Alvaro Barrington Big Ocean, Caribbean Blues, L, August 2024, 2024 Oil and acrylic on burlap 192.5 x 207.5 x 7.5 cm 75 7/8 x 81 3/4 x 3 inches Sadie Coles HQ
Founded in London in 1997 by Sadie Coles, Sadie Coles HQ is a contemporary art gallery representing more than fifty established and emerging artists from around the world.
The gallery is widely recognised for its critically acclaimed programme and its significant role in shaping contemporary art in Britain over the past two decades, notably through its long-standing association with many of the Young British Artists (YBAs).
Sadie Coles herself has been widely acknowledged for her influence on the international art scene, most recently through the launch of GARGLE, an invitational live events programme initiated by the gallery.
Before establishing her own gallery, Coles spent six years working with prominent art dealer Anthony d’Offay. Sadie Coles HQ opened with an inaugural exhibition by American painter John Currin, held concurrently with Sarah Lucas’s solo exhibition The Law, staged in an empty office building in Clerkenwell.
This dual opening established the gallery’s commitment to working with challenging, provocative artists across both conventional and unconventional exhibition spaces. Over the years, Sadie Coles HQ has expanded and relocated multiple times, occupying a range of distinctive venues.
Today, the gallery operates from two permanent spaces in London—Kingly Street in Soho and Bury Street in St James’s. From autumn 2025, it will expand further with the opening of a third location in Mayfair, housed in a six-storey Georgian townhouse on Savile Row.
Artists Represented Sadie Coles HQ represents artists working across a wide range of disciplines, fostering both new voices and long-term collaborations.
The gallery maintains enduring relationships with artists including Sarah Lucas, Matthew Barney, Ugo Rondinone, Urs Fischer, and Richard Prince, and also represents the estate of Angus Fairhurst.
Sarah Lucas has worked with the gallery since its founding, exemplifying its long-standing commitment to YBA artists. In recent years, the gallery has expanded its roster to include Alex Da Corte, Borna Sammak, Kati Heck, Martine Syms, and Lawrence Lek in 2018, followed by Agnes Scherer, Tau Lewis, and Dada Khanyisa in 2024.
International Presence Active on the global art circuit, Sadie Coles HQ regularly participates in major international art fairs, including Frieze London, Tokyo Gendai, West Bund Shanghai, and Art Basel in Paris, Hong Kong, and Basel.
Alvaro Barrington Alvaro Barrington’s multidisciplinary practice reflects the cultural exchanges and socio-political realities shaped by his upbringing between the Caribbean and Brooklyn during the 1980s and 1990s.
Born in Venezuela to a Grenadian mother and a Haitian father, Barrington relocated to Brooklyn in 1990, where he was raised by his mother and an extended family network.
He earned his MFA from the Slade School of Art in London in 2017, the same year MoMA PS1 presented his first solo museum exhibition. Artistic Practice Barrington’s materials, imagery, and techniques draw heavily from his formative years in Grenada.
He frequently constructs his canvases from burlap, a material associated with Caribbean cacao production, while stitched yarn references local craft traditions.
These elements are evident in works such as When I Was Just Trying to Feed My Daughter / Coogi (2021) and The Musician’s Chains / Soul (2021). New York’s cultural and political history—including the Harlem Renaissance, hip-hop culture, and downtown architectural forms—also plays a central role in his work.
Influences from Abstract Expressionism inform his bold use of colour and physically expressive techniques.
His 2021 solo exhibition at Thaddaeus Ropac presented a wide-ranging body of painting and textile works, including Em Reclining Sofa Bed w/ Burberry Pillow (2021) and Compass Pose [Deanna] (2021).
The mixed-media work The Bather Rio/Ro/St (2021), featuring the silhouette of Rihanna and referencing Mark Rothko and Clyfford Still, exemplifies Barrington’s distinctive synthesis of historical and contemporary references.
Gallery Representation and Exhibitions Barrington is widely recognised for his unconventional approach to gallery representation. In addition to working with Mendes Wood DM, KARMA, and Blum & Poe, he maintains collaborative representation with several leading London galleries, including Thaddaeus Ropac, Emalin, Sadie Coles HQ, and Corvi-Mora.
In 2021 alone, Barrington presented five solo exhibitions across London, Paris, and New York.
Alvaro Barrington Caribbean Blues, My Country's Flag, 2025, 2025 Oil, acrylic, ink and flashe on burlap in reclaimed wood frame 87 x 86.8 x 8.1 cm Sadie Coles HQ
That October, his exhibition Spider the Pig, Pig the Spider opened at South London Gallery, marking his first solo institutional exhibition in the United Kingdom.
Continuing his exploration of historical and contemporary cultural intersections, the exhibition featured paintings incorporating imagery from Peppa Pig and George Orwell’s Animal Farm (1945), alongside concrete-covered Hermès blankets referencing the cloudscapes of J.M.W. Turner and John Constable.
Alvaro BarringtonCaribbean Blues/ Been Around the World, 1, 2025, 2025Oil on found postcard in black palmwood frame
18.6 x 23.1 x 1.7 cm
7 3/8 x 9 1/8 x 3/4 inches
Sadie Coles HQ
