London Art Fair highlights

The London Art Fair returns for its 25th year with a heady concoction of established artists and newcomers.

Stanley Donwood
Stanley Donwood

This year’s fair showcases work as disparate as holographic portraits of movie stars to artwork mimicking the hit television show Take Me Out, as well as the usual series of brilliant print works and installation pieces.

Simone Lia, I've Got No Brain
Simone Lia, I’ve Got No Brain

More than 100 UK and international galleries are displaying work, including 30 up-and-coming galleries exhibiting new work as part of the Art Projects section.

Grayson Perry
Grayson Perry

Famous faces with work in show include Francis Bacon, Damien Hirst and Banksy. Peter Blake is presenting a neat new work, London River Thames Regatta, referencing last year’s Jubilee pageant.

Some colourful work at Alan Wheatley Art
Some colourful work at Alan Wheatley Art

We really enjoyed Jealous Gallery’s prints, with some great work from the likes of Ann Gee Chan, Joel Clifford, Adam Bridgland, Simone Lia and Ralph Steadman.

Dorothy Bohm, Torn Poster, 1984, South Bank London
Dorothy Bohm, Torn Poster, 1984, South Bank London

Another highlight was Rob Ryan’s illustrations at Tag Fine Arts.

Marrying the seemingly rather incongruent worlds of art and football, Ghanain artist Atta Kwami was commissioned by the National Football Museum to create a series of works. These small colourful pieces celebrate the contributions to the Premier League and Europe of 12 African footballers, each of which is represented through shape, colour and marks – ‘looking for the poetic rather than the obvious qualities’, according to Kwami.

Part of Atta Kwami's National Football Museum commission
Part of Atta Kwami’s National Football Museum commission

A significant number of artists used London as a backdrop to their work, including Simon Patterson, who revisits his famous The Great Bear Tube map after a commission from the London Transport Museum to celebrate the London Underground’s 150th birthday.

Homer Sykes, Caking Night, Dungworth, Yorkshire, October 31st 1974 part of Photo50 at London Art Fair
Homer Sykes, Caking Night, Dungworth, Yorkshire, October 31st 1974 part of Photo50 at London Art Fair

The Fair’s annual showcase of contemporary photography, Photo50, is this year entitled A Cyclical Poem. According to its curator, Nick Hackworth, it ‘is a partial and elliptical look at the relationship between photography and a cluster of themes: time, memory and repetition’.

Simon Patterson, Saptarishi, 2012

Source: Courtesy TAG Fine Arts

Simon Patterson, Saptarishi, 2012

 The London Art Fair runs from 16 – 20 January at the Business Design Centre, 52 Upper Street, London, N1

Hanz Hancock, Turnpoint 3, 2012

Source: Courtesy of The Residence Gallery

Hanz Hancock, Turnpoint 3, 2012

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