IT IS FAIR to say that, when I got up this morning, I wasn't expecting the day to bring a run-in with a giant green holographic head. Interesting artwork, I was anticipating. I was paying a visit to Gallery 286 on Earls Court Road but the holographic head was more than I had bargained for. Positioned amongst tasteful black-and-white portraiture, pop art posters and… errr, a holographic Michael Jackson leering out from a perfume bottle, it turned Jonathan Ross' office into a kind of surrealist montage. But then again, that's typical of 286 Earls Court Road, an extraordinary mixture of the sublime and the ridiculous by way of the utterly enthralling.

286 Earls Court Road is the home, workplace and gallery space of Jonathan Ross and his wife, the artist Camilla Shivarg. (She's a painter and sculptor with impressive credentials, having once posed for Dalí.) I probably should specify, before things get too surreal, that I'm not talking about the TV-presenting Jonathan Ross. In fact, the gallery-owning Jonathan Ross is more longstanding than his namesake this month, he celebrates the thirtieth anniversary of his first ever hologram collection, and next month he marks ten years of exhibiting in Earls Court. He'll be observing the occasion with a retrospective show, 'Earls Court Irregulars', featuring work from a decade's worth of locally-honed artists.

I flick through his portfolio of past exhibitions: there's everything from psychedelic mazes to Matisse-inspired abstractions, from explorations of emergency to figurative studies of dance. There's even the occasional cameo appearance from Mickey Mouse. Does Jonathan have any set criteria when it comes to deciding what to display? “I'm open-minded,” he tells me. “Good art to me is something you can look at endlessly, and which maybe makes you feel happy, or at the very least provokes some emotion.”

I think that, on this basis, his house itself would be classed as be art _ there's certainly no shortage of things to look at. At present, we're sitting in the ground-floor gallery, which is empty (his October exhibition is due to start the following week) but nonetheless visually striking: the walls are painted a rich Russian red, a traditional art gallery colour. While the basement gallery is white and airy and more what you'd expect from a contemporary art space, this one is every inch the Victorian salon, and in a sense the two galleries emblematise the two different aspects of the house. Parts of this building are so authentically old-fashioned you could be fooled into thinking you had walked into a museum set-piece, but much of what is displayed comes straight from the cutting edge of modern art. (As for the holograms? Well, they look futuristic in a Space Odyssey 2001 kind of a way, thus, I'd say, bridging two pretty well.)

Jonathan and Camilla moved to Earls Court in 1997, and, before they took over, the house had been with the same family since the First World War. A five-storey Victorian building, it had great potential, but was in dire need of renovation, and required eighteen months of hard graft. Jonathan describes their work as 'restoration' rather than 'modernisation', as what they really wanted to do was restore the house to its former glory, rather than purge it of its Victorian flamboyance.

One of their major projects was to overhaul the garden, which has since become quite a feature of Gallery 286. Atypically large and serene for Central London, it is open every summer for the Earls Court and Chelsea festivals, and during private viewings to the gallery, it provides an overspill for guests. Indeed, it is often used a gallery in its own right: Camilla's figurative sculptures, basking in amongst the plants, are everywhere you look. It comes as no surprise to hear that Camilla has won a number of horticultural prizes,, with both the Chelsea Gardeners Guild and Brighter Kensington and Chelsea regularly commending the garden as the best one in its class.

Generally, guests are confined to the ground floor gallery and the basement, but I was lucky enough to be given a tour of the house in its entirety. I moved from the opulent bathroom on the second floor to Camilla's studio on the third floor through to Jonathan's offices at the top of the house, encountering along the way what is probably the most eclectic selection of artwork I have ever seen in one place. Jonathan created his first 'museum' as a boy, and it seems that he likes to take viewers on an emotional journey, using art and artefacts to surprise, thrill, entertain, amuse and move - or, in the case of the holographic head in his office, completely and utterly creep out.

Does Jonathan think that arranging and selecting art is a kind of art in its own right? He has an excellent eye for what will make a visual impact. “One artist in a house is enough, I think,” he laughs. “Artists need an audience, so Camilla does the art, and I give her an audience!” He will confess to having dabbled in collage-making, and he spent ten years in holography production, but otherwise he is modest about his own artistic credentials and cites his primary job as organising exhibitions. He runs a touring exhibition alongside regular shows in Gallery 286 itself. Most of these are by invitation or appointment only, and he arranges three private viewings per exhibition, for up to 150 people at a time. There's no obligation, he stresses, for guests to buy anything at these viewings. Some people can be embarrassed to turn up without opening their wallets, but it seems that the viewings are as much a social occasion as a commercial endeavour, and I sense he gets a lot just from watching guests take pleasure in the art that he's arranged.

Want to be invited along? The way to go about it is to join his mailing list (www.gallery286.com/subscribe) _ I certainly can't recommend it more highly. The opportunity to meet this fascinating man, in such fascinating surroundings, is not one to be passed by. (And stray to the top floor at your peril, or risk facing the horrifying sight of that holographic head...)

© Abi Millar 2008
Sponsored by tlc Estate Agents & Property Consultants
www.tlclondon.com

Return to the SW5