Idris Khan interviewed in ES Magazine’s Art Issue

By Patricia Nicol

It is an urban adventure finding the north London studio of artist Idris Khan and his wife, Annie Morris.

At Newington Green, you take a peaceful back alley Hackney-wards, running past car repair workshops, allotments, the rear of a Victorian primary and some sizeable private homes. I am convinced I am lost by the time I reach four whitewashed warehouses with vaulted glass ceilings and, peering through a window, spot one of Morris’s signature multicoloured stack sculptures. A passing studio assistant finds me there — and takes me to Khan. 

‘This whole terrace used to be Waddingtons board games,’ explains Khan, 38, the abstract artist, sculptor and photographer. He and Morris moved into their first studio here — previously a hummus factory — in 2011. They now occupy four adjacent units. 

Today these studios are a hive of activity in the run-up to Khan’s forthcoming show at the Victoria Miro gallery, opening in its most prestigious Frieze week slot, when the art world descends upon London. Indeed, it’s hard to find a quiet space to chat for all the assistants sanding down canvases or gruff removal men passing through carrying giant sheets of glass. 

Read more

Image: Idris Khan photographed by Sophia Spring for ES Magazine