Author: The Auction Collective
Published: 01 Apr 2019
Top 5 Artists | Harlesden High Street
A spotlight on the top 5 next gen artists from those that know. This week's Top 5 comes from the Harlesden High Street gallery team, Jonny Tanna, Sophie Barrett-Pouleau, and Anaïs Auger Mathurin.
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Jonny Tanna is the founder and director of Harlesden High Street gallery dedicated to bridging experimental and outsider artists with the traditional gallery system.
Located in North West London, the gallery highlights contemporary art by people of colour and supports both local and international artists. Alongside its exhibitions, the gallery runs a cultural outreach program, engaging audiences in un-gentrified neighbourhoods through workshops, talks and artist initiatives. In 2023, it co-founded Minor Attractions, an inclusive micro-fair offering access to London and international galleries during Frieze week.
Team Photos: Courtesy of Harlesden High Street gallery.
Header Image: A Volcanic Redsea, 2023-2024, oil, oil stick, sand on canvas, 45cm x 60cm x 2.5cm. Image courtesy of Savannah Harris, taken from Harlesden High Street gallery website.
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Savannah Harris
Image Credits (left to right)
Portrait of the Artist. Image courtesy of the artist and Harlesden High Street gallery.
Savannah Harris, Powdery Blossom, 2024, oil, oil stick and sand on canvas, 190cm x 200cm x 3.5cm. Image courtesy of Savannah Harris, taken from Harlesden High Street gallery website.
Savannah Harris (b. 1999) creates fluid, multi-layered environments that echo geological and archaeological transformations. Her performative painting practice continuously deconstructs the canvas, mimicking the natural faults, folds, and traces found in the earth. Through an intuitive interplay of geometric forms, texture, and colour, her works capture a sense of porosity and mutability, much like intricate landscapes shaped over time. Incorporating sand—a nod to her Caribbean and Cuban heritage—her paintings become organic renderings of memory and deep time, evoking a history of lived experience and the ever-evolving process of becoming.
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Echo Sereeeni
Portrait of the Artist. Image courtesy of the artist and Harlesden High Street gallery.
Echo Seireeni (b.2003) is a multidisciplinary artist and make-up artist who can do SFX, body painting, or hairstyling upon request. She has had seven years of industry experience and specializes in both editorial makeup and minimal, clean beauty. With a background in painting at the Slade School of Fine Art and a long-time interest in fashion and experimental music, her work is precise, intense, and fashion-forward.
Echo Seireeni, Devotion, oil on canvas, 80 x 100 cm. Image courtesy of the artist.
Devotion is a modern reimagining of Madonna iconography, this painting explores digital decay, sacrifice, and historical iconography. The painting depicts a woman with a bloodstained iPhone pressed to her ear, an abandoned surveillance centre lying in ruin behind her, laden with hanging wires, Wojak graffiti, and shattered screens. Underneath an Online Ceramics hoodie reading Devotion, her chainmail hood glimmers in the low light, as a knight’s sword-shaped brooch fixed to her breast emits a laser-like light.
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Marcus Jefferson
Image Credits (left to right)
Portrait of the Artist. Image courtesy of Burberry and the artist.
Larry Achiampong & Marcus Jefferson, Duo Booth in Collaboration with Copperfield London. Image courtesy of the artists, taken from Harlesden High Street gallery website.
Marcus Jefferson (b. 1991) looks at the cultural language of inner-city life, known as the “The Roads”. Through social commentary and humour, he reflects the paradoxical way Road is often packaged up and sold back to audiences. Speaking to systems of power used to control, Road’s pain and struggle is not only normalized but glamorized in pop culture. He has recently exhibited at Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, Basel Social Club, Tick Tack Antwerp as well as a solo during London Gallery Weekend at Harlesden High Street.
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Angela Nguyen
Image Credits (left to right)
Portrait of the Artist. Image courtesy of the artist and Harlesden High Street gallery.
Angela Nguyen, One Grand, (How we Hegemony). Image courtesy of the artist.
Angela Anh Nguyen (b. 1995) is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores the intersection of cultural iconography and mass culture through the traditional craft of tufting. By repurposing this age-old technique, Nguyen creates visually striking pieces that serve as both commentary and critique, addressing contemporary social issues with a unique tactile approach. Nguyen’s work maps the collective unconscious, weaving symbols, narratives, and textures to challenge perception and provoke reflection. Through vibrant imagery and the tactile nature of tufting, she reclaims and recontextualizes mass culture’s visual language.
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Darryl "Joe Cool" Daniel
Image Credits (left to right)
Portrait of the Artist. Image courtesy of the artist and Harlesden High Street gallery.
Joe Cool, Make sure you have your weapon on safety, 2019, installation shot, graphite pencil on wall. Image taken from Harlesden High Street gallery website.
Darryl "Joe Cool" Daniel (b. 1968 - d. 2024) was an artist from Long Beach, CA. His artwork has graced the covers of millions of records sold worldwide, starting with the cover of his cousin Snoop Dogg’s smash success, ‘DoggyStyle’. Joe Cool’s iconic artwork shaped hip-hop’s visual history, evoking a pre-digital era. He collaborated with global brands like ADIDAS, 7-11, and Supreme and toured worldwide with Snoop Dogg as "The Nasty Dogg," performing in over 30 countries and 48 states. Beyond art and music, he pursued comedic acting, motivational speaking, and supported recovery and art therapy non-profits.
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