And on went the wait, Not been to the London Art Fair for years, I am first a foremost an artist, a (some might say a rather mouthy) painter, I find art fairs rather soul destroying affairs, faith-sucking heartless cattle markets, I’ve always found the London Art Fair to be something that tries to be all things to all galleries and kind falls between all the stools and really, we’re still at the the start of January? Aren’t we all rather more interested in staying warm and keeping our heads down until the daffodils advise we should come out? 

And so on went the wait for the art year to really start, the invite was extended, an invite to attend the press preview, 11am, the morning after the night before, some of the galleries are still engaged in the last motions of set up, painting the white booths just a little bit whiter, heaven forbid there should be a tiny blemish to distract us from the business of buying. Some still sorting out their labels (those who are too aloof for labels are not bothering), there’s the last goes with the hoover, just enough time to adjust those lights one more time, send the gallerina up the step ladder and direct her. And yes it I know this is all about buying, selling, the commercial part of it all and who doesn’t like to sell a piece of art, I’m as big an art slut as anyone when it comes to selling my art and no one is pretending other wise, no doubt all the galleries have paid a hefty fee to be here. This is essentially a giant sales room, on the whole I don’t like sales rooms, oh the cynical hypocrisy of an artist…  

So, off to Islington, North London, off into the watery morning sunshine, hey, it isn’t that far from our Hackney bunker and it was an invitation extended, I guess someone wants our opinion? Off to Islington, wrap up warm, leave a leaf on the way. Hey. all it cost me was time, I didn’t have to pay, not sure I would, and well, let’s go see, it has been years. Other than my annual cynical smile behind the lines to check out what the really big gun Galleries have to offer at Frieze I do tend to avoid art fairs when I can. 

The venue is the London Design Centre, a vast exhibition hall that the fair more than fills (you will need quite a few hours if you want to see it all, if you have bought a ticket, so give yourself time). The organisers boast of 120 or so “modern and contemporary galleries from all over the world”, I’d say the majority were from London, the rest mostly from the UK, now and again a booth hosting a dealer from Paris or Vienna, was there anyone from beyond Europe, was anyone there from Wales? If there was then they didn’t jump out and demand attention. The fair is 36 years old now, the “modern and contemporary” tag line is partly true, although there are quite a few of what you might call more traditional old school galleries, at times we’re almost verging on the antique trade. It is almost like the fair is trying (maybe a little too hard?) to be all things to everyone and maybe not quite hitting the spot for any of them?   

Is it me, or are there a lot of dead painters in here? I don’t know, maybe some of these older “traditional” galleries have old “stock” to clear out, what else are they gonna do with it? No, that’s a little unfair, there’s one or two older treats, an Alan Davie painting, Insignia For The Hill People from 1962 that London’s Alan Wheatley Art are showing, there’s an Eileen Agar  from 1990, must be one of the very last she did? There’s a gorgeous Edgar Hereford painting, Arles-Sur-Tech, France – a circa 1926 piece that Cumbria’s Castlegate House Gallery will sell you for a grand or two, well a little more than that if I remember rightly…

Some of the booths really are a thrown together, a mishmash of queens heads, dogs dinners and an uncoordinated who knows what, some of them have thrown the kitchen sink at it with their salon-style use every inch of the booth hangs, guess there’s several different trains of thought going on here and yes, some of it does have you wondering why? Dare we say.now and again, some of it cheese and bordering on tat? You expect bad taste over at Frieze when they’re trying to flog it to the tasteless one percent, but over here you kind of expect a little more refinement, as touch more class and you just wonder why some of this art is in here and what were the galleries or the people who let the galleries in thinking?  Thought there was some sort of curation going on here? A selection process? Didn’t galleries have to pay their non-refundable ninety-nine quid just to go through a selection process?  Wonder what the rejections were like? Wonder if there were any?

Hey look, look, I could easily just walk around taking a cynical snipe or five, the fair is vast, there’s lots that shall I politely say isn’t to my taste, there are easy targets, low hanging fruit, an art critic could have a field day (thankfully I’m not an art critic, did I really see an online flyer from a bunch of self-appointed art critics, presenting themselves like an important group show and offering us their collective thoughts on the show? What was it Sean Scully said about shite and shinola?). Yes you do start to go art blind after a while, and the fair is trying to cater for all – some of it really is more Frieze Masters wannabee than Frieze wannabee, (even the signage looks like Frieze) Is the London Art Fair lacking an identity an identity? Does it need one? There are attempts to create curated spaces with the pink booths of the Platform area or the bit upstairs where the “younger” galleries are semi hiding. It is all a little all over the place in terms of an identity though. Hey look, the thing is massive, I was in here for a good four or five hours walking around (sometimes in circles), it is easy to snipe, to moan, to just take bites – let’s focus on the good stuff, the highlights – not everything was  great, some of it far from great, some of it really did bore, most of it was conservative but hey, of course there was good art to be found, how could there not be? And yes, there was (just about) more than enough to make it worthwhile, let’s focus on the positives, the highlights, the standouts, let’s not snipe, wipe away that cynical smile, the year is young, let’s go point at the good stuff, let’s go find the positives…  

Where to start? Did I say it was vast? Let’s start at the end with that wall of Alice Wilson pieces, some of the final things encountered -see, it is always worth sticking with it – a whole wall of Alice Wilson pieces presented by Domobaal (London), a series of rather unique pieces that at first appear to be paintings on chunky pieces of timber and are actually a mix of photographic transfers and paint or marks on bits of lime logs. Photos that don’t really look like photos, photos that depict fragmented, slightly abstract views of woods, paths winding through forests, anonymous sheds and warehouses – they look exciting, they’re hung with imagination, they quietly demand attention, conversations that draw you in, conversations between the pieces themselves as well as with the viewer.  

Elsewhere there’s a very strong Henry Ward painting, a large piece that’s dancing somewhere between abstraction and representation, a piece that has you moving around the ambition of it all , a piece presented by Kittoe Contemporary. While Margate gallery Liminai are showing some very strong, visually demanding, deliciously inviting Olivia Strange pieces – sculpture, installation, a painting – a beautiful whole – hands, fingers, witch-like talons? Porcelain-like, cold yet inviting, metallic, hard, yet soft, engaging, dangerous maybe? Brilliant combination pieces. 

Meanwhile 155a Gallery have a couple of delightful Helen Ireland pieces, a yellow piece called Grid Landscape quietly stands out and Scottish print maker Alastair Gow has a large one-off 2023 monoprint of a tree called, a piece called Caught, a piece presented by the Glasgow Print Studio collective, a rather wonderful piece that just demands you stop and admire it for a moment. Over there there’s three delightful John Caple paintings being shown by John Martin Gallery, his shows at the Gallery’s upstairs Mayfair space are always a pleasure, his paintings should maybe feel twee, but there’s a depth there, something otherly, something more, spiritual. 

Oh it is hard not to be cynical at times and there goes the obligatory Campbell’s soup can, didn’t bother looking who’s work this one was, you can’t have an art fair without someone thinking they’re being radical with another take on the soup can.  And whoopiedo, some gallery has come all the way from Paris to show us a ‘nice; painting of a ‘cute dog’ for gawd sake. Enough, back to the good stuff, James Dearlove (presented by BWG Gallery) is showing a strong body of the work as part of the Platform area of the fair, paintings of human figures, if indeed they (just) are human figures? They appear to be human, kind of animalistic. Paintings of desire? The fetish of paint? Surfaces broken up, shadows, intrigue, intriguing, James has been quietly building himself a reputation via a number of London group shows and such in recent times. There’s a strong, maybe slightly playful Olivia Sterling painting, also in the Platform area and presented by our friends from Hackney’s Guts Gallery, hey, guts show lots of good art, if only they’d adopt a little more of an engaging less confrontational attitude and cut all the self-congratulating crap, they are after all just another set of gatekeepers however they might try and dress it up. 

Siger Gallery, who I’ve never quite worked out either, have a well curated good-to-look-at booth, yes I know this is an art fair and not an exhibition situation, but Siger look like they care a little more about the art, the artists, about the one whole thing, about those vital conversations between the pieces, their booth look inviting, engaging, and pretty much everything they have there looks interesting. There’s a great Alex Gene Morrison painting – Pink Clouds – in the corner of the Charlie Smith booth, Charlie Smith might be an invention rather than a real person but his shows are usually rewarding in some way or other. There’s a couple of very busy, very demanding, rather rich oil paintings from Bulgarian artist Andreana Dobreva being shown by Fiumano Clase Gallery that demand we go find out more about her work.

And on with the cherry picking and the looking through the tress to find the wood – that rather delicious, rather bright, rather beautiful Marie Elisabeth Merlin painting that Tinman Gallery are showing demands time and conversation. Not sure what to make of those Phil Shaw book spine prints Rebecca Hossack Gallery were flogging, and it did feel like flogging, a little bit cheesy, a touch shallow, don’t tell anyone I kind of liked them, wonder if they’re selling postcard versions? They kind of feel like the kind of thing you’d find on a postcard or a greeting card, they do kind of sum up a lot of what a mostly conservative and only very (very) occasionally cutting edge London Art Fair was about. I didn’t leave the big building thinking I had missed anything by not attending in recent years, I didn’t leave thinking I can’t wait for next year’s fair, on the whole I didn’t feel that excited, I had one or two good conversations, I saw some good art, one or two really good pieces of art, actually that collection of Alice Walker pieces did excite, I made a mental note to go look a little closer at one or two other artists, keep an eye on one or two galleries I didn’t know too much about before. There were positives, it was rewarding, I had some good conversations with artists, curators, with paintings, I sniggered at the way some the gallery owners dress, have a look at yourself mate, it isn’t clever and I did wonder how on earth a lot of what I saw made it to the fair, there was in truth, some awful art, some cheese, some things almost verging on tat but there were enough positives, there was enough good art, there was Marie Elisabeth Merlin and Alice Wilson and James Dearlove and Olivia Strange and Henry Ward and Alistair Gow and yeah, on the whole it was okay, enough of it was rewarding… (sw)

The London Art Fair goes on until January 21st

Do click on an image to see the whole thing or to run the slide show…