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AUBREY WILLIAMS: ELEMENTAL FORCE<br>
22 May - 26 July 2025
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AUBREY WILLIAMS: ELEMENTAL FORCE<br>
22 May - 26 July 2025
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<em>Quartet No 5, opus 92</em>
(<em>Shostakovich</em> series - detail)</em>, 1981. Oil on canvas, 132 x 208 cm.<h2>
AUBREY WILLIAMS: ELEMENTAL FORCE<br>
22 May - 26 July 2025
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AUBREY WILLILAMS<br>
ART, HISTORIES, FUTURES<br>
</h2>NEW MONOGRAPH AVAILABLE IN OUR STORE


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AUBREY WILLIAMS: ELEMENTAL FORCE<br>
22 May - 26 July 2025
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<em>Towakaima I (detail), 1965.</em>, 1981. Oil on canvas, 122 x 153 cm.


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EDDY KAMUANGA ILUNGA<br>
EDITION PRINTS AVAILABLE IN OUR STORE
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<h2>EDDY KAMUANGA ILLUNGA<br>Available from our Book Store, £45.95 + P&P</h2>248 pages, 200 full colour plates throughout. Published by Rizzoli.<h2>DREAM NO SMALL DREAM: The Story of October Gallery<br>Available from our Book Store. £40 + P&P</h2>304 pages, full colour plates throughout. Edited by Gerard Houghton.
 

CURRENT EXHIBITION

22 May – 26 July 2025
Aubrey Williams, Towakaima I, 1965.
Oil on canvas, 122 x 153 cm.
© Estate of Aubrey Williams.
© Estate of Aubrey Williams.
Aubrey Williams, Quartet No 5, opus 92 (Shostakovich series), 1981.
Oil on canvas, 132 x 208 cm.
© Estate of Aubrey Williams.
October Gallery presents a solo exhibition by Aubrey Williams, comprising a selection of significant paintings, spanning the decades between the 1960s and 1980s. This exhibition explores Williams’ painterly techniques, investigating his highly individual approach.

Williams’ work can be viewed as a uniquely evolved expression of abstraction and a powerful contribution to post-war art. In displaying his intuitive grasp of the possibilities open to abstraction, these striking works deploy an entirely original use of colour. The range of paintings underline the breadth of Williams’ interests: ecology, cosmology, music and pre-colonial civilisations.

As the art critic and curator, Mel Gooding noted, ‘These effects of natural dynamics persist in Williams’ work in such a way as to become a characteristic expressive trope that is so utterly personal as to be signature.’ 

Aubrey Williams' distinctive contribution to 20th century British art is now recognised by his increasing prominence in significant international exhibitions. Tate Britain dedicated a room to works by this master of abstraction in their rehang of meaningful examples of British art in 2023 – 2024. Following The Earth Will Open Its Mouth, at the Museum Sztuki in Lodz, Poland, placing Williams’ canvases as a revelatory counterweight to Erna Rosenstein’s surrealist, impressionist art, a major exhibition, Feeling Color: Aubrey Williams and Frank Bowling has recently opened at The Modern Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, in the United States.  

Last year, Paul Mellon Centre published Aubrey Williams: Art, Histories, Futures, the first major monograph on pioneering modernist Aubrey Williams.
 

FORTHCOMING EXHIBITION

30 July – 2 August 2025
Curated by the OG Youth Collective, the exhibition Beyond the Weave: Crafting Tradition, Sparking Play, will include work from contributors across the Education programme, including Primary, Secondary and Special Educational Needs schools, Hospital Schools, Creative Youth Groups and Artist Educators. Furthermore, featuring work by guest artist ZOUBIDA, founded by creative Sophia Kacimi.

The exhibition will explore the intersection of art and craft. Each work provides a playful response to tradition through experimental making that engages the senses. Tapping into the histories of traditional crafts framed within a contemporary context, these pieces reveal a synergy between the individual and the collective.

The concept of ‘Beyond the Weave' will be central to the exhibition, visually manifesting as a wooden pole around which visitors can strap-weave recycled fabric strips, working alone or in pairs. As the show unfolds, these strips will build into ever-growing braids, offering a living exploration of connection, materiality and communal play that mirrors the exhibition’s theme. The work playfully nods to the European maypole, where communities celebrate spring by dancing round a tall pole.

October Gallery’s Education Department aims to reflect the diversity of global and UK cultures through exhibitions and workshops with schools, families, community groups and artist educators. OG Education strives to establish a model for best practice in participatory arts and develops projects with a variety of schools and communities, offering art expertise, excellent teaching and high-quality results.

This exhibition and the work of the October Gallery Education Department are kindly supported by John Lyon’s Charity, Camden Council and St Andrew Holborn Charities.
 

 

NEWS, EVENTS & RECOMMENDATIONS


New catalogue:
AUBREY WILLIAMS: ELEMENTAL FORCE
Available now from our online store - £7.50 (+ P&P)
Exhibition catalogue published by October Gallery to accompany the exhibition Aubrey Williams: Elemental Force. Colour plates throughout with an essay by Gerard Houghton. 12 page softcover.
KENJI YOSHIDA exhibiting at From Ashes to Blossoms
15th July – 30th September, 2025
Ezen Foundation, London
The Ezen Foundation presents From Ashes to Blossoms, an exhibition in remembrance of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 80 years ago. Curated by a third-generation survivor, this memorial tribute will focus on shared reflection and reciprocal understanding as essential pathways to Peace. Alongside historical memorabilia, artworks by Kenji Yoshida will also be shown. Conscripted as a kamikaze pilot in 1944, Yoshida’s life was saved, counterintuitively, by the atomic bombings of August, 1945, which brought the war to a rapid end. Returning to his interrupted artistic career, Yoshida became a passionate advocate for Peace.
Kenji Yoshida, Inochi To Heiwa (Life and Peace), 2007.
Oil and metals on canvas, 81 x 65 cm.
EL ANATSUI at the RA Summer Exhibition 2025
17th June – 17th August, 2025
Royal Academy of Arts, London
See When a gate closes by El Anatsui at the Royal Academy’s 257th Summer Exhibition — a striking work crafted from aluminium and copper wire. Known for transforming everyday materials into shimmering sculptural forms, Anatsui continues to push the boundaries of contemporary art.

Curated by architect Farshid Moussavi RA, this year’s Summer Exhibition explores the theme of ‘Dialogues’ across disciplines and cultures. Celebrating its 257th year, the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2025 brings together a vibrant mix of contemporary art and architecture.
El Anatsui, When a gate closes, 2023.
Aluminium and copper wire, 270 x 350 cm.
Photo: Jonathan Greet
Remembering James Mungal
We’ve all been saddened to hear of the loss of one of October Gallery’s dearest friends, James (Jim) Mungal, who passed away, peacefully, in Cornwall, on April 5th. Everyone will remember Jim, who, for over two decades welcomed guests as they arrived for Gallery Openings, in a courteous manner that he made entirely his own.
Photo: Jonathan Greet
Alessandro Wang © Museum of Art Pudong. Courtesy of the Artist
EL ANATSUI: AFTER THE RED MOON
Museum of Art Pudong, Shanghai, China
30th September, 2024 – 7th October, 2025
El Anatsui: After the Red Moon has begun its highly anticipated world tour, making a global debut at the prestigious Museum of Art Pudong (MAP), Shanghai, where it will be on display until October 2025. El Anatsui’s cascading metal sculptures have dramatically transformed MAP's entrance lobby and Hall X, offering visitors an immersive experience of his masterful exploration of history, materiality and transformation. This global tour marks a significant milestone in Anatsui's career, and we congratulate him on this extraordinary achievement, which continues to captivate audiences around the world.

This exhibition was originally conceived and commissioned as the Hyundai Commission: El Anatsui: Behind the Red Moon for Tate Modern's Turbine Hall, London in 2023.
Installation view of El Anatsui: After the Red Moon, 2024.
Alessandro Wang © Museum of Art Pudong. Courtesy of the Artist
Photo by Kevin Todora.
AUBREY WILLIAMS at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
15th March – 27th July, 2025
Texas, USA
The Modern presents Feeling Color: Aubrey Williams and Frank Bowling, an exhibition celebrating the contributions of these two artists to the evolution of abstract painting in the late twentieth century. 

The show highlights Aubrey Williams’ dynamic exploration of abstract forms alongside Bowling’s painterly and experimental approach. Together, their works offer a powerful reflection on the impact of abstraction in modern art. 
 
Feeling Color presents works from Williams’ expansive series Shostakovich (1980–81), and The Olmec-Maya and Now (1982–88), as well as other works on canvas and paper. 
Exhibition View of Feeling Color: Aubrey Williams and Frank Bowling. Courtesy of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.
Photo by Kevin Todora.

 

VISTING OCTOBER GALLERY

Bloomsbury, London

October Gallery has been instrumental in bringing to worldwide attention many of the world’s leading international artists, including El Anatsui, Rachid Koraïchi, Romuald Hazoumè, Nnenna Okore, Laila Shawa and Kenji Yoshida. The Gallery promotes the Transvangarde, the very best in contemporary art from around the planet, as well as maintaining a cultural hub in central London for poets, writers, intellectuals and artists, and hosts talks, performances and seminars, see www.octobergallery.co.uk/events

The rich diversity of art presented is an inspiration to collectors and enthusiasts. Institutions such as the British Museum, London; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, Germany; Neue Galerie, Kassel, Germany; Setagagya Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan have all collected works from October Gallery.

Founded in 1979, October Gallery is a charitable trust which is supported by sales of art, rental of the Gallery's unique facilities, grants from various funding bodies and the active support of dedicated artists, musicians, writers and many friends from around the world. The Gallery’s Education Department is inclusive of all ages from under 5’s to PGCE student and delivers a wide range of provision, see www.octobergalleryeducation.com

October Gallery is open from 12:30 to 17:30 pm, Tuesday to Saturday.
The Gallery is closed during official holidays and the entire month of August.

October Gallery Cafe is open from 12:30 pm – 2:30 pm, Tuesday to Friday.


 

ACCESSIBILITY

There are two steps at the main entrance, each has a rise of 160mm and a 310mm tread (no handrail). The main entrance push door is 750mm wide.
Assisted or ramp access at the Gallery’s main entrance is available upon request.

Chairs can be found in the Gallery space.
The refectory is fully accessible by wheelchair.
Access to the courtyard has a 100mm ramp down coming from the corridor door.
There is also an accessible toilet in the Courtyard.

October Gallery is a Grade II listed building and therefore has no lift access to rooms above the ground floor. This includes the Theatre, the Clubroom and the first floor.

We welcome all visitors and will do our best to accommodate specific needs. Please do let us know in advance if there is anything in particular, we can help with. Call + 44 (0)20 7242 7367 or email gallery@octobergallery.co.uk preferably a day in advance.




GCC2024
October Gallery Education supported by: