“My mother is an artist. I used to sit for hours as a child when she painted portraits, before she developed into abstraction. It was through her work that I really learned to look at art,” smiles Sarah Rustin, from her office above one of London’s most handsome galleries, Thaddaeus Ropac on Dover Street. Rustin is wearing a Rejina Pyo denim blazer and matching trousers, which elegantly curve at the seams; as she moves around the gallery talking about their recently opened space in Milan or the excitement around Florentina Holzinger at this year’s Venice Biennale, Rustin marries the seriousness of the gallery’s art world status and clout with a natural warmth and energy.

Rustin studied art history and literature at Sussex University after Art Foundation at Central St Martins, and began her career in publishing at Virago Press where she worked her way up to the role of senior commissioning editor, working closely with authors. Her next stop was at Sotheby’s, working in communications, though her passion for direct collaboration with creatives would in 2018 see her join Thaddaeus Ropac. “The roster of artists Thaddaeus represents - both living and estates - is extraordinary and a complete dream to work with,” she says.

In addition to her involving role at Thaddaeus Ropac, Rustin is also a founder and co-director of London Gallery Weekend, a fantastic initiative that unites, spotlights and celebrates over 120 galleries in the capital over three days in early June and includes artist talks, performances and workshops among the events that are free to the public. “The idea is to strengthen the ecology of the gallery sector in London, which has a distinct identity that sets it apart globally,” explains Rustin. “It’s a connective moment with artists, the museum sector, collectors and the public.

1. What things have been bringing you meaning and inspiration of late?

When I was younger I mostly looked to literature for inspiration. Recently, I was faced with the prospect of losing someone who has had a profound influence on my life and this was a stark reminder to live life with purpose and meaning, filled with as much love as possible. Family and my work with artists and people I care about give my life meaning and are a constant source of inspiration.

2. Is there something you’re working on at the moment that you’re excited about?

I’m excited to see Mandy El-Sayegh’s transformation of the gallery with her all-encompassing installation, which will open during London Gallery Weekend in early June. It incorporates a suite of new opalescent ‘Net-Grid’ paintings, glass chandeliers, upholstered furniture, Tiffany-blue walls, antique rugs and mirrors, alongside a sound work by Lily Oakes featuring recordings of leather and other luxury materials that are extremely evocative. The exhibition is titled ‘Jewel Tones’ and considers luxury as both an aesthetic and affective experience, examining environments engineered to shape desire, status and consumption.

It’s also the countdown to London Gallery Weekend, which I’m a founder and co-director of - beyond my role at the gallery. The annual three-day event in early June spans the city’s landscape of over 120 commercial contemporary art galleries, to encourage a greater audience to explore the varied gallery sector and the artists it platforms and supports. An incredible array of exhibitions is programmed to open for the weekend [5-7 June], with an offering of more than 80 free performances, workshops, artist talks, special events and parties.

Mandy will present a performance during LGW with artist and medium Alice Walter, where all is not what it seems. It’s conceived in response to the installation, weaving together fragments from film, editorial fashion and post-war theatre. She did her first ever public performance in London for LGW four years ago, which was highly acclaimed, and since then her performance practice has developed in such compelling ways.

3. What is art to you?

I see art as a unique reflection or processing of the world and our times, from those who are gifted enough to convey it through ideas, skills and techniques that words simply cannot. It has the ability to move or challenge us, whether beautiful or disturbing. There’s art in the process itself, too. Working with artists - at the gallery and in my personal relationships - means I’m lucky enough to sometimes have glimpses of their work at the developmental stages in their studios. When we see a finished work of art there can be a misleading sense of facility to what they’ve achieved, veiling layers of thinking, intention, acting and meaning. I wouldn’t necessarily say this makes their work less opaque, but it makes it all the more astonishing to see how the work has been built up. Yet some things remain inexplicable even when we’ve gained knowledge about the process. Art is a gift, and I don’t mean that in a sentimental sense. I left art school after a year. There’s only so far you can get being taught an art form, and I knew I wasn’t gifted enough.

4. Whose approach to work or life has been the biggest influence on you to date?

My first boss and mentor, Lennie Goodings, who was editor at women’s literary imprint Virago Press, showed me how you can be intuitive, sensitive and tough all at once. We used to joke that she was an iron fist in a velvet glove, particularly when it came to managing major (and sometimes difficult) authors and the commercial side of the book trade. At the gallery, Thaddaeus has led by example: in everything we do, artists are our priority.

5. How would you define beauty?

Beauty is a trickster with many forms. There is so much that’s problematic about the time in which we are living, but now at least it feels like there’s more openness to where beauty lies: in awkwardness, dissonance, fracture, even gruesomeness. I keep thinking back to a scene in a theatre performance I saw last year in Berlin, ‘A Year Without Summer’ by Florentina Holzinger, an extraordinary choreographer, dancer and performance artist the gallery now represents. There was a memorable scene depicting old age and our bodies' slow withdrawal from our control, involving incontinence and overflowing excrement. It was tragic, humorous, and painfully poignant. A deeply moving experience of the inevitability of life’s cycle, our being reduced to complete dependence on the care of others. Through the performance, the beauty of life played out: its ecstasy and brutality.

Mandy El-Sayegh ‘Jewel Tones’ and Oliver Beer ‘The Sky in the Cave’, runs 5 June-31 July at Thaddaeus Ropac, Dover Street, London W1.

Thaddaeus Ropac has galleries in London, Milan, Paris, Salzburg and Seoul

www.ropac.net @thaddaeusropac

London Gallery Weekend runs from June 5-7, 2026

www.londongalleryweekend.art @londongalleryweekend