The Enter Gallery team love nothing more than bringing you the work of exciting artists, whether they’ve already established themselves on the international stage, or are just starting to make waves.
This year was a seriously fantastic one for new arrivals at the gallery. So, in today’s blog, we’re looking back at every artist that joined us in 2021.
Mateo
We kicked off 2021 in style, bringing you an exclusive limited edition print from Mateo – an artist that our art buyers had come across at Miami Art Week and couldn’t wait to work with. The exclusive piece – Kamal – sold out in record time.
Inspired by his time spent exploring other cultures, and his personal journey towards enlightenment, Mateo creates intricate kaleidoscopic portraits of women. His complicated designs, some of which are painted directly onto ornamental rugs, are designed to explore the complexities of human nature and the human experience.
View our selection of Mateo’s work.
Lauren Baker
Next to join the Enter Gallery stable back in February was London-based artist, Lauren Baker. Inspired by a life-changing experience in the Peruvian jungle, Baker started creating art in 2012. Her work, which spans a number of artistic mediums and often plays with light, explores metaphysics, the universe, and the power of human connection. To get into the creative zone, Baker listens to sound waves. These help her to paint the auras and energy featured in her work, and to craft pieces she intends as ‘bursts of celestial optimism.’
View our selection of work from Lauren Baker.
Paul Fuentes
Next up, we welcomed Mexican fine art photographer, Paul Fuentes. His art whisked us away to poolside Palm Springs, and gifted us the much-needed dose of endless summer we all craved. Via his pastel-palette, a focus on classic cars and beautiful architecture, and populating his scenes with exotic animals, Fuentes creates visually-delightful paradises which scream of both high fashion, and mid-century Americana.
View our selection of work from Paul Fuentes.
Okuda
One artist that arrived at Enter Gallery in 2021 in an explosion of colour was Spanish painter, sculptor and muralist, Okuda San Miguel. If, like us, you’ve always got one eye on the street art whenever you visit a new location, chances are high you’ve seen the work of Okuda. His sky-high murals and paint jobs on derelict buildings, featuring geometric patterns and people, have brightened up otherwise dreary cityscapes from Spain to Shanghai.
Okuda's intention with his distinctive use of colour is to celebrate human differences, and the wealth of cultures that populate our beautiful world.
View our selection of work by Okuda San Miguel.
INKCANDY
It was one for the film fans in the spring, with the introduction of London-based artist and graphic designer, INKCANDY. His art provokes a wonderful sense of 80s nostalgia for the golden film moments we were raised on.
We bought you INKCANDY’s Film for Thought series, which combines the artist’s love of design and film via beautifully-constructed prints featuring quotes that reference food from his favourite movies. We also introduced his Close Up series, inspired by Italian film director, Sergio Leone, in which he reinterprets extreme close ups of eyes seen in movies using pointillism and op art techniques.
View our selection of work by INKCANDY.
Boogaloo Stu
Another colourful addition to 2021 came in the form of Brighton-based artist, DJ and cabaret performer, Boogaloo Stu. We brought you his vivacious collection of prints and dioramas, which delight and amuse via a cast of flying pigs, phallic rockets and grinning footwear. Cheeky, joyful and undeniably optimistic, Boogaloo Stu inhabits an irresistible and fun-filled world of his own, and his art is your ticket to join him.
View our selection of work by Boogaloo Stu.
Nathalie Kingdon
When the days started getting colder, the Enter Gallery staff were warmed by the arrival of Nathalie Kingdon. Each of her artworks is inspired by her home region of the south of France, with many of the images used starting out as photographs taken during her visits.
Kingdon’s approach to colour, juxtaposition of form and shape, and tweaking of perspectives creates distinctive scenes that summon memories of summers past, and those yet to come.
View our selection of work from Nathalie Kingdon.
Skirl
Interesting artistic techniques really float our boat, and Vienna-based street artist, Skirl fits that bill. The artist used his combined 12 years of experience as a graffiti artist and knowledge of engraving to formulate his unique style – a technique which uses hand-cut rollers to recreate organic forms and structures.
We were lucky enough to welcome Skirl in October for a live painting session in the gallery, with the original pieces he created available to buy. To learn about more of the events we held at the gallery in 2021, check out this article.
View our collection of Skirl artworks.
Charlotte Rose
Charlotte Rose is a 22-year old model who only started painting for the first time during lockdown. Rose went on to gather a huge social media following with her art, attracting commissions from the likes of Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Yungblud.
Back in August, fresh off the back of her debut sell-out solo show, we brought you a collection of Rose’s prints – some inspired by lockdown, and others inspired by a desire to challenge nostalgic cigarette branding from the late 20th century.
View our selection of work from Charlotte Rose.
Mark Powell
In Autumn, we welcomed Mark Powell to the Enter Gallery family - a masterful artist who creates intricate anthropological portraits with just one tool, a Bic Biro. For his canvas, Powell turns to antique maps and documents, using the creases and marks created by past owners to add detail to his portraits.
Powell’s work is inspired by the host of interesting humans Powell has met while travelling the world. He tells us: ‘Each face I choose to draw has to have character and a suggestion of a history to tell. That way the viewer can create any narrative of a life that may have been lived.’
View our collection of work by Mark Powell.
Paul Morrison
Next, we were joined by multi-disciplinary artist, Paul Morrison – an artist best-known for monochromatic botanical landscapes which appear almost monstrous due to his manipulation of scale. To create his surreal gardens, which some have described as ‘Disney without the characters’, Morrison appropriates familiar imagery everywhere from Disney cartoons to Pop Art.
View our collection of Paul Morrison artworks.
Craig Keenan
Roll around November, and it was time to welcome Craig Keenan – a London-based print maker specialising in haunting cobalt blue cyanotypes. Via the historical printing technique, Keenan creates underwater landscapes or glimpses into the cosmos, which he then populates with figures, creatures or objects that make us stop and think about our place in the world and our impact on our beautiful planet.
View our collection of Craig Keenan’s art.
We’re already preparing to welcome more artists to Enter Gallery in 2022. If you’d like to be kept up to date on new artists, events and more, sign up to our newsletter here.
