For his latest exhibition at Saatchi Yates, London-based artist Slawn turns the gallery intself into a functioning art space. The space is live and constantly changing. Running from 22 January to 22 February, Slawn’s Studio invites visitors into the middle of his process. During the exhibition paintings are started and reworked in real time. Music is made live on site. The energy is chaotic. It is all a reflection on hoe Slawn operates while making art.
A Month of Collaboration
Throughout the exhibition, the gallery operates as Slawn’s art space. Friends, collaborators and fellow artists move in and out of the space, contributing to a constant sense of motion. The works on view are shaped by this activity. Pieces change over the course of the month, which means the exhibition is never going to be the same. What visitors see one week may look completely different in another week.
Bringing the Studio’s Reputation into the Gallery
Slawn’s studio has always been a magnet for attention, visited by collectors, musicians, athletes and politicians. That same atmosphere is carried into Saatchi Yates. The gallery becomes crowded and noisy. Activities happen all the time. Saatchi Yates presents Slawn’s Studio as an experimental way of exhibiting art, an experiment where process is treated as something worth witnessing. By combining studio and exhibition in one environment, the show challenges traditional ideas on how art should be consumed.
About Slawn
Born in 2000 in Lagod and now located in London, Slawn has operated outside of the traditional art world. His pieces fuses Nigerian heritage and contemporary youth culture, resulting in bold, primary-coloured portraits of frowning caricatures and distorted figures.
Beyond the canvas, Slawn has built a global following through interventions into luxury culture, including defaced collaborations with brands such as Rolex and Louis Vuitton, used as commentary on status and consumerism. His rapid rise has led to high-profile commissions, including designing the 2023 Brit Awards statuette, redesigning the English FA Cup, and contributing to 22 Savage’s 2025 album What Happened to the Streets?.
About Saatchi Yates
Founded by Phoebe Saatchi Yates and Arthur Yates, Saatchi Yates opened in London’s Mayfair in October 2020 and rapidly gained a reputation for championing emerging artists alongside presenting blue-chip contemporary works. In 2023. The gallery relocated from Cork Street to Bury Street, St James’s, unveiling a new 12,000-square-foot ground-floor space in the heart of London’s art district.
The new location features a large main gallery dedicated to its primary artists, alongside private rooms showcasing secondary works from internationally recognised names. With Charles Saatchu acting as an advisor. Saatchi Yates continues to push towards a gallery model that feels experimental and forward-looking.
