London art fair to focus on modern artists

Translate

London art fair to focus on modern artists

Published January 19th, 2006

The London Art Fair, which opens today in Islington, bulges with works by British artists from Ben Nicholson and Lucian Freud to Damien Hirst and Julian Opie.
A skull by Hirst, silver with a black patina, is on offer for 35,000 pounds (US$61,700) by gallery owner Paul Stolper. A Freud etching of a male nude costs 20,000 pounds at Marlborough Fine Art. An abstract William Scott painting, “Permutation Orange,” is 375,000 pounds at the Richard Green gallery.

“City people tend to buy blue-chip 20th-century works,” said Martin Whatley, general manager at Richard Green. “They have contemporary houses that need contemporary art and they need to know they’re buying works of substantial standard and value.”

The fair, in its 18th year, has been overtaken by Frieze Art Fair, which sells international works to celebrity buyers. Still, London Art Fair is sticking to British art and is hoping to beat last year’s sales, said Jonathan Burton, the director.

Frieze, three years old, sold 33 million pounds of art in November, up 27 percent from 2004. London Art Fair’s sales a year ago came in at about 15 million pounds, Burton said.

“A lot of British collectors want British art,” said Robert Delaney of Bernard Jacobson Gallery, which left most of its U.S. and foreign artists behind at its Cork Street gallery this year. An abstract Nicholson oil is priced at 145,000 pounds.

About 98 galleries turned out this year, and Burton expects as many as 25,000 visitors, up from 20,000 in 2005.

Sponsors include London’s Times newspaper, Cadogan Tate Fine Art Logistics and Threadneedles hotel. Media partners include the Art Newspaper and Art + Auction magazine.

London Art Fair runs through Jan. 22 at Business Design Centre, Islington. For information, http://www.londonartfair.co.uk/.