Main photo: Samara Scott’s painted carpet at The Sunday painter gallery
I can’t say I am a fan of art fairs, unless you know exactly what you are looking for or where to go, it can be an overkill going through aisles of art work, especially when the standards are so varied. After last year’s London art fair, I wasn’t planning to go to this year’s until I saw a curated tour with the London guided walk group, Fox & Squarrel.
The group regularly conducts guided walks on art, fashion, food, vintage, street photography. I have been to their art walk before and I enjoyed it because we were able to meet the curators at all the galleries we visited, which gave us a deeper perspective of the art work exhibited.
Due to the snow, not that many people showed up for the tour, and even at the fair, there seemed to be less people than last year, so much the better! The tour lasted about two hours and was led by Gareth who was also showing at the fair. He led us to several booths in the Art projects section, which was probably the most exciting part of the fair.
Above: Francesco De Molfetta’s Snack Barbie.
Most of the galleries in this section were emerging or off the beaten track, so there were a lot of new and younger artists being represented here. We visited Limoncello, The Sunday painter, Hannah Barry and Edel Assanti, and heard from their representatives, which was a more interesting and in-depth way of understanding the galleries and the art work. After the tour, I had some time to wander around and I particularly enjoyed Photo50, the photography section on the top floor.
With so many art fairs happening throughout the year in London, it’s almost impossible to run out of choices, so maybe doing a bit of research beforehand would be useful. As a visitor ( rather than buyer), I find the London art fair too commercial and conservative, so I would be interested to visit the more offbeat ones like Sunday Art Fair, The Other Art Fair or the new Art13 London, which aims to challenge Frieze Art Fair, the most ‘glamourous’ of all ( and the price reflects it too).
If you are like me who dislike large crowds and maze-like venues, then perhaps visiting your local art markets would be a better choice.