ARTISTS
London Art Fair 2011: Highlight Reel
Celebrated fair returns in 2011 for its 23rd year, featuring 20th century British works and contemporary art from over 100 prominent galleries; draws over 23,000 visitors a year, including numerous collectors.
黑料不打烊
12 Jan, 2011
The London Art Fair returns in 2011 for its 23rd year, featuring 20th century British works and contemporary art from over 100 prominent galleries. The celebrated fair is one of the largest modern, British and international contemporary art fairs in the UK, drawing over 23,000 visitors a year, including numerous collectors.
This year鈥檚 highly-anticipated event runs from January 19th-23rd, with a special preview opening event on the eve of the 18th. Showcasing the creations of both renown and emerging artists, 2011鈥檚 London Art Fair also offers up a variety of performances, installations, and lectures in addition to solo artist shows and group exhibitions. The acclaimed Art Projects segment of the fair is back and bigger than ever, and the evocative Photo50 contemporary photography exhibit also returns this year with a new panel. Catch a glimpse of these and other highlights on the roster for London鈥檚 Art Fair 2011.
Art Projects
Back again for its 6th year is the highly successful Art Projects, which
showcases curated group exhibits and solo shows, large-scale
installations and contemporary works from galleries across the globe.
Touted as one of the most exciting sections of the fair since it鈥檚
inception in 2005, this year鈥檚 Art Projects features 27 galleries
hailing from the likes of Dresden, Belfast, London and New York, in
addition to participating public and private institutions. Here鈥檚 a
sneak-peek at some of this year鈥檚 innovative performances:
The Hand with the Golden Ring -- Performance by Morten Viskum with
an introductory talk by curator Pier Vegner Tosta
Provocative Norwegian artist Morten Viskum鈥檚 latest performance, 鈥淭he
Hand with the Golden Ring,鈥� is a glorification of the human body -- in
death. Viskum maintains that whereas the focus on body parts is still
considered taboo, artists have for centuries visited mortuaries and
witnessed autopsies in order to paint and draw the human body. Viskum
utilizes this concept through the dead hand, transforming it into a tool
which illustrates to viewers the artist鈥檚 work process. The remains of
this unusual performance become paintings of undeniable abstract and
serene beauty, reminding us that there is nothing fictitious about Death
or Nature.
littlewhitehead presented by SUMMARIA LUNN
littlewhitehead / Spam / 2010 / 500cm x 150 x 180 / Courtesy of Summaria Lunn
Glasgow based-artists Craig Little and Blake Whitehead are the collaborative artists behind littlewhitehead. The duo describe their projects as attacks on the comfort of received ideas: many of their works recall scenes that are part of our shared image bank 鈥� traumatic sights that are so routinely represented in the media, in cinema or on TV that they appear commonplace. Simultaneously comic and disconcerting, littlewhitehead鈥檚 works elicit feelings of alarm when images normally viewed in the media secondhandly are brought unflinchingly into the physical world.
Photo50
Highlighting the best of contemporary photography, Photo50 returns for
it鈥檚 5th year, featuring the work of nine artists selected by a
distinguished panel: Zelda Cheatle (Curator and Director of the Tosca
Photography Fund Collection), Celia Davies (Head of Projects,
Photoworks), Sebastien Montabonel (European Senior Specialist,
Photographs, Phillips de Pury) and Joanna Pitman (The Times). The
selection of 50 works, all for sale, includes a broad range of
approaches to contemporary photography with established artists such as
Helen Chadwick showing alongside emerging practitioners.
Wreaths to Pleasure (above): 鈥淭hese photographs present glowing clusters of flowers resting on a variety of domestic fluids - whether black red roses on household paint or an exotic orchid lying on a pool of window cleaner. Both toxic and organic, they show Chadwick as seducing the viewer, dazzling and beguiling with the sumptuousness of her images, whilst hijacking the instincts.鈥� - Zelda Cheatle
murmurART Tour
murmurART is a contemporary art company dedicated to supporting and
promoting exceptional emerging artists through innovative projects and
bespoke services. Director & Co-Founder Donald Eastwood, together with
Curator Robert Dingle, will lead a tour of Art Projects focusing on
emerging artists.
The Art of Hope Exhibition
Also worth mentioning is The Art of Hope Exhibition, featuring works
donated by artists such as Peter Blake, Yoko Ono, Adam Dant, and others.
Presented by Maggie鈥檚 Cancer Caring Centres -- the official charity
partner for the 2011 fair, the pieces in the exhibit reflect the
importance of the healing power of art. The Art of Hope is truly art
with a cause: All the pieces on display will be auctioned off at
Tuesday鈥檚 Preview Evening to raise funds for the charity鈥檚 work with
people affected by cancer.
The Artist Edition with Iwona
Blazwick, Director of Whitechapel Gallery
Great artists often make their work in editions: the print and the
multiple give artists a way of democratizing their ideas. From Marcel
Duchamp鈥檚 moustached Mona Lisa to Joseph Beuys鈥檚 wooden postcards,
multiples give the public an affordable way to collect great works.
Iwona Blazwick, Director of the Whitechapel Gallery, gives a potted
guide to the art edition, outlines how they support arts institutions
and why they are the ideal way of starting a collection.
Written by 黑料不打烊.com staff
