London Art Fair 2012 Highlights

Islington Business Design Centre, London

This year’s London Art Fair, held at the Business Design Centre in Islington from 18-22 January did not disappoint.

In fact, despite the throng of people bouncing off of each other as they meandered through the narrow aisles of the exhibition, popping in and out of gallery stalls the range and quality of works on display more than made up for it.

In comparison with museum admission costs these days, it’s a great value for money for those who wish to browse the creme-de-la-creme of modern and contemporary British art (20th & 21st centuries) as well as international artworks that thrive on the British art market.

Overall a very traditional tone, no outrageously controversial contemporary works and quite a few interesting sub-themes such as Photo50, a showcase for contemporary photography including the exhibition, The New Alchemists: Contemporary Photographers Transcending the Print, in which artists used a range of media – both analogue and digital to manipulate photographs; and Art Projects, now in it’s eighth year, a range of curated exhibitions featuring international artists who tackle the political, social and environmental concerns of the day. This year’s work focused on the global financial crisis. There were also a few galleries selling limited print editions, an affordable way for young collectors to obtain an original work.

Interestingly, the number of Bridget Riley works from the late 70s/early 80s represented by various galleries were dotted throughout the exhibition. I guess having a multitude of Riley’s works in one collection might be dizzying, thus there seem to be quite a few bouncing around the art market.

Check out the slide-show below for ArtSmacked highlights…

Photographs by Alex Tanner & produced exclusively on his iPhone. You can follow him on the iPhone App,  Instagram, @alextanner. All images courtesy of ArtSmacked.

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