Is the art market crashing or is it going to crash a year and a half after the "financial crisis" ?
London Art Fair, the largest Modern British and contemporary art showcase in the UK, is apparently alright and only the smallest galleries were today suffering from the economic downturn. With a reputation both for quality and accessibility, the Fair brings together over a hundred leading British galleries, a selection of international projects and a showcase of contemporary photography at Islington’s Business Design Centre, Islington, which means that you can buy artworks from £20 to £1million pounds.
This year, the Art Projects section of the Fair welcomes a selection of galleries from New York, Madrid, Beijing, Frankfurt, Dublin, Belfast and London. Art Projects is a platform for galleries to bring stimulating and experimental contemporary practice to the Fair.
Photo50, successfully launched at the Fair in 2007, returns with a curated display of 50 photographs drawn from the international photographic scene. Major artists are positioned alongside rising stars and all the work on display will again be for sale.
Also amongst Art Projects, HF Contemporary Art will show important pieces by the seminal "Viennese Actionist" Hermann Nitsch, I-MYU Projects will profile emerging art from Korea, Flowers will show Max Dean's robotic collapsing chair.
A recession-busting £20 Video Booth offers high-quality, editioned video art works for only £20. The aim is to introduce a new audience to video art and to profile artists early in their careers. Each edition will be signed and sold in a specially made case.
Husband and wife team Rob and Nick Carter work together to create what they describe as ‘images without cameras and paintings without brushes’. Their site-specific billboard installation outside the Fair consists of 42 neon words on a white aluminium board which explores the 'stroop' effect - the difficulty people have in reacting to words illustrated in a colour specifically different to that which it spells. Individual words are for sale at the Fine Art Society's booth in the Fair. Rob and Nick's work is collected by Elton John, David and Victoria Beckham, Simon Fuller, Philip Treacy and Mathew Williamson.
The preview evening party welcomed Gavin Turk, Adam Dant and rumoured was Sophie Dahl...
To learn more: http://www.londonartfair.co.uk/
