LONDON.- London’s first major art fair of 2004 has undergone a radical renovation in an attempt to bring in new, younger buyers. The contemporary art fair at the Business Design Centre in Islington, which previously changed its name annually from, for example, Art2002 to Art2003, this time adopted the new permanent title of the London Art Fair. Looking for young urban professionals with money to spend and wall space to fill has long been one of the art market’s major concerns. The hope is that these brokers, lawyers, architects, designers and media types will re-invigorate demand in the short term and become serious collectors in the years to come.

The fair’s organizers, conscious of having an ageing clientele and powerful competition spent £250,000 on presenting the 16-year-old event. The new strategy was to introduce the fair as a shopping venue rather than an event for collectors. The hope is that someone who spends £25 on an art book or £180 on a framed print might return later in the fair or next year and spend more money. The price range among the 93 dealers at the fair - who ranged from well-known names such as Richard Green, Agnew’s, Bernard Jacobson, Crane Kalman, Marlborough Fine Art and Messum’s to a section called "Start Galleries", all nine of which were less than three years old - was £100 to £100,000.

Another new idea introduced at the fair this year was the Art House (the brainchild of interior designer Tara Bernerd), hung with paintings by artists such as David Mach and Tomas Watson and furnished with sofas by B&B Italia amid burgundy walls. Bernerd, the founding partner of Target Living, wanted to encourage people to mix old and new pieces in their homes, to be more adventurous about colors and to realize that interior design is not just for the rich. "The concept of the Art House is to show people how they can involve art in their homes," says Lucy McNeill, director of the fair. "Art was previously thought of as something for museums and galleries and quite inaccessible. We are aiming to demonstrate that it can be accessible.’’

Visitors at the fair were also able to enlist the help of advisers at Art Help, which the fair organizers called "a new personal shopping service". After filling in a questionnaire, they were interviewed by one of a team of advisers led by professional art consultant Cat Newton-Groves, who decided who might have the kind of works they were looking for and introduced them to dealers. Art Help also advised on finance, insurance, framing, hanging, packing and transportation.