Meet Joe and Jonny, the founders of Unit London, Mayfair
Joe and Jonny talk big ambitions, the power of Instagram and art in a digital age
Meet Joe and Jonny, the founders of Unit London, Mayfair
At just 28 years old, best friends and business partners Joe Kennedy and Jonny Burt are single-handedly revolutionising the contemporary art world. They’re model-good looking, disarmingly charming and wildly ambitious. ‘We sat down and tried to figure out what problems we wanted to solve in the art world, what we didn’t like and what we could change’, explains Joe excitedly, as he guides me round their new Mayfair flagship – the former 6000 sq ft Citi Bank building in Hanover Square. ‘We wanted to be inclusive, celebrate genuine artistic talent and bring back the human experience into the [art] industry’.
And what a temple it is. Among their primary roster of well-known and international names to garnish the floating curved walls are British artist Jake Wood-Evans, HUSH – a graffiti artist focusing on female sexuality and transience in contemporary art – and South African abstract figurative painter Ryan Hewett. Hewett, as with many of their artists, was scouted online. He was also given the tough job of inaugurating the swanky new space, with a solo exhibition of new brightly-saturated oil paintings, drawing on continued notions of fantasy and surrealism.
The duo's second exhibition, hot on the heels of the first, brings together eight international artists exploring art in a digital age. Unsurprisingly, all of them were scouted out on social platforms, too, using the gallery’s far-reaching social media initiative, #lookingforU. Philip Colbert, renowned for his work juxtaposing contemporary motifs with art historical references, painter Marc Gumpinger and mixed-media artist Tom Price are all participating in the show. All eight artists have produced work in response to the exhibition's themes of identity and communication in the modern age.
So what’s next? More secondary market deals and an overseas outposts? Yes. But first, ‘our focus is on the artists we are working with’, explains Jonny, ‘we want to turn them into superstars, we want to turn them into generation defining artists [...] we want to create an immersive experience that gives a big, powerful voice to our artists'.
Refreshing, ambitious, and certainly revolutionary: Joe and Jonny, we salute you.
Looking For U is open 26 July - 26 August, Unit London, 3 Hanover Square, W1S 1HD
And what a temple it is. Among their primary roster of well-known and international names to garnish the floating curved walls are British artist Jake Wood-Evans, HUSH – a graffiti artist focusing on female sexuality and transience in contemporary art – and South African abstract figurative painter Ryan Hewett. Hewett, as with many of their artists, was scouted online. He was also given the tough job of inaugurating the swanky new space, with a solo exhibition of new brightly-saturated oil paintings, drawing on continued notions of fantasy and surrealism.
The duo's second exhibition, hot on the heels of the first, brings together eight international artists exploring art in a digital age. Unsurprisingly, all of them were scouted out on social platforms, too, using the gallery’s far-reaching social media initiative, #lookingforU. Philip Colbert, renowned for his work juxtaposing contemporary motifs with art historical references, painter Marc Gumpinger and mixed-media artist Tom Price are all participating in the show. All eight artists have produced work in response to the exhibition's themes of identity and communication in the modern age.
So what’s next? More secondary market deals and an overseas outposts? Yes. But first, ‘our focus is on the artists we are working with’, explains Jonny, ‘we want to turn them into superstars, we want to turn them into generation defining artists [...] we want to create an immersive experience that gives a big, powerful voice to our artists'.
Refreshing, ambitious, and certainly revolutionary: Joe and Jonny, we salute you.
Looking For U is open 26 July - 26 August, Unit London, 3 Hanover Square, W1S 1HD
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