London Art Explorations are a series of walks investigating artworks displayed in outdoor settings in London, created and led by Tim Ingram-Smith and Gail Astbury, public art enthusiasts as well as practitioners in their own right. 

For hundreds of years, London has been a glittering showcase for public art and communal expression. As the city continues to evolve, so too do the commissions and opportunities for contemporary artists from all walks of life to make work for both public and private urban developments. Each artwork along these routes form part of a puzzle that reveal the lives of the people and places who make up London’s network of villages. These guided walking tours weave through and tell the oft untold stories of London’s richer and poorer communities.

Two events, one in Kings Cross and one in Victoria were completed prior to COVID restrictions being imposed – after which Art Explorations moved online.

Kings’s Cross to Regent’s Place: a dense walking tour of art pieces scattered on either side of the Euston and Marylebone Roads in central London.  Discover works by Henry Moore, Antony Gormley, Eduardo Paolozzi, Gary Hume and others all on public display.

Victoria: Our visit to Victoria and its surroundings streets is led by Gail Astbury.  Discover works by Tom Phillips, Yinka Shonibare, Grayson Perry, Patrick Heron, Edwin Russell and others all on public display as well as a potpourri  of building fascias and facades.

Even earlier, we experimented with Paolozzi Remembered (April 2017): Take a stroll through central London to experience the public art work of 20th Century Surrealist artist, Eduardo Paolozzi, and dine surrounded by his work in Le Caprice restaurant. This Sunday afternoon walk will build up your appetite in both body and mind and take in some of the places where his work can be seen.

Paolozzi was a well-known figure in central London, and a prolific artist, very much of the mainstream of Western art in his designs, collages, sculptures and paintings. He described his art as Surrealist and used found objects to express this. He had his studio in Chelsea and was a regular diner at Le Caprice restaurant where this guided walk event will culminate with a 2-course lunch at table 17 where his ‘Wood Relief’, a large wooden frieze commissioned by the restaurant in 1987 to surround the intimate alcove for parties of 10, will be our lunch stop.

We begin in the courtyard of the British Library where Paolozzi places a massive sculpture of Isaac Newton, inspired by a William Blake painting, then continue via several sites including the mosaics in Tottenham Court Road underground station, newly restored and repaired. It turns out hat many commissions are no so permanent, and several have vanished from their initial locations, becoming more works of Memory. Your guide will be Tim Ingram-Smith, curator and walker, and contributor to the Museum of Walking.

Online events took place introduced by Gail Astbury:

• Art Exploration – Victoria (x2)
• Art Exploration – Kings Cross and Regent’s Place
• Art Exploration – Peckham Plus
• Art Exploration – City East and Thameside
• Art Exploration – Vauxhall & Battersea
• Art Exploration – Greenwich Meridian
• Art Exploration – High Line, New York City (x2)
• Art Exploration – We do Like to be beside the seaside – Dungeness to Dover
• Art Exploration – Women & Public Art
• Art Exploration – Let There be Light
• Art Exploration – We do Like to be beside the seaside – Mersey to Morecambe Bay
• Art Exploration – King’s Cross and Beyond
• Art Exploration – Edinburgh
• Art Exploration – London’s Paddington
• Art Exploration – London’s Liverpool Street Loop
• Art Exploration – Barcelona