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The hall, which is flooded with light from an extra window that Tarka and David put in. A framed Christopher Wool print is hung opposite a glass sculpture by Tristano di Robilant; Tarka swapped it for one of her drawings<\/p>\n
Mark Anthony Fox<\/p>\n
Other times, colour comes via the chosen art<\/a>, and the furniture and furnishings that have variously been inherited, found in the markets and antiques shops of west London<\/a>, or \u2013 in the case of the useful, stepped tables that are in almost every room \u2013 designed by Tarka, and made by her friend Mitch Herbert. In the sitting room, a crimson B&B Italia sofa carries cushions made up in an Indigo fabric taken from a roll once owned by Howard Hodgkin, and the tones are mirrored in prints by Philip Guston and Keith Haring. \u2018It’s inherent predilection,\u2019 Tarka explains \u2013 mentioning that the combination of red and blue is one she often favours in her work.<\/p>\n Pattern, too, is paramount, albeit of a particular type. Still in the sitting room, an ottoman is topped by a Moroccan rug that the late gallerist Nigel Greenwood, \u2018sold me off his own floor,\u2019 while the flatweaves come from Fez Bazaar on Golborne Road. \u2018The stripes link them to my cut-outs,\u2019 says Tarka, referring to her abstract works assembled from strips of Chiyogami paper and Balsa wood. \u2018I like strong lines and strong shapes,\u2019 she continues, and a chair is upholstered in spots, while diamonds adorn the hall rug. The contours of both motifs and furniture can be clearly seen, because books<\/a> aside, \u2018there\u2019s nothing extra here,\u2019 points out Tarka. \u2018I\u2019m less of a bringer-inner than a clearer.\u2019<\/p>\n The Ottoman is covered in a Moroccan rug that Tarka saw in the house of the late gallerist Nigel Greenwood. \u201cHe sold it to me off his floor.\u201d The work over the fireplace is by Keith Haring, and the tile Tarka inherited.<\/p>\n Mark Anthony Fox Another Philip Guston print in the sitting room, and a view through the doorless opening to the staircase. The striped rugs on the floor are from Fez Bazaar on Golborne Road.<\/p>\n Mark Anthony Fox<\/p>\n With this, her work \u2018is sold, and disperses\u2019 \u2013 to the extent that there is almost none in the house. However, when we visited, some could be seen in her new studio, which she cycles to and from almost every day. For the past eighteen months she\u2019s been preparing a series of drawings to be shown at Offer Waterman, W1. Based on the rituals around her morning swim in Hyde Park\u2019s Serpentine, the Seurat-like subject matter is delivered through careful mark-making. Engaging a process that is reminiscent of the Neo-Impressionists\u2019 pointillism, Tarka uses coloured crayons in place of paint<\/a> to conjure up recognisable and relatable situations, stripped to their essence.<\/p>\n The kitchen was extended out into the garden. The gloss black worktops reflect the light, and the plates are from Fez Bazaar on Golborne Road.<\/p>\n Mark Anthony Fox<\/p>\n The studio is back in Hammersmith, positioned on a pontoon in the middle of the Thames on the stretch of river that Tarka has known all her life. \u2018It was a strange serendipity that I found this studio when I was half way through doing this series, so I then had water around me all day from the morning to the evening,\u2019 she explains. \u2018It\u2019s a very strange contradiction between it being very peaceful, but the river being incredibly active because the tide is constantly moving.\u2019 As tidily arranged as the house, the studio is considerably smaller than her previous workspace, and it has, she explains, impacted her opinion on scale: \u2018I\u2019ve realised there is something very comfortable about smaller spaces \u2013 which is something to think about for the future.\u2019 Such a reduction would require discipline and restraint \u2013 but we know that under Tarka\u2019s hand, such stipulations become covetable qualities, and bearers of beauty.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Tarka%20Kings%20-41@0.5x.jpg\"\/)
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