painting sitting next to a column facing inward. I picked it up and in my hands was an original Sylvia Ji - I gasped! It had already been sold and was waiting for it's new owner to retrieve it. But for the next 5 minutes, I closely looked at Till Death in full detail, I was in bliss! Layers of translucent glazes and gold leaf detailings in the roses & the bees were revealed. Gustav Klimt would be proud.
Back to present day.
I knew that Stolen Space was hosting Sylvia Ji's first London solo show. The opening wasn't until the following week, but I was hoping that maybe we could get a glimpse of the new work. I mentioned to the gallery attendant working that afternoon that we had come from afar. If Sylvia's work had already arrived, I would be forever grateful if there was a possibility to view it.
To my surprise, we were lead to the back room for a private viewing of the Sylvia Ji's that had just been unpacked! All of them were lovely and incredible. Hemlock is my favorite from this show.
Bursting with gold!
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