London Art Fair 2018

The 30th London Art Fair held at the Business Design Centre, London, provides access to British and International galleries showcasing modern and contemporary art. Alongside the main fair are the specially curated Art Projects and Photo50 which provide a platform for emerging artists, photographers and collectives. 

Mehtap Baydu
Dried Fruit Dress, 2010

Yingmei Duan Talk Together -
at the Dialogues section of Art Projects 2018

Gil Hanly
Blue Book 2017 

My attention was quickly drawn to the three artists' work presented here, photographed at the Art projects section, because there was a direct relationship to my recent curated studio space. I was intrigued by Mehtap Baydu's bell jar containing a dried fruit dress. The scale of this object was much smaller than my puppet series but I admired how the artist incorporated a champagne flute as a substitution for a mannequin and how she discarded the bell jar's base for a clean, uncluttered composition. I tend towards presenting many components in my artworks, and perhaps I need now to declutter so that the eye is not distracted by the extraneous detail and only focuses on the key element/s. In Yingmei Duan's installation I was drawn to how the artist invites the audience to immerse in the 'forest' of her thoughts. The use of forest debris to stage set the photography is an approach I am currently working on. I was impressed by the simplicity of Gil Hanly's photographic works. Using the original boxes from the processed photographic papers is an interesting use of material for archival display. There is a plain honesty which adds a layer of gravitas to these photographic works. 

Emily Allchurch
Babel Britain (after Verhaecht) 2017

It was a privilege to attend Professor Jean Wainwright's (Director of the School of Fine Art and Photography Research Centre, University for the Creative Arts) fascinating photographic tour and talk at the art fair (19/01/18). In this image she animatedly recounted Allchurch's photographic response to the current pivotal moment in history - Britain, an increasingly divided country on the cusp of Brexit. There is an ominous forewarning to the seemingly continuous construction depicted in this image despite the gathering storm clouds. The poignancy is heightened even more in light of the recent collapse of construction company, Corillion PLC, and the devastating tragic fire which engulfed Grenfell Tower. The shadow of which is cast to the right of the Babel tower. 

Santeri Tuori
Forest 41, 2017

Santeri Tuori's Forest showing at the Purdy Hicks Gallery stand is a fascinating image. At first this appeared to be a beautifully sensitive painting, however, Wainwright explained that this was indeed a composite image made up of many sequential images seasonally shot from the same viewpoint. The artist incorporates both colour and black and white imagery, building both depth and sensation in the piece. It is an extraordinary image on which I can gaze for hours.