As we launch Soho Home Editions, a series of limited-edition prints by artists whose work hangs in the Houses, Head of Collections Kate Bryan explains how to start your own collection.
Kate Bryan, Soho House Head of CollectionsThe Soho House art collection consists of about 5,000 art works across all our different sites. It’s a really important part of our identity and the way we engage with the creative community. The members often ask us ‘How can I build a good-looking art wall like that?’, or, 'How do I find a young emerging artist?’ or ‘How do I go about creating a salon hang?’ That’s where Soho Home Editions came from – wanting to create a version [of the artist's work] which was affordable but well curated so people can have a piece of the action at home.
Archie Proudfoot
'They're artists that I believe in and that we've worked with a lot so I trust their aesthetic,' says Kate. 'A really good example is Archie Proudfoot - he made the commission for us for White City, which was easily one of the most popular pieces we've ever put in the House. It was all over Instagram and we've had a lot of the TV personalities that are on the BBC talking to us about it. With some of the other younger artists, it was a process of knowing they've got a cool, contemporary aesthetic that would suit a young buyer. A lot of the time it's things that I'm buying or my friends are buying - there's a confidence in knowing that their original works sell well so there would be a market for being able to buy an affordable edition.'
Danny Augustine
'Danny is a key part of our Soho House collection,' says Kate. 'He's a really playful artist who likes appropriating pre-existing imagery. What he's done here is brilliantly borrow - or steal! - David Hockney's famous A Bigger Splash painting. It's a love letter to Hockney but it's also a re-working in a very typically Danny Augustine way. It will really appeal to people because we all love Hockney but we're all excited by this young language that Danny's using. Danny's work is at Soho House 40 Greek Street and Redchurch Street Townhouse - he also did all the art for the bedrooms at Kettner's and he's got a work in Soho Farmhouse.'
Eliza Hopewell
'Eliza Hopewell has come of age in the Instagram generation. She makes very woke imagery - she's really diversifying the representation of women in art,' says Kate. 'You see what are supposedly taboo subjects - imagery of body hair, women shaving their legs, masturbating, using dildos. Her mark making seems relatively simple but it belies an extraordinary gift she has for rendering character in quite a few lines. Her normal practice is in this 19th-century tradition of genteel plate painting, but she turns that on its head by using subversive imagery.'
'We put together a good range. We didn't want it all to be pastel line drawing - we wanted it to be hard to soft, bold to quiet, provocative to more beautiful. The idea is you could buy one and it could just be a nice key work above your fireplace, to start you off, or you could get all eight and it would make a really powerful wall and it would look like you'd been collecting them for years because they're all quite different.'