20 September - 18 October 2025
This must-see cultural event opened its doors at The Lido Stores on 20 September and runs to 18 October 2025.
One of the defining features of the Lido Open is the involvement of a prestigious guest judge - each of them accomplished painters whose influence is distinctly felt across the exhibited works. It's a collaborative process that begins months before the first works are hung, continuing throughout spring and summer as the entries - typically three from each artist - are whittled down into a shortlist that then forms the basis for the Open exhibition.
In 2025, we were delighted to welcome Sophie von Hellermann to The Lido Stores to draw the initial shortlist of 102 artists from 1,800 submissions, and for the selection of Laura L Bell as this year's winner.
"It was really a joy looking at the images that were sent", said von Hellermann in her opening night address. "There were so, so, so many and then [I chose] 102 with Kristen. Amazing - thank you all who sent your work and brought them here, and we were able to see them in the gallery. It’s always much better [seeing the work in the flesh], and then [we had the challenge of] hanging the show. My way of looking and working came into [play during the] selection - I chose the paintings and I made decisions in the same way I make my paintings. You look and see and make those decisions. It was very hard to pick [the winner] but there was one painting that I felt most expressed to me what this is - [painting as a series of] choices, decisions, process, and it's this painting, by Laura Bell."
Congratulations Laura- we look forward to working with you in 2026!
Hamideh Abol • Felix Akulw • Carolina Ambida • Paul Andrews • Judith Anketell • Julie Annis • Josie Appleby • Olya Avstreyh • Divya Balivada • Laura L Bell • Kulbir Bhandal • Andy Black • Jennifer Blake • Sara Breinlinger • Molly Brown • Jessica Brox • Maureen Burke • Deirdre Byrne • Rebecca Byrne • Lucy Cade • Danny Cameron • Lisa Carter Grist • Julie Caves • Ben Coleman • Victoria Coombes • Bliss Coulthard • Liz Crossfield • Maeve Curtis • Gordon Dalton • Maria Elvira Dieppa • Emma Digerud-White • Alex Dipple • Freya East • Andrew Ekins • Ginny Elston • Rebecca Elves • Charlotte Evaristo • Tamara Gangnus • Misa Gott • Bruno Grad • Emily Grenville-Grey • Chris Hagan • Amanda Houchen • Diane Howse • Davina Jackson • Ellis Jackson-Cohen • Daisy Jarrett • Susan Jessop • Ann Kavanagh • Esme Keenleyside • Lady Lucy • Robert Lawton • Jolene Liam • Caroline List • Emily Macduff • Gabriela Max • Eilish McCann • Lucy Merriman • Jen Metcalfe • Sarah Neale • Mirja Oksanen • Zeynep Ozkan • Christine Pocock • Marianne Potterton • Andy Poulter • Sarah Praill • Alex Price • Toby Rainbird • Peter Roseman • Melanie Russell • Frances Ryan • Anna Marie Savage • Hannah Savage • Casper Scarth • Adelaide Shalhope • Lucy Spanyol • Dorry Spikes • Fiona Stanbury • Clare Thatcher • Gwennan Thomas • Karen Thomas • Caroline Thomson • Gary Thorne • Geoff Tibbs • Rosie Tuff • Alaena Turner • Daniel Turner • Friederike Von Hellermann • Matilda Wainwright • Lorraine Wake • Ben Walker • Ellie Walker • Ally Wallace • Lorraine Walsh • Casey Walshe • Henry Ward • Dylan White • Charles Williams • Hannah Wooll • Verity Woolley • Wu Robin • Ara Youn
The Lido Stores is well-known for owner-gallerist Kristen Healy’s dynamic and inspiring curation. The Lido Open 2025 will see Healy curate more than 100 works alongside Sophie von Hellermann, occupying the entirety of The Lido Stores for the first time. This, the ninth – and biggest – open call staged by The Lido Stores, introduces a cadre of phenomenal artists to the south-east’s arts scene, the majority of whom are exhibiting in Margate for the first time.
Visit Thursday to Saturday, 11am to 4pm, to view this wonderful survey of contemporary art from the UK and Ireland.
About guest judge Sophie von Hellermann
Sophie von Hellermann (b. 1975, Munich) lives and works in London and Margate. Her paintings recall the look of fables, legends, and traditional stories that are imbued with the workings of her subconscious rather than the content of existing images. Her romantic, pastel-washed canvases are often installed to suggest complex narrative threads. Von Hellermann applies pure pigment directly onto unprimed canvas, and her use of broad-brushed washes imbues a sense of weightlessness to her pictures. Von Hellermann’s paintings draw upon current affairs as often and as fluidly as they borrow from the imagery of classical mythology and literature to create expansive imaginary places. In subject matter and style, von Hellermann tests imagination against reality.
Sophie von Hellermann received her BFA from Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf and an MFA from Royal College of Art, London. Selected recent solo exhibitions include: Moonage, Pilar Corrias, London, UK (2025); Poisson de Folie, Galerie Sardine, Amagansett, New York, US (2024); Out of Time, Pilar Corrias, London (2022); Schloss Freienwalde, Bad Freienwalde, Germany (2022, commission), and A Midsummer Night's Dream, Pilar Corrias, London (2020); Judgement Day. Selected recent group exhibitions include: Your Mind is Now an Ocean, Pilar Corrias, London, UK (2024); Wild NM, Centre for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico, US (2024); Sirens: Sophie von Hellermann and Anne Ryan, Turner Contemporary, Kent, UK (commission) (2021), and Mixing It Up: Painting Today, Hayward Gallery, London, UK (2021).
Von Hellermann has been a prominent champion of the arts scene in Margate, and it’s a privilege to welcome her to The Lido Stores to shape the fifth year of the prestigious open call that has done much to introduce new artistic talent to the town.
