Last Friday, Enter Gallery hosted our first event of the year, and it was good to be back! We love opening late to welcome art lovers to the gallery for a drink and a chat about art – and our 2024 Rare Print Show collection gave us plenty to talk about.
This year, we curated an incredible selection of over 50 artworks, each chosen for its rarity, whether that’s because the piece is an original, or it hails from a sold-out, or particularly small, limited edition.
In today’s blog, we’re providing some snaps from the fun event, and revealing a little more about some of the artworks included. The collection is still available to peruse online, so check it out for yourself here.
Icons of the Art World
Every year we host our Rare Print Show to celebrate fantastic art from some of the most influential names in the art world.
This year, we had pieces from a number of the infamous Young British Artists (YBAs), including Damien Hirst, Sarah Lucas and Gavin Turk, as well as two defining works from the man known for educating their young minds as their tutor at Goldsmiths, Michael Craig Martin.
Enter Gallery proudly holds the UKs largest collection of artworks by Sir Peter Blake, so we were excited to bring you some of his most special works from the archive. For the show, we brought out a couple of Blake’s most desirable works including his Replay series – a set of 12 prints in which Blake revisits his own works from the 1960s. Depicted in his signature Pop Art colours, the set portrays pop culture icons including Marilyn Monroe and Kim Novak.
We couldn’t let this show pass without paying homage to Jamie Reid, who sadly passed away in 2023. It seemed only fitting to show off a rare version of the image that defined his career. With God Save the Queen, Gold on Blue you have a genuine piece of art history in a rare colourway.
Street Art Legends
No Rare Print Show would be complete without a nod to street art, and this time we had a great selection of works from the most infamous street artist of them all, Banksy.
Included in the show were three works from the enigmatic street artist’s 2004 Placard Rat series. These works feature the rats he painted around the streets of London early in his career, issuing amusing warnings about escaping the rat race.
Just a couple of weeks before the show, we were also lucky enough to get our hands on Flying Copper – one of Banksy’s first limited edition prints. This rare piece hails all the back to his first art show – Turf War. Back then, you could have secured this piece for an incredible £40…it’s worth considerably more nowadays!
Our next event is taking place on Friday March 1st, and it’s going to be pretty special. We’re bringing you Fatboy Slim by Jessica van der Weet: 10 Years Photographing the Legend – an exhibition featuring photos of the DJ and his dance music mates captured by the photographer who has captured some of his most iconic imagery. Read all about it and secure your tickets here.
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