London Art Scene -- by Caitlin

This January I was given the opportunity to visit London because my partner Peter and I needed to deliver some art to Christie's for an upcoming auction in March.While our visit was an enriching experience, it proved to be too short. For example, I found myself having to stop only briefly in front of paintings that I've waited years to see. It was rather a visit of quantity rather quality. One of the highlights of our visit was our attendance of the special preview night of the 2010 London Art Fair. My intentions for seeing the fair was to not only view art, but to scope out the galleries in London to see if I felt any would be a good fit for submitting my own work. I have a number of clients in London but I have yet to show in a gallery there. The preview evening turned out to be a huge social event – the entrance and aisles were brimming with people clamoring about drinking free Jack Daniels cocktails. While the crowd was laid back and unpretentious (I had expected it to be a little “fancier”) it was sometimes difficult to see the artwork, let alone converse with any of the gallery owners. There seemed to be a good quantity of affordable art – I saw limited edition prints and even small works by emerging artists starting at about 250 pounds (some even less). In fact, I felt that most booths were overstuffed with small, editioned work. The fair was closing for the evening before we made it to the Photo50 section – a sampling of important photographers that probably would have been one of my favorite floors. I'm still kicking myself for not making it back to the fair another day... I had a couple “ah ha” moments in which I saw artists or dealers I recognzied. Thomas Allen, who takes photos of his collages made from the covers of pulp fiction novels, is friends with some close friends of mine who had been talking a lot about his work recently. I took notice that he was the only artist represented by Foley at the fair. I was also surprised to see “Ordinary Light” there – a dealer who specializes in vintage photography. Someone I have bought from and sold images to a number of times in the last few years. As an artist working today, I left the fair feeling rather uninspired. In comparision to other fairs I've been to, this one seemed on the conservative side – a bit more commercial than I personally like. From a dealer's perspective, I saw a lot of mid-century art – paintings, prints, and sculptures, that I personally work with on a day to day basis. The market seemed relatively healthy and I noticed a good number of people leaving with packages in hand. These were a few highlights of my visit: The glass sculptures of Jin Young Yu Mauger Gallery: Besides some interesting 2-d and video work, I loved Geza Szollosi taxedermied cow heads. I just have to laugh at the expressions on their beach ball sized heads... Albemarle Gallery: They featured an artist, David Reimondo, who makes these incredible wall sculptures varying of bread in resin with sometimes matchsticks or acupuncture needles. Normally I would be like “Bloody toast in resin? I can do that!” But I really enjoyed the simple aesthetics and quality of the work. It stood out in the oftentimes disappointing world of OCD type art. I also enjoyed: Beaux Arts. Portal Gallery. Cosa."