A new artwork premieres on the King's Road

If you walk down the King's Road, make sure you remember to look up: a major new permanent artwork by British artist Shezad Dawood has just been unveiled as a part of Walpole member Cadogan's ongoing development of The Gaumont. The artist was selected and commissioned to create the artwork by a cultural panel brought together by Cadogan and the cultural placemaking agency FutureCity, including members of the Chelsea Arts Club, the V&A and the Royal Society of Sculptors. If you walk down the King's Road, make sure you remember to look up: a major new permanent artwork by British artist Shezad Dawood has just been unveiled as a part of Walpole member

First opened in 1934 as the Gaumont Palace Cinema, Dawood's artworks occupy two large spaces on the facade of the Art Deco building that would have originally listed the films playing inside. Titled Cascade, each of the panels in this ceramic diptych measures 6m by 3m and comprises 144 hand-glazed tiles.

The panels depict a full moon passing through the night sky – a nod to the building's history as a cinema that distributed cinematic pioneer Georges Melies' A Trip to the Moon. Other local influences include James Abbott McNeill Whistler’s painting Nocturne in Black and Gold (which depicts falling fireworks above the River Thames in Chelsea) and the haunting nocturnal  imagery in the work of gothic horror novelists Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley, both of whom lived locally.

Look closer and you will also see references in the piece to King Charles II (after whom the King’s Road is named) and fashion designers Vivienne Westwood (whose first boutique, Sex, was located on the King’s Road) and Mary Quant (whose groundbreaking store, Bazaar, was also located on the street).

"I feel deeply connected to the area on various levels, from first seeing the Seven Samurai with my dad at the then Chelsea Cinema as a kid, to one of my first jobs at a bookstore on the King’s Road – then of course there is the broader cultural importance of the area, as a home to various artists, writers and filmmakers, that have all informed my research," said Dawood of the project. "As an artist who works across painting, ceramics and film I am so excited to unveil an artwork that draws on all of these disciplines for the façade of such an iconic building that was also a key part of my early cinematic education."

The Gaumont is a landmark £235 million regeneration project by Cadogan – intended as a new cultural and creative hub for the district. The 220,000 sq. ft development comprises flagship fashion retail, an arthouse cinema, a ‘creative cluster’ for independents, office space, residential apartments, hospitality venues including a rooftop bar with panoramic views and a pub theatre.

"When we envisioned The Gaumont, we knew it had to be more than a redevelopment – it had to feel rooted in the cultural legacy of the King’s Road and speak to the people who live, work and walk along this road every day," said Hugh Seaborn, CEO of Cadogan. "The unveiling of Cascade lights up the restored historic façade of The Gaumont and eloquently celebrates so much of the King’s Road’s rich heritage and the many icons associated with it."