Art London 2009

While I have experienced ArtChicago for many years, last week was a first for ArtLondon. A much smaller version than it's midwest sibling, it proved to be a lot more enjoyable and the gallery rep's were equally more receptive. Below are my top 6 favorites from the fair...

Luciano Ventrone oil on linen

Steven Nederveen mixed media

Yuko Moriyama-Wiffen graphite on paper

Pamela Stretton inkjet fragments

Anne Penman Sweet oil on canvas

Anish Kapoor

and 6 more that I just couldn't leave out...

Mack MacKinnon
John Monks
Steven Marshall
Sherry Karver
Emily Allchurch
Helen Sear

All Cut Up

It is officially Art Fair season in London with Zoo, Bridge and Frieze all butting heads on the same weekend. I attended the opening of Zoo at it's new locations The Royal Academy of Art last night. I was pleasantly surprised by the number of interesting pieces on view, but questioned myself...was it interesting as Art or simply interesting as a new to me after my extended absence from the island. Artists I enjoyed include but not limited to: Edgar Martins, Oliver Clegg, Richard Learoyd, Jen Liu, Becky Beasley, Robin Cracknell, Peter Funch, Simon Roberts. The artists simply known as CutUp Collective were one of my favorites with their intriguing images of reconstructed billboard adverts. During the night they painstakingly remove the advert intact, take it to their studio, then using a grid cut the advert into squares. They then colour grade each square and reassemble the billboard creating a brand new image. The new image is then erected where the original was removed. With the success of Banksy London's walls have never been more prolific a canvas for street art. This unfortunately has led to a sprawling of poor tags and ugly comments making frequent appearances. The streets that we walk and it's community is what an artist reflects and draws inspiration from. With CutUp Collective we see the pot is still rich for the pickings.

CutUp Collective