Framed by brick walls bearing hundreds of letters in honour of the King of Rock, a green door opens onto the last home of Freddie Mercury, the remarkably talented frontman of Queen. In 1985, the singer moved to this quiet street in Kensington and sumptuously decorated the rooms of this home that would host raucous parties and where the studio annex would host recording sessions late into the night. When, with his health deteriorating, the rock star withdrew from the public eye, he would spend more and more time in the intimacy of this home. Assisted, until his death by his ex-lover and best friend, Mary Austin, Mercury died in this house on November 24, 1991. He was cremated and his ashes were placed in a secret location, known only to Mary Austin. Following the last wishes of her friend, the woman, along with her family, still lives in Garden Lodge, surrounded by the furnishings that Freddie Mercury picked out himself. The building was built in 1908 for painter Cecil Rae who lived in the house with his wife and, before Mercury, it had numerous high-profile owners, including Peter Wilson, president of the auction house Sotheby’s.
A major retrospective at Tate Modern traces more than six decades of Julio Le Parc’s work, exploring light, movement and the active participation of the viewer.
A research-based exhibition at the British Museum reassesses early Netherlandish drawing as a functional tool within artistic production rather than an autonomous work. Technical studies and revised attributions reveal a collective workshop practice and trace the gradual emergence of drawing as an independent medium.
A London exhibition traces Emilio Isgrò’s work across six decades, between visual poetry and conceptual art. Erasure emerges as a critical practice acting on language, knowledge and representation.
A Barbican retrospective surveys Robert Ryman’s work from the 1950s to the 2000s. Painting is presented as a material and perceptual experience based on subtle variation.
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