"CONDO WEEKEND BEGAN in the same way that all good British rom-coms, or Martin Amis novels, do: walking against the wind, en route to an oversize redbrick Victorian house in Earls Court, a spot that my press invitation had unabashedly advertised as being located in Notting Hill, but is an easy two tube stops away. This was the "standing" dinner to celebrate Arash Nassiri's "A Bug's Life," newly open at Chisenhale Gallery, in a renowned collector's home."
"Upon entering the home, I was told not to photograph the art; unable to photograph, or to view art through the shield of an iPhone lens, I became unusually coy before artworks by artists I recognized. I averted my eyes before a small Joseph Yaeger painting, as you might before a sex scene watched with your parents. On the walls, the paintings' hues matched the mahogany inlay of the room; a canvas by Pierre Soulages sat atop the mantel."
Condo Weekend began with a walk to an oversized redbrick Victorian house in Earls Court misadvertised as Notting Hill. The event paired international galleries with local London galleries, facilitated by Carlos/Ishikawa. Guests were asked not to photograph works, which produced more intimate and coy viewing behaviors. The collector's home displayed works by Joseph Yaeger, Pierre Soulages, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, and an Issy Wood portrait of a Pomeranian. The setting highlighted the market appetite for figurative painting alongside Arash Nassiri's large-scale video A Bug's Life (2026) and prompted questions about patronage and how market preferences shape artistic production.
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