The Islington Contemporary Art and Design Fair (3 - 5 october 2008) came and went and we had a great time in London. The show was well done with a wide range of works from realistic to total abstraction. We also managed to take in quite a lot of sights around ever fantastic London (Tower of London, Westminster, Tate Modern etc).
About the show itself: it was housed in a large old brick building in north east London. There was a bohemian café, a court yard used for art bazaars and fairs, and two floors used for the Islington Art Fair. Jonathan was on the second floor in the very middle of the show. It became apparent that Candid arts is involved with all sorts of things and very active for which they should be commended. Having sold two paintings and staring out at a huge crowd at the opening combined to make us feel, that we had done the right thing to try out London.
The artists
First off there were about 55 artists mostly from London with a few international visiting exhibitors. That said it should be noted that there are folks from all over the place that live within London as it has grown to be a very multicultural international city. Added to the ranks of the Brits were a Danish, Finnish, Indian, Italian, Cuban, Russian, and two artists from Bangladesh. As an American living in Switzerland, Jonathan was an oddity but not that out of place.
The work
Like the vast range of ages personalities and nationalities the skill level and style of the art was likewise varied. There were nightmarish, surreal, cartoonish, commercial, sappy, aggressive, half baked and masterful works at the show. Some of the artists created stuff that simply blew me away others were clearly still trying to gather their skills or find their style. Overall, I think the show was good and there was little that smacked of blatant hobby or commercial art.
