Cathy's Art Diary

Lovely summer iteration at Woolwich Works of this contemporary print fair. This was a sparser show than the winter version however it was all the better for that. There was some gallery representation but in the whole the more open stalls were for individual artists or collectives and in many cases there were local artists. It was also nice that the artists were there and up for a chat as it was quiet. Shout outs go to Melanie Bellis’s urban landscapes, Lucille Clerc’s botanical works and Maxine Gregson’s vintage collages. My favourite was this print of a train by Rebecca Choi. I felt you would always see new things in it. C losed 29 June 2025

Interesting selling exhibition at Somerset House of contemporary and historical prints. Galleries had taken space and there were some lovely displays. It was nice to see Abbott and Holder showing the two original First World War series which are being sold in aid of the Imperial War Museum again and I loved a display of Japanese prints from the Japan Print Gallery. There was a good mix of the old and the new but I was most drawn to the old particularly the early 20th pieces like a nice Sickert of the interior of a theatre, a nice C.R.W. Nevinson and a colourful Cyril Power. However my favourite piece was a complex print of Somerset House itself by Adam Dent. I always enjoy his work and I hadn’t seen this piece before.   Closed 23 March 2025  

Disappointing art fair at the Business Design Centre. I say disappointing partly because I found it a very confusing building! Google maps took me to the wrong entrance then once inside there was an odd plan that covered three levels on one diagram. I never found the coffee bar. There was some interesting art and it seemed to be a mix of 20th century and contemporary. Having been to the Affordable Art Show before Christmas I didn’t feel there was much contemporary art that was different here. There were however some lovely older works including a lot Keith Vaughan’s and Scottish Colourists. Shout outs go to this lovely John Piper, some super heavy impasto paintings of London by Ralph Fleck, hyper real small sculptures by Sean Henry and tiny paintings of people in art galleries by Gro Thorsen. I wonder if I’m in there?!

Disappointing version of this art fair at Woolwich Works showcasing contemporary prints. I say disappointing as I’ve been going for a few years and it’s getting a bit samey. There is interesting work there but it needed a bit more explanation and a change of presentation as it’s looking tired. I will also make my usual moan that bigger labels would help and not placing them so close to the frame that you can’t read them. That said I did have a great conversation with one artist who spotted me photographing this duck picture and explained the technique to me. Sadly so good a conversation that I forgot to note his name! There were some nice blocky prints of the South Bank by Paul Catterall who I always like and I loved Tobias Till’s dense map of London complete with now vanished buildings. It was a nice touch to include an interior designed space showing how the prints might work in your home. A nice trick in this new development. Closed 24 November 2024

Fun art fair in Battersea Park selling works by a wide range of contemporary artists. There were around 100 galleries represented at the show set in a superior temporary venue. Looking down on the show from the café you got a sense of colour and excitement. One of the main themes which emerged was pictures of London but I guess they knew their market. I saw a lot of work being bought and a lot of happy people leaving with parcels. Of course I was tempted but resisted. I think my favourite with was this interior with flowers by Louise Millin but shout outs also go to   Jennifer Greenland’s view of Monmouth Street, Mick Dean’s paintings of The Thames in East London and Lilyn Ogwen’s amazing Welsh landscapes. Closed 20 October 2024

Small art fair held at the Garrison Church at Chelsea Barracks. It’s always nice to get to events at this converted church and the work looked good in the space. There was a nice selection of work and it went for quality rather than quantity. I spotted a nice Auberbach drawing, a Bridget Riley print, Picasso prints, a Tracey Emin and more. There was an interesting balance of paintings and sculpture. Pieces that caught my eye included this fun sculpture made of bone china cups and saucers and the portrait by Waldemar Lorentzon who I’d not come across before. Closed 29 June 2024    

A good edition of this print fair held annually at Woolwich Works. I always enjoy this show, not least because it is so close to home. I thought this year there was more curated areas and less dealers’ stands. There was a good cross section of work from very expensive works by the likes of Grayson Perry and Harland Miller to small works you could print yourself. There were also a nice range of demonstrations. Monoprints seemed to be very fashionable this year. Highlights included Nana Shiomi’s “Durer’s Law of Print Making - Two Rhinos”, as anyone who references Durer in a print is a winner with me, Hamish Macaulay’s tall seascapes and Kate Lewis’s pictures of flowers made up of words from newspapers. My favourites were the set of images of Venice by Peter Blake in his signature collage style. Closed 29 October 2023  

Fun but overwhelming exhibition at Somerset House showcasing galleries specialising in selling photography. I had always wanted to go to this show but it usually clashes with the Charleston Festival which I go to. I had not appreciated quite how big it is! It takes over the whole of Somerset House including erecting a temporary structure in the courtyard and the Embankment galleries. I quickly learnt that the best approach was to walk round fairly quickly just lingering at images which really caught your eye. It would have been good if the galleries provided a bit more information on the works on show. I liked the mix of contemporary and older work and I impressed myself at how many of the photographers I recognised from other shows. I think the only was to review the show is to mention pieces I particularly liked! Fan Ho's Hong Kong street photography from the 1950s A lovely picture of Amsterdam from 1934 by Wolfgang Suschitsky Jeffrey Milstein's aerial views of Rome ...

Fun annual art fair at the Mall Galleries   run by experienced art dealers. I’ve been to this show before and enjoyed it. I think it was a bit smaller this year but it still had a good mix of galleries with a nice selection of work at a variety of prices. Highlights this year were some nice Augustus John etchings, lovely still-lives by Anne Songhurst and an a-typical Peter Blake of a rose in a vase. My favourite piece was a John Piper sketch of a London bomb site in wonderful colours. A beautiful thing coming from devastation. Closed 26 March 2023

Eclectic art fair at Woolwich Works of contemporary prints. Galleries take stalls at this annual event and each year there is a wonderful mix of work from big name artists to names which were new to me. It is all very tempting but I managed to resist. Shout outs go to Nicholas Jagger’s beautiful print of part of the face of an ancient sculpture of Marcus Aurelius, Anna Matyus’s pictures of Fountains and Rievaulx Abbeys over a design of medieval floor tiles and two fun Grayson Perry’s ones printed on textiles. My favourite was Brigitte William’s alternate tube map which shows stations in a circle in alphabetical order with appropriate coloured lines joining adjoining stations across the circle. Look at the photo and it might make sense. I also loved this Julian Opie sculpture but not too sure it’s a print. I guess it classed as one as it is because it is a limited edition. Closed 6 November 2022

Disappointing fair at Olympia showing art and antiques for sale. It was a smaller show than I’d expected and rather mugged by the much larger Christmas Fair on the ground floor which I did indulge in too. I did find some nice art dealers I’d not come across before plus saw some interesting work. Kay Michie Fine Art had some lovely Laura Knight circus drawings and the Lucy B Campbell Gallery had some interesting modern naive work by Anna Pugh who I’d not come across before. I think the best stall for me was Callaghans of Shrewsbury who had a couple of Kyffin Williams drawings, some nice work by Donald Mclntyre and some lovely lifelike bronze birds. Closes 6 November 2022  

Stunning art fair   in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea showcasing private galleries. There was an amazing selection of art, design, furniture and jewellery from ancient works, even a dinosaur skull, to the best of contemporary art. Each gallery’s stall was arranged like a room representing the brand and style of the gallery. Despite the simple gird like layout of the show I did keep getting lost as my eye was caught by wonderful works of art. I think I did two circuits before I found the café! The whole thing smelt of money with high end restaurants and champagne bars. I was glad I’d worn a dress! Highlight pieces for me included a Laura Knight sketch for her Nuremberg trail painting, a Zoffany, a Wright of Derby and a William Roberts of Parson’s Pleasure. There seemed to be a lot of Ivon Hitchen’s pictures on a variety of stalls which made me wonder if a collection had come onto the market recently. There were also some great contemporary works. I loved this sculp...

Fun art fair at the Mall Galleries combining contemporary and fine art in a friendly environment. This show bills itself as “the art fair staged by dealers for art lovers” and it was a great chance to get to know some new galleries and artists. A number of the galleries were from outside London so I had not come across them before. A lot of prices were quite reasonable but there was some more high end prices. The most expensive piece I spotted was a David Hockney print at £60,000.   I loved Elizabeth Harvey-Lees lovely display of prints including some Old Master works and had an interesting conversation on Stephen Lacey Modern and Contemporaries stall about Patricia Preece, Stanley Spencer’s second wife. I discovered lots of artists who were new to me too from Colin Willey’s seascapes, one of which illustrates this story, Anne Songhurst’s hyper-real still lives and Melissa Scott Miller’s urban landscapes. I’ll definitely look out for this show again next year. Closed 27 ...

Eclectic fair at Woolwich Works of prints by contemporary artists. Pictures were shown in a mix of spaces for individual galleries and larger spaces for works curated from across the show. This gave you a chance to see an overview of work as well as delving into more pieces by particular artists. Sadly I didn’t manage to make notes and, as I am a bit behind with blogging, I don’t remember what I saw that well! Sorry! I do remember there being a lot of work based on maps, either reproducing them or printing on top like the one shown here. Annoyingly I can’t find it on the website so I don’t know who the artist is. Shout outs go to Rachel Clewlows for her imaginative alternative colour charts and Pag Morris’s exquisite pictures of deserted interiors. I also like the art historic approach of John Angus, reducing annunciation pictures to their basic forms, and Toby Holmes, with his reworking of Rococo portraits with sweet wrappers for their outfits. Closed 14 November 2022  ...

Fun, eclectic art fair organised by Saatchi Art at the Old Truman Brewery featuring over 100 stalls for individual artists. It was a real visual treat and a good opportunity to meet artists and hear more about their work. You walked up and down aisles being bombarded by different styles and media. I came away with lots of cards and names of artists to look out for in the future. The best sculpture was Ed Elliott’s small figurative pieces but checking out his website since it looks like they works scale up to life sized and are very striking. Marie Lenclos’s cityscapes stopped me in my tracks and I loved their clarity. Joshua Donkor’s portraits, often in pairs showing two aspects of a person’s character, were beautiful and thoughtful. I also liked Justine Smith’s maps made up of world currencies. There was good photography too such as Paul Broun’s of windows on the sides of buildings. My favourite, shown here, was Rod Kitson’s work painted and sold in one foot squares. I’m not ...

Eclectic online version of this annual London art fair. I’ve spent a fun afternoon wandering though the galleries in this online version of the prestigious London Art fair. Some of the galleries have physical shows in their galleries as well but it was a bit unclear which these were. Not all works lend themselves to the online presentation so it doesn’t replace seeing art in person, but it is a great way of getting an overview of the market.   I’ve never been brave enough to go through the real show so this was a good introduction and maybe next year I’ll pluck up the courage to go. The show was split into two, Frieze itself for contemporary art and Frieze Masters which covered pieces from Ancient Greece to the end of the 20 th  century. I thought a fun approach to blogging the show would be to pick my favourite five items from each section. Let’s start with the contemporary show. Oddly when I checked back on my list four were sculptures and one was a video installation....

Fascinating online version of the annual London Art Week in response to the Covid crisis. Although there is of course information on the galleries taking part I loved the approach to arrange the works for sale into artistic periods and movements, so it was more like going around a curated gallery. There were also rooms where each participant submitted a piece, one on women as artists and muses and a bargain basement of works under £30,000. There were also some excellent talks but I will blog those I manage to 'attend' separately.  The work ranged from a Egyptian piece dated about 2600 BC to works by Damian Hurst and Grayson Perry. However, having just done a short course on Flemish art it was two anonymous paintings from the region which stood out for me, a Memling like portrait of a man holding a prayer book from about 1480 and a delightful family portrait of four children and a dog from 1627. I hope that even if things are back to normal by next years London Art Week t...

Interesting selling fair at Woolwich Royal Arsenal specialising in prints and featuring a number of galleries. It’s been a couple of years since I went to this fair and it has moved to a bigger venue which gave more space for a couple on larger installations, one of which is shown here, and a smart bar. There was a good selection of work but I spotted a trend for amusing works but I’m not sure the jokes would last. The Eames stall had some lovely quality work including a large David Hockney, a Tracey Emin and an Antony Gormley, which my friend bought! Other highlights included Alison Lambert’s portraits, a picture of two girls in a wood by Margaret Ashman in gentle pastel shades and Anna Maria Pacheco’s Paula Rego like series of prints. Closed  10 November 2019

Interesting fair in Building 10 at Woolwich Arsenal selling prints by a   selection of contemporary print makers. I loved the mix of this fair with some expensive pieces from well-known names like Paula Rego and Chris Ofili but also more affordable work from up and coming artists. It was also nice that a number of the artists were there demonstrating their techniques and encouraging you to have a go. I did purchase the attached picture by Ann Burnham of the Shard against the background of an A-Z map which caught my eye. I also liked work by Kethi Copeland’s panorama of London architecture and Jenny Weiner’s deconstructions of well-known paintings. Closed on 23 October 2017  

Selling fair and exhibition at the Science Museum of prints, drawings and water colours. This year’s show had some lovely things in it but I managed to leave without buying anything, partly because the items I liked best were too expensive. I think the best piece there was Nevinson study for a now lost picture called “Strand at Night” closely followed by a portrait of Stanley Spencer by his brother Gilbert used as a study for Gilbert’s “Seven Ages of Man” from 1914. It’s always a good place to find new work too and the Wren Gallery was showing two super artists Dionne Seivewright and Angela Fielder who both did landscapes with lots of foreground and depth.   I also liked some architectural watercolours by Gerard Stamp.