Route 19

Route 19 is a group exhibition curated by Adrian Dannatt and Julia Muggenburg, bringing together 19 artists (with “room for a couple more inside, Sir?”) — and extending onto a 19 bus ride to encounter an off-site revelation with and by Markus Hansen.

Number Nineteen is the best bus route in London, everybody knows that.

I grew up on it, travelling back and forth throughout my misspent youth between my home in Islington and the watering-holes of Soho and the narcotic lure of those further reaches of the King’s Road. It is so geographically ripe, such a perfectly plotted trajectory through the best and worst of London and simply everyone m’dear seems to have lived or worked along its elegant artery. The 19 has always been a clandestine cultural conduit, some ley-line through so many different eras of bohemia from Symbolist Chelsea to punk Highbury; and as if to prove its artistic nature this route actually used to be an officially free ride if you could prove you were going to a performance at Sadler’s Wells! There is even a wonderful 1912 painting of Piccadilly Circus by Charles Ginner at Tate featuring our distinctive number nineteen, which is one of the longest-running and relatively unchanged routes in the city. There are, obviously, just nineteen artists in this show and our opening vernissage extends from the hours of one till nine, 1-9. Best of all, there will even be a special 19 Routemaster bus picking up art lovers from the Frieze Art Fair and bringing them directly to Belmacz gallery in the heart of Mayfair.

This exhibition pays homage to some, many, of those artists whose only real underlying link is this bus route — most curatorial strategies are secretly arbitrary after all — and celebrates one of the unsung mythic networks of our city. The exhibition even has an upper and a lower deck, just like the bus itself… so please hop on… final stop ‘Battersea Bridge South Side’!

Adrian Dannatt

London, Europe’s only metropolis, is segmented by routes traversing star like from north to south, west to east, forming superimposed webs as they move. With Route 19, Belmacz excitingly presents an imaginative exploration of London’s spirited ways, delving into the city’s past, present, and future, offering a unique perspective on its character and progression. Taking a thematic approach, the exhibition will examine the city’s history through various lenses, as the artists investigate their perceptions of the city’s light, monuments, architecture, speech, expressiveness, history, anecdotes, literature… While also taking time for the ennui – the waiting, sitting, standing as Route 19 snakes around, showcasing the city’s potential for one to meander and the artistry this may foster.

London will not just be a collection of events, but a dynamic and evolving elastic entity with never-ending indomitable potential. It will offer considered perspective as to why it is one of the greatest cities on this here planet earth. Stimulating and thought-provoking, this show is singular and decided in its ability to inspire visitors to explore and understand the city’s history – to go out, take a ride on the 19, enjoy it and report back!

In essence this is intended as a blue print to enjoy a compelling and multifaceted exploration for a deeper understanding of the city’s unique character and its continually involving legacy from the mundane to the magnificent.

Julia Muggenburg

“She waves her hand. The number 19 bus draws up obediently at her feet, by the edge of the pavement. She climbs up to the top deck as if she were walking on a length of unrolled frieze. The panel states that she can go as far as Islington. I am very sad. I feel I shall not really be upset until after dinner. 1916.”

Paul Morand, “Aurora”, Tender Shoots, (translated by Euan Cameron)

“It’s cheaper to take the tube to Piccadilly

And then we can catch a nineteen or twenty-two”.

Sir John Betjeman, Devonshire Street W.1

“Now, sing, Michael, sing on the route of the nineteen bus”

The Clash, Rudie Can’t Fail, London Calling, 1979

Adam Barker-Mill

(b. 1940, Wookey Hole, Nr Wells, Somerset, England, UK)

Adam Barker-Mill received a B.A. in Modern Languages from Magdalen College Oxford (UK), before studying painting and film, entering the London School of Film Technique, Brixton (London, UK) in 1963. In 1967, Barker-Mill became a lecturer on Film at Bath Academy of Art (UK), and in 1994 a visiting tutor at Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London. Moving from cinematography to art, Adam lives and works in London. First living on the King’s Road – stop KC, Chelsea Old Town Hall — then later, with Carolyn at Battersea Bridge South Side — stop BA, Cheyne Walk — Route 19 is an everlasting visual of life lived in London.

Carolyn Barker-Mill

(b. 1958, Dunfermline, Scotland, UK)

Carolyn Barker-Mill was born into an Aberdeen fishing family. She studied Art History at the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) and Painting at Edinburgh College of Art. From her past apartment in the Norman Foster building, Battersea Bridge South Side, she would glance out her window as moments of red glided north over the river. Carolyn continues to live and work in London, her studio within a portacabin on a pontoon on the River Thames.

James Birch

(b. 1956, London, England, UK)

James Birch studied Art History at the University of Aix-Marseille (Provence, France) before training within the Old Masters department at Christie’s Fine Art in London, where he later established the 1950s Rock & Roll department. In 2022, he published Bacon in Moscow, a memoir recounting his organising a Francis Bacon show within the USSR. Earlier this year he released his second book, Gilbert & George and the Communists. He continues to live and work in London where he can spy the 19 bus from his very door.

Marius Bodea

(b. 1986, Dumbraveni, Romania)

Marius Bodea studied painting at the University of Art and Design in Cluj-Napoca (Romania), finishing with both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree. He continues to live and work in Cluj-Napoca.

Patricia L. Boyd

(b. 1980, London, England)

Patricia L. Boyd has a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Oxford (UK) and an M.A. in Fine Art from the Chelsea College of Arts, London. She lives and works between New York and London where she remains an eager user of her local 19.

Theresa Büchner

(b. 1993, Aachen, Germany)

Theresa Büchner has a B.A. in Photography from Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam (Netherlands), an M.A. in Sound/Vision from the University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg (Germany) and was a Meisterschülerin in the class of Willem de Rooij at Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main (Germany). Theresa lives and works in Berlin.

Rick Buckley

(b. 1962, Essex, England, UK)

Rick Buckley studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (Germany), between 1990 and 1995, under Nam June Paik and and Nan Hoover. Rick last took the Route 19 on April 1st 2005, the final day of the Routemaster’s service. He saved his bus ticket, a melancholic memento mori of nascent childhood impressions of London. Rick lives and works in Berlin.

Magnus Frederik Clausen

(b. 1981, Hillerød, Denmark)

Magnus Frederik Clausen has an M.A. from the European Graduate School, Saas-Fee (Switzerland), under professors Carlos Amorales and Siegfried Zielinski. He lives and works in Copenhagen.

Keith Coventry

(b. 1958, Burnley, Lancashire, England, UK)

Keith Coventry has a B.A. from Brighton Polytechnic (UK) and an M.A. from Chelsea School of Arts, London (UK). He lived and worked for many years in a set in Albany, adjacent to Piccadilly. He continues to live and work in London.

Aidan Crawshaw

(b. 1975, UK)

Aidan Crawshaw studied architecture at Trinity College, Cambridge and received his Master of Architecture from the Architectural Association. Winner of the RIBA South West Small Project of the Year and the South West Awards, and long-listed for the RIBA House of the Year Award, and exhibitor in the Royal Academy of Arts Summer exhibition, he is an architect, potter and sculptor. Aidan continues to live and work in London within sight of the 19 bus route.

Alison Crawshaw

(b. 1979, Lancaster, England, UK)

Alison Crawshaw studied architecture at Jesus College, Cambridge and received her Master of Architecture from the Royal College of Art. Alison was Rome Scholar in Architecture, exhibitor in the international section of the Venice Biennale and was shortlisted for Harvard University’s Wheelwright Prize. She set up her practice in 2014 and continues to live and work in London, alongside Stop CE, Rosebery Avenue.

Peter Doig

(b. 1959, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK)

Peter Doig studied at Wimbledon and St. Martin’s School of Art; his first London studio was a basement squat on the corner of Rosebery Avenue. In 1986 he created the Naked City prints to accompany his first ever exhibition in a London institution, held at the AIR gallery, then directed by Iwona Blazwick, next to the 19 bus stop also on Rosebery Avenue.

Magdalena Drwiega

(b.1971, Sanok, Poland)

Magdalena Drwiega graduated from Wimbledon College of Art (London, UK) with a B.A. and M.A. in Fine Art. While living in London, Magdalena, one day perched on the upper desk of Route 19, found herself suspended in a space between motion and observation, in a liminal zone where the city unfolded like a living tapestry. Though transient, this moment stirred something enduring within. Hence on, Route 19 became a meditation, an intimate dialogue between self and city, solitude and collective existence. Magdalena lives and works in Sanok.

Hugo Guinness

(b.1959, London, England, UK)

Hugo Guinness served as a copywriter at the agency Collett Dickenson Pearce before turning to art and writing. His work has been featured in publications such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Vogue as well as collaborations with J. Crew and Coach. A collaborator of Wes Anderson, Hugo shared an Oscar nomination for the screenplay of The Grand Budapest Hotel. He lived for many years just off the King’s Road but is now based in Brooklyn.

Markus Hansen

(b.1963, Heidelberg, Germany)

Markus Hansen studied Art at the University of Reading (UK) before assisting Joseph Beuys on the installation Plight. In 1986-87 he lived in Colombia with the Waunana Indians, pursuing his anthropological interest in the creative healing role of the Shaman. Markus lives and works in London, just behind the Angel 19 stop.

The Dusk Pavilion is an immersive installation where Plato’s cave meets the cave of Lascaux. It echoes medieval folklore through the body-shadow separation once seen as a diabolic pact.

The Dusk Pavilion installation will be featuring as a satellite piece as part of the exhibition Route 19 curated by Adrian Dannatt and Julia Muggenburg at Belmacz.  The installation will be on view in Markus Hansen’s studio at 16 Duncan Terrace London N1 8BZ and given the nature of the piece will be viewable by booking a 15 minute slot.

Allen Jones

(b. 1937, Southampton, Hampshire, England, UK)

Allen Jones studied at Hornsey College of Art (UK) from 1955 to 1959 and the Royal College of Art (London, UK) from 1959 to 1960. Between 1961 and 1983 he taught at Croydon College of Art (UK), Chelsea School of Art (London), University of South Florida (USA), Hochschule für Bildenden Kunst, Hamburg (Germany), University of California, Los Angeles (USA), University of California, Irvine (USA), Hochschule der Kunste, Berlin (Germany), and the Banff Center School of Fine Arts (Canada). Jones was appointed a Trustee of the British Museum from 1990 to 1999. In 2013 he was made a Senior Academician at the Royal Academy of Arts, London. He lives and works in London and Oxfordshire.

Adam McEwen

(b. 1965, London, England, UK)

Adam McEwen received his B.A. in English Literature in 1987 from Christ Church, Oxford (UK), and then received his B.F.A. in 1991 from California Institute of the Arts, Valencia (USA). A former obituary writer for The Daily Telegraph, Adam was long based on Rosebery Avenue, where he had a solo exhibition in 1998, and now lives and works in New York.

Grayson Perry

(b. 1960, Chelmsford, Essex, England, UK)

Grayson Perry studied at Braintree College of Further Education (UK) from 1978 to 1979 and graduated with a B.A. in Fine Art from Portsmouth Polytechnic (UK) in 1982. He was the first ceramicist to be awarded the Turner Prize in 2003, and elected a Royal Academician in 2011. Perry was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2013 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to contemporary art. In 2023 he was awarded a Knighthood for services to the Arts. He has long lived and worked along various points of the 19 bus route.

Kathy Prendergast

(b. 1958, Dublin, Ireland)

Kathy Prendergast graduated from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, in 1980 and the Royal College of Art, London (UK) in 1986. A sculptor, draftsman and painter, she remains very close to the 19.

Anne Ryan

(b. Limerick, Ireland)

Anne Ryan studied at Limerick School of Art and has an M.A. in Fine Art from the University of Birmingham. Anne lives and works in London. A big fan of walking in the city and a London bus nerd. The nineteen route remains one of her favourites.

Artemii Smirnov

(b. 1994, Moscow, Russia)

Artemii Smirnov graduated with a B.A. in Architecture and Urbanism from London Metropolitan University, beginning his artistic practice alongside his studies. When he first moved to London with his wife, they stayed with friends in Islington, their home halfway along the route of the 19 bus. Some of the first flats they viewed were in Finsbury Park, and they would take this very bus to see them. In this way, Route 19 became their first experience of life in London Town. Artemii continues to live and work in London.