LONDON.- London Art Fair, the UK’s largest Fair for Modern British and contemporary art, opens the cultural year with its 26th edition at the Business Design Centre, Islington, from 15 – 19 January 2014.
New features for 2014 include the Fair’s first museum partnership, which sees The Hepworth Wakefield present a unique exhibition of British Modernism, and a new series of international ‘Dialogues’, curated by Adam Carr of MOSTYN to mark the 10th edition of the critically acclaimed Art Projects section. Photo50, the Fair’s annual showcase of contemporary photography, is this year entitled ‘Immaterial Matter’ and curated by Charlie Fellowes and Jeremy Epstein, Directors of Edel Assanti.
Providing a supportive environment for collectors of all levels, London Art Fair uniquely represents a broad art ecology from artist collectives to younger emerging galleries through to the large established galleries of Mayfair. Over one tenth of the 128 exhibiting galleries come from outside the UK - including Tokyo, New York and Rome - while leading galleries from beyond the capital have been selected from cities such as Bath, Manchester, Newcastle and Glasgow. Between them they showcase over 1000 of the very best artists of the last century alongside the Fair’s engaging programme of curated exhibitions, talks, tours, films and performances.
The Hepworth Wakefield
Curated by Frances Guy, Head of Collection and Exhibitions at The Hepworth Wakefield, 'Barbara Hepworth and the Development of British Modernism', sponsored by Hiscox, will be housed in a new pavilion at the entrance to the Fair. Setting the tone for the rest of the Fair, the exhibition demonstrates how the museum’s enlightened commitment to the work of young contemporary artists in the 1920s and 1930s led to the preservation of this key moment in British art history. Modern British dealers Jonathan Clark Fine Art, PIANO NOBILE and Rowntree Clark will be exhibiting alongside The Hepworth Wakefield in the pavilion.
Galleries
London Art Fair welcomes galleries from across the UK and overseas, exhibiting work by artists from the early 20th century to the present day. Francis Bacon, David Hockney, Peter Blake, Eduardo Paolozzi, Alan Davie and Prunella Clough are just some of the major British artists with work in the Fair this year. Modern British galleries exhibiting include Austin / Desmond Fine Art, Browse & Darby, Alan Wheatley Art, Anthony Hepworth Fine Art Dealers, Crane Kalman Gallery Ltd, Osborne Samuel, Waterhouse & Dodd and new exhibitors Goodman Fine Art and Jenna Burlingham Fine Art.
Tokyo-based Whitestone Gallery is one of several new galleries for 2014. It presents a significant display of Gutai, Japan’s leading avant-garde artist movement of the 1950s, with a focus on the work of the artist Chiyu Uemae. Foley Gallery from New York returns to the Fair with a contemporary group show exploring obsessive precision in drawing, cut paper, painting and photography.
London’s VIGO exhibits new work by leading contemporary artists Marcus Harvey and Leonardo Drew alongside rising stars such as 2012 Sculpture Shock award winner Nika Neelova. The Cynthia Corbett Gallery will show an exclusive UK screening of a William John Kennedy documentary featuring Andy Warhol and his muse Ultra Violet. TAG Fine Arts will display Gonkar Gyatso’s ‘Shambala of Modern Times’ which featured in the 2009 Venice Biennale, and CHARLIE SMITH london takes a curatorial approach with a group show titled ‘Historology’. Beers Contemporary will bring new paintings by Andrew Salgado, who was recently commissioned to create a new series of large-scale works for Harvey Nichols. UNION Gallery presents the work of two upcoming Korean artists, Soon Hak Kwon and Yu Jinyoung, and African art specialist Jack Bell Gallery also returns with work by Gonçalo Mabunda and Aboudia amongst others.
For those looking to pick up other iconic works, Sims Reed Gallery and Paul Stolper Gallery will have prints and limited editions by some of the most well-known artists in the world including Roy Lichtenstein and Damien Hirst, whilst Jealous Gallery will showcase the work of a new generation.
Art Projects
Art Projects, the Fair’s platform for emerging galleries and the freshest contemporary art from across the globe, celebrates its 10th anniversary this year with the launch of a new ‘Dialogues’ section curated by Adam Carr, featuring collaborative presentations between invited UK and international galleries. ‘Dialogues’ features four shared presentations between: DREI, Cologne / Limoncello, London; Galeria Stereo, Warsaw / The Sunday Painter, London; SABOT, Romania / Maria Stenfors, London; and Frutta, Rome / Seventeen, London.
New galleries for 2014 include Brooklyn’s Muriel Guépin Gallery and Paris based UN-SPACED, with a solo presentation by Éric Tabuchi. Galerie E.G.P, also from Paris, is showcasing two artists – Oliver Bragg and Nicholas Portalupi – whose work shares an interest in fictional and parallel universes. Further highlights include group shows by BEARSPACE, Ceri Hand Gallery, dalla Rosa Gallery, THE RESIDENCE GALLERY and Vane.
Art Projects will also host the launch of The Catlin Guide 2014, featuring the cream of art school graduates from around the UK; and solo shows from British rising stars such as Nicole Morris, who has recently been nominated for the Max Mara Prize for female artists, at Space In Between, and Alison Erika Forde at The International 3.
Photo50
Photo50, a curated showcase of the most interesting and distinctive elements of current photographic practice, is this year curated by Charlie Fellowes and Jeremy Epstein, Directors of Edel Assanti. With the title ‘Immaterial Matter’, the artists they have selected are linked by their use of a variety of photographic images to examine the increasingly indiscernible distinction between the digital and the material.
Photography highlights from the Fair include Edward Burtynsky and Simon Roberts at Flowers Gallery, new works by Tom Hunter at Purdy Hicks Gallery and Maisie Broadhead at Sarah Myerscough Fine Art. Photography book specialists 21ST Editions will launch a new monograph by Sally Mann at the Fair. A Photography Focus day of talks and discussions on Wednesday 15 January will include a behind-the-scenes look at the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize with the National Portrait Gallery and ArtTactic’s analysis of current market trends within modern and contemporary photography.
Tours, talks and discussions
An extensive programme of tours, talks and critical debates takes place throughout the week in association with key partners such as Sotheby’s Institute of Art, Iniva, PhotoVoice, Apollo magazine, Own Art and Vital Arts.
Marking the launch of her new book published by Lund Humphries, Melanie Gerlis, The Art Newspaper’s Art Market correspondent, asks ‘Is Art Really a Good Investment?’ as part of a panel discussion on Friday 17 January. On Saturday 18 January Stephen Bull of Photoworks interviews artist and film-maker Alison Jackson about her eight Desert Island Pics, and a panel including The Arts Desk’s Fisun Guner will debate ‘Curators – What Are They For? Should We Love Them Or Fear Them?’.
16 January sees the Fair stay open until 9pm for Thursday Late, providing the opportunity for after work browsing complimented by a programme of artist performances and film screenings.
