Did you know? I’m also a photographer, artist & writer? So I recharge by exploring our city’s cultural fairs and galleries, even tho because they are so numerous and frequent it’s easy to just get caught up in work and daily routine.
A couple years ago I went to an art Muesum in a main city of a European country and it was there I became aware how lucky we are in NYC to be exposed to the best artists of the world and creators in real time. There’s so much invested here and that’s our gift and challenge because with so much commerce also comes cost, center ropes and barriers to entry for artists; it even just a micro culture of what “is” “real art”?
That why I’m glad my friend and curator Ed @ehogik shared what I-54 was about. Having grown up in Kenya I was immediately drawn to the fact that it’s Afro centric and mainly international based galleries: London, Lagos, Paris, Geneva, Morocco, Brasil, and more. Artists of African descent living all over the world. Talent and an approach that felt fresh. Color! Boldness. Stories of identity. A woman with an Afro, the image all created with nails. Feeling. Boldness. Reparation. Repression. Rising.
When I was five or so I became aware of how my nanny lived 6 days a week on our property in Nairobi in the 1960s but in a different kind of house. Cinder block. Rudimentary. I already knew English, Armenian and Swahili. She used to sit next to me on our driveway in the afternoon and hold my hand and teach me Kikuyu, her tribal language. Someone I felt favored by her of the three of us. A grand mother figure perhaps. Salt of the earth or at least that’s what the five year old felt.
I started asking why? Why do we love differently.
40 years ago this summer I first moved to New York. I couldn’t afford to live in Manhattan so I shared a one bedroom apartment in Brooklyn. When I rode the train back and forth, I’d see my nanny in the faces of older or middle aged African American women. The same strength. The struggle. The soul of centuries. The smile that is full of heart. Survival. Compassion and passion. More too. The impact.
New York taught me about life & myself. #artweek #nyc #i-54 #designweek
#blondcontemporary #tafadzwamasudi #1.54AfricanArtFair
Come and see us at the 1.54 African Art Fair come to 605 W 27th Street New York where we open every day up until Sunday 17th May. DM for invites
Step into Blond Contemporary’s exhibition of Bernard Cohen’s paintings from the 1950s and 1960’s. We exhibit here the full range of Cohen’s work from his first exhibition at Gimpel Fis in 1958 to representation of Britain at the Venice Biennial in 1966. A period which has proved so influential and marks also the pivotal shifts that Cohen made in the nature and direction of British art and abstraction.
We are grateful for the collaboration of the Flowers Gallery (@flowersgallery ) , Nathan Cohen and Matthew Flowers (@matthew_flowers )
Exhibition Friday 17th April to Saturday 30th May. Open weekdays 10 - 6pm and Saturday’s 11- 5pm.
#BlondContemporary #flowersgallery #britishartist #britishabstractart #bernardcohen
Wonderful to welcome Nick Serota of the Arts Council and celebrated former director of The Tate and the magnificent Matthew Flowers of Flowers Gallery for a preview of Blond Contemporary’s exhibition of Bernard Cohen’s paintings from the 1950s and 1960’s.
Vernissage, Thursday 16th April 6pm - 8pm. Exhibition Friday 17th April to Saturday 30th May. Open weekdays 10 -6pm and Saturday’s 11 to 5pm.
Blond Contemporary specialises in contemporary art and photography. Founded in 2015, the gallery operates both on the secondary market and, increasingly, as a primary platform for emerging artists.
Over time, Blond Contemporary has built a considered inventory of works by artists it continues to support, alongside developing representation of new and emerging talent. Its programme brings together mid-career and emerging artists, particularly through art fair presentations, where works are shown in dialogue to emphasise formal and conceptual relationships.
The gallery’s focus is on work that is evocative, innovative and expressive, with a particular attention to colour, form and volume. Artists represented include Sophia Bounou and James Vaulkhard.
Swipe to explore:
👉 Featured artists: Tafadzwa Masudi (cover and slide 1), James Vaulkhard (slide 2), Sulette van der Merwe (slide 3), Serge Attukwei Clottey (slide 4) and Sophia Bounou (slide 5)
🎟️ Get your tickets via the link in bio
🗓️ VIP & Press Preview:
Wednesday 13 May 2026, 11 am – 7 pm
Thursday 14 May 2026, 11 am – 4 pm
📅 Chelsea Lates:
Thursday 14 May 2026, 4 pm – 8 pm
📅 Public days:
Friday 15 May 2026, 11 am – 7 pm
Saturday 16 May 2026, 11 am – 7 pm
Sunday 17 May 2026, 11 am – 5 pm
📍 Starrett-Lehigh Building, 600 W. 27th St, Manhattan, New York
At the edge of abstraction and memory, French-Moroccan artist Sophia Bounou builds worlds where figures, gestures, and symbols collide. Now represented by UK-based Blond Contemporary, her work will be featured at 1‑54 New York this May.
Swipe to find out more.
#BlondContemporary #scottsdaleartweek #scottsdaleart we open our Booth today in Arizona showing David Hockney, Sam Francis, Ed Ruscha, Milton Avery, James Vaulkhard, Henrick Godsek, Hemry Blond, Paul McDowall and Sophia Bounou. Come and see us at booth B8 DM for invites
Shape & Form at Blond Contemporary brings together a considered selection of contemporary British works that foreground structure, colour, rhythm, and spatial intelligence.
At the core of the presentation are works by Bridget Riley, David Hockney, Clyde Hopkins, Michael Craig-Martin, and Gillian Ayres. Each artist approaches form from a distinct position. Riley's optical precision activates perception itself, while Hockney's works explore line, colour, and modern technologies as tools for re-seeing the natural world. Hopkins' paintings sit between abstraction and landscape, using structure and surface to evoke memory and place. Craig-Martin reduces objects to their essential visual syntax, and Ayres' expansive canvases push colour and gesture to expressive extremes.
These established figures are shown alongside a small group of younger contemporary artists whose practices extend and challenge this legacy. Their works engage with form through new materials, digital processes, and personal narratives, demonstrating how contemporary British art continues to evolve while remaining rooted in formal experimentation.
Visit the exhibition until 28 March at Blond Contemporary, Piccadilly Arcade, London. @_blondcontemp
Gillian Ayres, Anadyomene, 1983, Signed and dated 'Gillian Ayres 83' (lower left), Oil on canvas, 152.4 x 152.4 cm
