Watling Street Blues: Freddie Darke Sept/Oct 2026

Freddie Darke: Watling Street Blues 29 September – 4 October 2026

Tuesday 29th September 2-7pm | Wednesday 30th October 10am – 7pm

Thursday 1st October 10am-8pm | Friday 2nd October 10am-7pm

Saturday 3rd October 10am-7pm | Sunday 4th October 11am-5pm

Private View: Thursday 1 October, 5–8pm

Watling Street Blues draws heavily on the painter’s south-east London roots. The truck-crammed A2 might seem an unlikely source of inspiration, but it happens to be – not only a portion of the ancient, historically rich Watling Street – but also a crossing point on Darke’s ritualistic morning walk, something that has become integral to the creative process.

He describes a kind of ‘psychological threshold’ at this seemingly unremarkable zone, a place where mundane thoughts of the everyday give way to more fantastical, creative musings.

The famous Blackheath Tea Hut becomes a pit-stop for ghosts, Fellini-inspired troubadours and Chaucerian pilgrims. As we take in these diverse and ambitious paintings, there is an unfurling sense that his preoccupation with opposing forces – the stillness of familiar landmarks and solid roots, up against the drift and flow of continuous movement – is all stitched together with deeply personal reflections on the passage of time.

Four Riders, 2026 | oil, ink and primer on linen | 76 x 60 cm Photo credit: Christoph Ashok

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