From American Art Icons to Hidden Alternative Galleries – Discover Margate’s Art Explosion via gowithYamo

The now-iconic Turner Contemporary presents the first institutional exhibition in Europe of Ed Clark (1926-2019) – the American painter who ARTnews write “changed the shape of abstract painting.” Clark achieved late-career acclaim for his major contributions to modernist painting. Clark was the first painter to use a shaped canvas in 1957. He used a studio janitor’s broom to create his giant, trademark, motion-filled strokes. Clark called this influential push broom breakthrough his “big sweep.”

Towards the end of his life, Clark’s art became part of the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Smithsonian, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago. The New York Times revered his “effortless, thrilling abstraction full of floating light.” By 2014, The Nation hailed him “one of the best living painters”, praising how his pioneering artistry had captured “the glory of light.”

The Kavel Rafferty Gallery is an exciting, independent gallery bringing a post-punk DIY ethos to Margate’s Post Office building. The gallery prides itself on unpretentious, exuberant exhibitions that champion women, queer, outsider and untrained artists. For Yamo Lates, the gallery presents the preview of Duly Noted – a new collaborative exhibition between Lou Melchor and Kavel Rafferty, with an opportunity to meet the artists.

Other highlights come from the UK’s smallest brick-and-mortar contemporary gallery, Liminal Gallery. The intimate arts space presents Nest from Royal Academy alumnus Thomas Langley, with a curator’s tour from gallery owner Louise Fitzjohn. Well Projects, a community-focused gallery picked out by Plaster Magazine as “leading the charge for the thriving alternative scene” in Margate present an exhibition from acclaimed sculptor Jesse Pollock.

The Lido Stores is an art gallery hidden in a former corner shop opposite Margate’s landmark Lido obelisk. The shop was empty until 2021 when curator Kristen Healey transformed it into a fine art gallery. During Yamo Lates, the Lido Stores present Shelter, a group show with 4 artists responding to the concept of shelter. Shelter is curated by Evening Standard Art Prize-shortlisted, John Moores Painting Prize-longlisted artist Enzo Marra. The show also features Jenny Wiggins, Dylan Williams, and Gareth Griffith – the 2022 BEEP Painting Biennial winner whose art is in the National Museum of Cardiff and Arts Council’s permanent collections.

Margate’s Turner Contemporary has welcomed over four million visitors since 2011 and is the largest visual arts venue in Kent. Designed by David Chipperfield, it became the first contemporary building to feature on a Bank of England note.

Margate has inspired British art for centuries. J. M. W. Turner once said, “the skies over Thanet are the loveliest in all of Europe.”  Margate is where Turner first saw the sea, his greatest subject, and painted views of in over 100 of his paintings. Turner Contemporary stands on the site of the guesthouse where Turner used to stay. Turner was inspired by the house’s views of the sea, and its landlady Sophia Booth who was his companion for 20 years.

173 years on, Margate remains a distinctive force at the heart of British art. Discover why at gowithYamo’s first Yamo Lates in Margate.

An interactive Yamo Lates map will be available on the gowithYamo app. Yamo Lates visitors can check-in to each location on the app and receive a goodie bag after completing all five gallery stops.