Aleks Marinkovic's Page

Studio 226, the first and only dedicated art space in Chelsea Harbour Design Centre, opened its doors during FOCUS week.

The gallery is owned and operated by Aleks Marinkovic, a graduate of St Martins and an ex-advertising art director by trade. His vision is to work collaboratively with interior design professionals, providing them and their clients with a convenient and stimulating art environment in the heart of the Harbour. Exhibitions will be refreshed during the year, but will feature a combination of fine art, sculpture and jewellery.

On show now is the work of Jessica Zoob, a painter who works in oils and mixed media, who first exhibited at Studio 226 during Chelsea Design Week in March. So well received was the Desire collection that she has followed it up with the equally evocative and sensual Escape collection. Zoob’s works explore themes of fragility, power, love and innocence, dreamscapes which invite the viewer to complete her vision.

Zoob has also collaborated with sculptor and woodsman, Karl Smith, to create the Wishing Tree – a native Sussex oak tree which has been split lengthways and carved internally by Smith with motifs and messages of love, and then painted by Zoob. Smith’s monolithic Bench is also on display in the gallery, an interesting juxtaposition of powerful form against Zoob’s textural oils.

A display of James Toleman’s highly covetable and architectural jewellery in silver – as worn by Zaha Hadid – completes the present exhibition.

Marinkovic plans to introduce special events and services for design professionals, including an Art Club, invitation-only client preview evenings and artworks for loan. As he says: “Our presence in Chelsea Harbour has already created waves, with many interior designers saying how delighted they are to find great art in such an accessible location. I think of Studio 226 as the feather in the Design Centre’s cap”.