When people in the art world think about Somerset, England, most envision the trendy eastern part of the county centered around prestigious venues like Hauser & Wirth and The Newt hotel. However, 30 miles to the west, in a much less fashionable area of Somerset, sits Close gallery – a hidden gem tucked away down country lanes near Hatch Beauchamp on the grounds of Close House.
This unique art destination was established in 2009 by curator and art advisor Freeny Yianni on the grounds of Close House, a historic 17th-century home she shares with her husband, artist Magnus Hammick, and their two sons. The gallery represents a deliberate departure from the traditional art world establishment, offering what its team calls a more authentic and community-focused approach to showing and selling art.
Yianni developed her expertise during nearly a decade at London's prestigious Lisson Gallery, where she worked from 1990 to 1999. She started as an archivist, progressed to artist liaison, and eventually became a director. It was at Lisson where she met Hammick, who was represented by the gallery at the time. "I was given Grenville Davey to look after and in 1992 we managed to win the Turner Prize together," Yianni recalls. "When I left, Grenville just sort of migrated with me, the same with Jane Harris and Anna Mossman," she explains, referring to former Lisson artists that she continues to represent today, either personally or through their estates in the cases of Davey and Harris.
After the birth of her sons Yani in 2001 and Cassius in 2006, Yianni founded her Somerset gallery in 2009. For an entire decade, she held exhibitions in the house itself before constructing two purpose-built barns in 2018, which officially opened as gallery spaces in 2019.
With her sons now grown up, Yianni is expanding the gallery business. Earlier this year, she brought on Richard Scarry as sales director. Scarry previously co-founded the gallery Coates and Scarry in Bristol, bringing significant experience to the operation. "I just came to the end of another [art] fair cycle, and when I met Freeny I was really ready to just get out of the rat race, kind of like Tim Blum has just done," says Scarry, referencing Blum's recent widely publicized decision to move away from the traditional gallery format.
"It's about breaking the system apart a little bit, and, in finding Freeny, I found this amazing way to show art and slow the process down," Scarry explains. "We do artist talks, we engage with community. People always make the comparison with Hauser & Wirth, but it's not trying to be that. It's not a restaurant, it's not a cafe, it's a bohemian destination for people just to come and really engage. And through that, we sell art as well, which is where I come in."
The gallery's current exhibition showcases previously unseen works from the estate of British abstract artist Jane Harris (1956-2022), presented in partnership with Prue O'Day on behalf of Harris's husband, Jiri Kratochvil, and son, George Kratochvil. Harris, who died from cancer at age 65, relocated to Périgord in rural France in 2006, and her work remains better known in France than in the UK. An exhibition of her work is scheduled to open at FRAC Limoges in October 2025.
The current Harris exhibition is actually split between two locations. "The Fugitives," running in Somerset until August 2, focuses on Harris's large-scale abstract works, many featuring the metallic paint she began using in her later period. Prices for these rhythmic, shimmering works range up to around $75,000, with works on paper starting at approximately $1,875. Meanwhile, the second iteration, "Aloof" (until July 31), inaugurates Close's new London project space at 23 Balcombe Street in Marylebone, focusing on Harris's meticulously rendered smaller works.
"The great thing is you get to see the whole studio from when she was 16 years old and wanted to be a garden designer – she was completely infatuated with 17th century French design," Yianni says while walking through one of the Somerset galleries hung with Harris's large-scale abstracts.
This autumn, Close will present a monumental sculpture by British artist Simon Hitchens at Frieze Sculpture in Regent's Park, London (September 18 - November 2). The monolithic work, titled "Bearing Witness To Things Unseen," is a new version of a 2022 piece from Hitchens's Shadow series.
Running alongside this London presentation is a group exhibition at Close in Somerset titled "After Nature" (September 13 - October 25). The show is curated by Ben Tufnell, a former Tate curator and co-founder of the London gallery Parafin, which closed last year. The exhibition brings together Land Art masters such as Bristol-based Richard Long and David Nash with a younger generation of artists who also respond to nature – and the environmental damage caused by humans – in their work.
The exhibition includes artists Aimee Parrott, Nissa Nishikawa, Onya McCausland, Fred Sorrell, and Lotte Scott, alongside Hammick and Hitchens. The show spans multiple media including sculpture, ceramics, drawing, painting, and photography. A significant mud work by Long will be installed in one of the spacious barn galleries.
"My heart went out to Ben Tufnell when his gallery closed down," Yianni says. She recounts how Tufnell suggested curating a show at Close after she called him to explore collaboration possibilities. "I said, 'Well, I'm really interested in identifying the new Land Artists, because we work with people like Lotte Scott and Simon Hitchens, who are based in the West Country and grounded in nature.' So, we started this ball rolling, and now we have this wonderful show opening called 'After Nature.'"
Scarry adds his perspective: "One of the things Freeny is very good at is holding space for people, whether physically or intellectually." He points to the Richard Long mud painting that will be included in "After Nature." "We have a long enough gallery space to install it – when you look at one of the mud paintings and you're in Lisson, or Gagosian or Zwirner in New York say, it feels quite abstract, there's a disconnect. But out here, you're back to the earth."
Close gallery represents a growing movement within the art world of dealers and curators seeking alternatives to the high-pressure, fair-driven commercial art market. By focusing on community engagement, artist development, and creating meaningful connections between art and its environment, venues like Close are charting a different path forward for how art can be presented and experienced.
