Internal Landscapes
Dates: until 14 September 2025
Venue: Hermès London Flagship
Address: 155 New Bond St, London, W1S 2UA, UK
British artist Charlotte Keates brings her dreamlike world to life in a new collaboration with Hermès, transforming the terrace and windows of the luxury brand's New Bond Street store. Titled Internal Landscapes, the project marks Keates' first major 3D installation, aligning with Hermès' annual theme, "Drawn to Craft."
Keates extends the language of her paintings - imagined interiors shaped by memory, colour, and architecture - into a fully immersive environment. The Summer Terrace becomes a sculptural garden, while ten crafted window displays at locations including New Bond Street, Royal Exchange, and Dublin embody her aesthetic in three dimensions.
Known for her textured paintings on birch plywood, Keates begins with drawing: "Even when I draw with paint, it's where everything starts." Translating this into sculptural space, she introduces hand-painted forms, floating staircases, steel cut-out foliage, and curved communal tables inviting visitors to draw.
"This is about permission to play," says Keates. "We all drew as children. This space encourages everyone to rediscover that joy." A public drawing table and a display wall showcase drawings by both children and adults.
Each of the ten windows acts as a walk-in painting. Keates began by constructing miniatures, scaling up hand-painted elements to preserve texture and fluidity. Natural materials, like hand-cut tiles, give the work a handmade quality. The circle, a recurring motif that references both Hermès' first scarf design Jeu des Omnibus et Dames Blanches and Keates' own use of portals. "Circles pull you in. They're soft, focused, and tie nature to architecture," she explains.
Keates partnered with set builders Andy Knight Ltd. "It was my first time collaborating. Their attention to detail was incredible," she says. Each piece, hand-painted to evoke her signature texture, mirrors her studio process. Real and cut-out foliage underscore the interplay of nature and structure. "Architecture comes first, then the plants. It's how I paint," she adds. Even draped fabrics and ropes reflect Hermès' equestrian and textile roots.
Keates' work is known for its absence of figures. Her quiet, suggestive spaces feel lived in but uninhabited. "If I painted people, it would give too much away," she says. "I want the viewer to enter the space and imagine." She compares her compositions to empty stage sets, poised for imagined stories.
Rooted in her Somerset childhood and shaped by travel, architecture, and found imagery, Keates' paintings emerge from memory. She draws on mid-century modernism, brutalism, Palm Springs villas, and even London's Tube tiles. "My grandma used to say nothing in nature clashes. I think about that when choosing colours," she says. Texture is key; she uses oil pastels, paint pens, and watery acrylics to build depth. Drawing ambidextrously, she adds rhythm to her mark-making. Keates integrated over 30 Hermès items into the windows. "In my work, objects usually carry personal meaning," she explains. "This time, Hermès products became characters to suggest movement and story." This shift in approach may shape future projects: "Now I'm thinking—what if I built a painting around a physical object?"
Visitors encounter a serene, colourful installation combining sculpture, flora, and communal energy. Henry Moore's Draped Reclining Figure, part of the Hermès collection, sits beside Keates' blue portal in the manner of a guardian of the terrace."She's rooted. Everything else moves," Keates says.
One of Keates' most iconic pieces will be shown at Ju Ming Museum in Taipei, Taiwan in October, and she will also debut new works this November at Art Collaboration Kyoto in Japan. Though she doesn't paint while travelling, those experiences shape her vision."Seeing new things is essential," she says. Her best advice? "Just show up. Even on difficult days. That's when unexpected things happen."
Charlotte Keates' Internal Landscapes is open at Hermès New Bond Street terrace in London until 14th September 2025. Admission is free.
Listen to Charlotte Keates in conversation with Robert Diament and Russell Tovey, hosts of the Talk Art podcast, as she shares behind-the-scenes stories and insights into her distinctive artistic approach.
