Under the Pier transforms Fulham Pier’s riverwalk with 20 painted beams, large-scale works and coral sculptures for artist Sophie Tea opening art to the public on the Thames.
At a moment when galleries are rethinking the cost of scale without substance, Sophie Tea arrives with a sharper proposition: an art practice built not on institutional permission, but on a direct relationship with three million people and counting.
Rejected by every gallery she approached at the start of her career, Tea has spent the past decade constructing an alternative route through the contemporary art world. Public art, for her, is not a symbolic gesture or a late-career civic flourish. It is the point. No ticket, no membership, no hushed threshold. Just art, outside, in the path of everyday life.
Her new installation, Under the Pier, spans 20 architectural beams along Fulham Pier’s riverwalk, accompanied by two large-scale paintings and 16 coral sculptures. Curated by cultural placemaking agency New Public, the work takes its cue from the Thames and the surrounding riverside landscape, creating an installation to move through as much as to look at.
Sophie Tea
Courtesy of Patch Studio
Sophie Tea said: “Creating a public installation has been on my goal list on the fridge for over a decade because democratising access to art is something I believe in at my core. As a completely independent artist without traditional gallery backing, I’ve always known that reaching that goal would take a different path – so bringing this work to life feels incredibly special. This is an important moment for me, and for a new generation of independent artists who are redefining what it means to build a creative career on their own terms.”
Tea’s career has become a persuasive case study in a different kind of cultural infrastructure. Since beginning her painting journey in 2014 with no formal art education, no industry contacts and no gallery support, she has built her name independently through social media, opened three free-admission galleries on Carnaby Street and one in Sydney, staged a sell-out show at the London Palladium with all proceeds going to charity, and now launched her first public commission on the Thames.
At the precise moment established institutions are scaling back and questioning their relevance, Tea is moving in the opposite direction. Under the Pier opens up rather than closes ranks, proving that art does not need a gatekeeper to find its public.
Sophie Tea at Fulham Pier Credit James Parsons
“For me, this is just the start. There’s something about public art that’s completely different – it finds people rather than the other way around. I’m on a mission to disrupt the part of the art world that dresses up exclusivity as value and distance as prestige, as if the harder something is to access, the more it must be worth. I don’t subscribe to that. I don’t close the door, I open it wider.”, Sophie says.
About Sophie Tea
Sophie Tea began her painting journey in 2014 with no formal art education, no industry contacts, and no gallery support. After being rejected by every gallery she approached, she built her practice entirely independently – going on to open three galleries on Carnaby Street, host a sell-out show at the London Palladium, and grow a following of three million people.
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At the heart of everything is a single conviction: that art should be accessible to everyone, not just those with access to traditional cultural institutions. Under the Pier is the most public expression of that belief to date.
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Under the Pier by Sophie Tea
Fulham Pier, Stevenage Road, London SW6 6HH
June until October 2026
Free admission, open to the public daily
Under the Pier by Sophie Tea is free and open to the public daily at Fulham Pier until October 2026. Fulham Pier is closed on Fulham FC home match days.
©2026 Sophie Tea
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