The edition characterized by a contraposition of the uncertainty of the future and the need for a new start emerges from the artistic talent of its participants.
It might be freezing outside here in London but let me tell you, this 2023 Art Fair was a very hot edition. Full of outstanding talent, this year Art Fair featured over 100 leading galleries specialized in Modern and Contemporary art. Those galleries, selected from both the UK and international stages, represented the top established and emerging artists within these disciplines. So are you ready to come to a little journey with me?
The opening night in the Grade II listed building of the Business Design Centre was a very hot event despite the absolutely freezing outside temperature. Delicious prosecco offered while navigating through beautiful stands featuring outstanding pieces of art was really the ice on the cake. Various were the typologies of art exposed at the Art Fair. Emotionally touching was to see how much impact both a pandemic, a Brexit and a consequent recession hit human being at the very core level. And from here the born of that dark, somehow tragic and almost melancholic stream of art that is featured in black paintings and forms of art. Where brush stokes is strong, passionate, almost like a sign of a tentative sign to escape from the human condition that we are now all fallen after those difficult and challenging life events. And surely you can get this dark sentiment from the stunning pieces below:
As a passionate of flowers as well of dark-toned, I absolutely feel worth a mention the beautiful work of the London based artist Benjamin Murphy.
Benjamin Murphy - 1984
Another two artists that I really want to mention are James Lewin and Giles Revell.
The former did a super job at capturing the soul of a beautiful leopard in is beloved Kenya, a land that has been full of inspiration for his creative flair. The black and white, the contrast levels, the composition and the balance between dark and light makes this now fine art archival print a proper must-have piece, which is actually for sale.
James Lewin (London/Kenya) - 6th Edition - Dimension: 112,5(h) x 159(w) cm.
The latter instead, featured a completely different shooting mode but I absolutely feel the need to showcase him here as his style is truly unique. He creates imagery that is driven by analytical and forensics ideas that question the boundaries between science and art. You can admire some of his top work that is exhibits permanently at the Royal Opera House, at the V&A and at The National History Museum.
Giles Revell - Dancers, 2018
But not only darker tones. Existentialism and drama could come through also colors. And a clear example of this can been appreciated in Nathan French work. Emotions as it's finest morph into reality thanks to the geniality of this artist technique of a unique mixture of wax and crystals usage. The outcome? Well - I will leave it to you to judge it.
Nathan French - Encounters , 2023
Keep touring now on the spectrum of full colors, beautiful examples of Fine Art can be found in the artistic talent of Alex Jones, Solenne Julivet and Bob Baxter.
From the left: Alex Jones (2021) - Solenne J. (Yarns, 2022) - Bob Baxter (1993)
Exquisite new entries in my top favorites pieces are those beautiful examples that are trying to take painting to a different level... or better say to a different diminution. I genuinely never saw the use of a frame as a mechanism to be used to give depth to a painting. And I really like that: easy, simple yet very effective. Equally interesting the technique used on same fine art pieces where layers over layers of paint have been applied (with its consequence of extremely long awaiting time to allow to dry).
There were another great amount of paintings and sculptures to be appreciated at the fair.
Here in the gallery below I resume a top 21 of my other favorite pieces. Hope you enjoyed touring me... Till the next Artsy blog!