The London Art Fair was slammed on Sunday evening as I arrived at its entrance one hour before it closed its doors for 2012. But why wouldn’t it be? As UK’s largest art fair for modern and contemporary art, showing over 1,000 artists work from talent as new as a 2011 Brighton graduate to established artists like Damien Hirst, there was no surprise in the crowd that gathered at the Business Design Centre for the 24th London Art Fair this weekend. Held in London’s trendy neighborhood of Islington from January 18-22, 2012, international galleries showcased work that was both stunning, haunting, and in the case of Jim Skull’s Mister Smith, face-melting, or better yet, skull-melting.
In addition to Mister Smith, Pertwee, Anderson & Gold Gallery displayed a shocking piece by artist Nancy Fouts: a life-size Little Red Riding Hood holding her basket for Grandma’s house in a red Ku Klux Klan hood that matched her cape.
But after thunderstorms come rainbows – and so to lighten our mood, placed just feet away were glittering butterflies in Damien Hirst’s All You Need Is Love Diamond Dust, and Alexander James’ larger than life butterfly Morpho Amathonte 0220. To bring us back into the imaginary world was Andrea Mastrovito’s “Gulliver’s Travels” series, depicting three scenes of the novel through playful colors and collage.
So we can dream sweet dreams after all and await the next London Art Fair in hopes for more exciting juxtaposed works amongst new and established talent in 2013.
