The Other Art Fair

The Other Art Fair 

I had a a very exciting Saturday morning spent at The Other Art Fair which was organised by Tracey Emin. The idea behind TOAF was that 'it was born from a realization of the disparity between a London audience eager to discover the next big thing and talented artists struggling to gain recognition'. 

The fair was at Ambika P3 on Marylebone Road and the industrial setting worked really well and gave the the whole factory feel to the event which meant that the works were able to speak for themselves and were not overpowered by the setting. 

I would love to be able to discuss with you, my dear readers all the very talented artists that were exhibiting their work, but I fear that this post could go on forever! So I will share with you my favorite select few artists.

The first artist who I saw was incidentally a very talented family friend which was a lovely surprise! Joanna Ham (Click Here) specializes in mixed media collage which she turns into monochrome photograms, from there Jo adds the expressions of the figures then the image is transferred onto a silk screen and a limited edition print is created. These monochrome prints have such a chic feel to them at the same time as having a slightly quirky edge to them.

The next artist who I was enchanted by was Rachel Ann Stevenson. Her work is an amalgamation of both taxidermy and sculpture that leaves the viewer to interpret to a degree what they see when they view these works. I had a chat with her and she was so kind and welcoming and ready to answer any questions I had (which is rare as it was clear I was not a gallery curator or a private buyer).

Her work has an other worldly quality to it that is dark and perhaps sometimes sinister but her sculptures remained with me for the entirety of the fair and kept resurfacing as though demanding the recognition it truly deserved. They also appear to me to have a Brother's Grimm aspect to them that gives the pieces a certain timeless quality. In Rachel's own words she describes her works as 'representing the delicate smoke and mirrors between the conscious and the unconscious mind'. (Click Here) to view Rachel Ann Stevenson's website.

Another artist who particularly stood out to me was Lewis Forbes. His dramatic paintings have a clear influence of Francis Bacon to which Forbes testified, stating that it was viewing Bacon's paintings that originally got him interested in becoming an artist in the first place.

I tried to decipher from Forbes what was truly behind his shocking and graphic paintings but he simply said that there is no rhyme of reason to it, he just paints. He does no preliminary sketches the paint goes straight on to canvas often using his hands to create the thick impasto paint effect. Lewis Forbes' paintings are refreshing in an age where every detail of a painting is agonized over and dissected within an inch of its life, in the end loosing whatever main message is there to begin with. (Click Here) to check out Lewis' website.

Now my dear readers the last artist I would like to share with you is another artist whom I have a soft spot for as my sister happens to own a collection of his prints, Dan Hillier is an incredibly talented engraver whose whimsical and gothic pictures greet me every day at breakfast!

 Hillier's work have a strong sense of the Victorian era about them, and with that and his interest in incorporating animal aspects into his works make for a slightly unsettling viewing that has a strange macabre humour to it. His more recent engravings have moved away from animal and human slicing to a more mystical and astrological theme. (Click Here) for Dan Hiller's website.

I can't thank all the artists enough that I met, in particular the truly wonderful ones mentioned in this post for taking time out to talk to me and give me an insight into the inspiration behind their works, and so to Joanna Ham, Rachel Ann Stevenson, Lewis Forbes and Dan Hiller I thank you again, it was an absolute pleasure to share with you these truly talented artists and I hope we see much more of them in the future.

My dear readers as always, a pleasure,

The Raven's Eye Critic