Over 100 galleries from the UK and around the world return to exhibit at this year’s London Art Fair, taking place at the Business Design Centre between 18 and 23 January.
Presenting exceptional modern and contemporary art from both new and internationally renowned galleries, London Art Fair also features a programme of curated exhibitions, immersive installations, performances and talks and tours.
The Fair’s extensive gallery line-up will showcase a diverse cross-section of art from emerging talent to established art-world favourites. Highlights include Narborough, who will mark 30 years since their first stand at London Art Fair with a one person show featuring the work of Rachel Nicholson; Glasgow Print Studio, celebrating their 50-year anniversary with a special exhibition showcasing 50 years of printmaking and Jealous Gallery, who will launch a new limited edition by David Shrigley.
New to the Fair for 2023 are Cactus Moon Studio, who will release work by Hilary Doyle alongside presenting Minyoung Kim’s original works on paper; Tanya Baxter Contemporary will present a highly sought after Andy Warhol screenprint, Reigning Queens – Queen Elizabeth II of The United Kingdom alongside oil paintings by Bridget Riley and William Scott and Elizabeth Xi Bauer will exhibit large new format etchings by Theodore Ereira-Guyer stitched to fabric with new paintings by Abraham Kritzman and Cătălin Marius Petrișor Hereșanu along with ceramics by Marta Jakobovits.
London Art Fair 2023’s curated talks include ‘Revisiting Modern British Art’, ‘The Fine Art of Commissioning’ and ‘Does The Artist’s Muse have a place in the Modern World?’ with contributors including Jo Baring, Director of The Ingram Collection, Adriana Paice Kent, Founder of Woven Spaces, and Ruth Millington of Sotheby’s Institute.
The role of museums in the modern-day art world will be a prominent focus of the talks programme. Catherine McCormack, art historian, author and independent curator, will chair ‘What is the Role of Museums Today?’ considering the social and political aspects, roles, and responsibilities of museums in relation to the art world ecosystem.
Additionally, the Fair’s 2023 Museum partner, Ben Uri Gallery and Museum, Executive Chair of Trustees David Glasser, will run an in conversation with Sam Phillips, Editor of RA Magazine, as they explore Ben Uri’s radical reinvention as a ‘virtual museum’ and what opportunities digitisation offers for small museums in challenging times. David Glasser will also chair ‘Using Art Differently’, tackling what you don’t know about Ben Uri and its collections.
In the technology field, ‘Women Artists Shaping the Metaverse’, chaired by Brooke Theis from Harper’s Bazaar, will consider the opportunity the virtual-art market presents women; the ways in which female artists are building communities in the metaverse; and the women traders who are making their mark. ‘The Future of NFT Investment – has the dust really settled?’ continues the technology focus, asking why invest in NFTs? After the explosion and subsequent slump in the past 18 months, the sector is now reporting a come-back.
For those interested in exploring the subject of NFTs further, London Art Fair’s Digital Partner Artscapy will be presenting a Fine Art NFT Exhibition entitled Observing the Human, where five distinct points of observation on human nature are brought together in one exhibit.
London Art Fair also sees the return of Photography Focus Day on Friday 20 January, which will include three critical talks based around the themes emerging from this year’s Photo50 exhibition Beautiful Experiments whose featured artists’ works explore domestic life and the idea of “home”. The Day will also contain a performance by Ebun Sodipo, a trans, black-british performance artist, who will explore what it means to create a home ‘away’ from home with a performance.
For the first time, London Art Fair has commissioned an artwork to wrap the iconic front of the Business Design Centre from artist Charley Peters. Charley Peters is a London-based painter whose work is concerned with the spatial potential of the painted surface, on which she applies subtle variations in colour, tone and scale to construct illusionary light and structural depth. Her work is set to illuminate the front of the building on these dark January nights!
Sarah Monk, Director of London Art Fair, said:
“London Art Fair will continue to evolve and reflect the art market in all its breadth, from established and more traditional art forms, to mediums of growth such as digital art and textiles, as it returns to its January dates to open the art collecting calendar once more. The Fair will be celebrating its heritage through initiatives such as our annual Museum Partnership, whilst also embracing change and disruption through our curated sections which feed our visitors’ and collectors’ appetite for discovery and to engage with art in new and innovative ways. It’s fantastic to bring the London Art Fair community back together in person and to be connecting great art and people once more.”
To book tickets for London Art Fair, visit londonartfair.co.uk
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