Star-quality art
syrett, artist and founder of the online runway gallery, tells us about his fashion-focused line-up and why beauty in art is key
Syrett came to art via the fashion industry – and both of these passions inform the selection of artists featured at runway Gallery. ‘there’s been a big discussion in the art world as to whether fashion belongs in the arts. this sounds ridiculous,’ says syrett,
‘because it does.’ so creating a fashion-focused art gallery seemed a natural thing to do. ‘Fashion has been a big part of my life and my career, and it seemed a really good and interesting way to start to change out artists.’
Digital Discoveries the online gallery launched in october 2018 with 14 contemporary artists, and the stable is growing each week. But how does syrett find, and more importantly, choose who to feature on the site? ‘instagram has been very instrumental,’ he says. ‘i use it regularly, to search for artists. some of the artists don’t use fashion in their work, but have come from that industry.
‘We’ve got a new artist coming on board soon who’s been a fashion designer for years – chinakwe. she has now moved into art. i already knew about a third of the artists featured – some are fashion photographers i’ve worked with, or artists who are friends of mine.’
other newcomers to the site include martha haversham, whose witty Found Fashion collection uses scraps of rubbish to make mini-fashion pieces, such as cigarette butts attached to a perfectly sculpted pair of legs in high heels. this appeals to syrett’s sense of the extraordinary. ‘they’re just so simple, and very clever,’ he says. the eye of the beholder the prerequisite of runway Gallery work, however, is beauty. ‘Beauty has become a bit of a dirty word in the art world,’ says syrett. ‘you’ve got the gritty aesthetic of street art and then you go into galleries and it’s all about the thought process and the concepts – it’s not necessarily about what is visually pleasing.’
however, it seems that there is plenty of demand for beauty. since christmas 2018, the online site has ‘gone bang’, says syrett. ‘We’ve had some success with Louise Dear, and also with me, and olly howe has done really well. this was much more successful at the beginning than i anticipated.’ interior Dialogue What has surprised syrett even more is the ‘major interest’ shown by interior designers. ‘i didn’t expect this to happen in such a short amount of time,’ he says. ‘We’ve had talks about doing all the artwork for a hotel and about providing the artwork for a private club. We’ve also had interest from an interior designer for three pieces by Bruce atherton to go to miami.’ futures trading as well as the added artists and new collections (syrett has
recently launched the permanence of possibilities,
27 works on the site), the artists have a dedicated exhibition. ‘i’m planning an exhibition in my hometown of Leeds this autumn. i’ve been invited by Black Box, who has teamed up with Land securities and trinity Leeds to exhibit my work, and i’ve extended this to the runway Gallery artists,’ says syrett.
‘i’m thinking of calling it salon
noir, after the cave in the south of France that has some of the earliest cave drawings. the runway artists are all doing new work and creating “museum” pieces, as i call them, so they’re not necessarily things to go into people’s homes. then hopefully we’ll be bringing that exhibition back to London.’