Unit London

Since the brand’s inception in 2013, Unit London has established a global artistic platform for the world’s most distinctive emerging talent. In an often opaque and impenetrable art world, Unit London seeks to identify, cultivate and expose works of art on a purely meritocratic basis. The gallery has successfully launched and advanced the careers of numerous important contemporary artists and remains a bastion of equity, innovation and sustainability.

Could you tell us a little more about your career history and where does your interest in art originate? 

We didn’t meet in a professional context: we were in the same art class at school and bonded over a love of painting - everyone else seemed to want to make video art at that stage. When we left school we both briefly tried other things before deciding to start a pop up gallery in chiswick. We mainly sold friends' work to other friends but gradually new faces began to appear, we have been carrying that forward ever since.

How would you describe the program and vision of your gallery?

The celebration of original and culturally relevant artistry. All galleries are essentially agents for artists, we like to think we acknowledge this rather than sneer at it: we promote our artists by using the most up-to-date technology and digital marketing methods. Our 'vision’ is to connect more people with contemporary art and recalibrate a relationship that has been showing cracks since the turn of the century; we would like to open galleries abroad and show that you don’t have to be a ‘mega gallery’ to have multiple sites and reach multiple audiences.

Where and how do you find new artists to exhibit? What specifically would entice you to display their work in your gallery?

We find artists through a wide range of sources, it could be someone we’ve seen on instagram; someone we’ve read an article about; someone who has come into the gallery and introduced themselves or emailed us a portfolio, there are countless ways really. The amount of great work out there can be overwhelming and it’s sometimes difficult to be selective, but before you take someone on you have to be really sure, most of the time that’s a gut feeling, learning to trust your eye - luckily we tend to agree on who to go with.

Emerging art is a tricky thing. How are you able to identify potential?

Sometimes it’s just trusting your eye (if the artist has little to no exposure). Otherwise it’s a mixture of trusting your eye while taking opinions that you value - then trying to align all that information within a broader art historical context: asking yourself, what is this artist trying to do? Has it been done before? Is it interesting? Why is it interesting? 

Does PR play an important role in an artist’s career?

It does to a certain extent, as I mentioned before we see ourselves as agents for the artist, however we don’t necessarily see this as a PR role, more of a career management one. Artists’ work needs to be shown in the right places at the right time in the right amount. They need to be looked after, nurtured, allowed to develop - we can help them do this. If you do all this successfully with the right artist, the PR should handle itself.

What is the role of the collector in the world of today’s contemporary art?

To keep the wheel spinning, the ball rolling, the machine whirring etc… There's no art world without collectors.

What advice might you give to aspiring collectors?

It’s a cliche but buy what you love, there’s never any guarantees in terms of price trajectory over a long period of time (well at least very rarely). So you want to own something that you genuinely love and have an affinity with.

Is there any advice that you can give to emerging artists who want to showcase their work?

Utilise Instagram, it’s a great way to get your work out there to a wider audience. I know it can seem as though baring your soul on the internet is like opening a door to a room where everyone hates you, quite vocally; however when it comes to visual art people are generally quite considered in their feedback and it’s worth listening to in order to develop as an artist.

Could you name some new and emerging artists whose careers you believe are worth following?

Stefanie Heinze 

Emily Marie Miller

Dickon Drury

Jeremy Olson

Hunter Potter

Mauro Martinez

Oh de Laval

Are there any projects you are currently working on and able to speak about? 

There’s plenty of exciting stuff in the pipeline. You’ll have to follow us…  

Website: https://theunitldn.com/ 

Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/unitlondon/