This weekend I went to the London Art Fair, at the Business Design Centre. I go every couple of years, and it’s a great show with a vast and varied array of art. There is always something there to suit all tastes. This year felt somewhat ‘more’. artwork covered every inch of the space, with pieces on all sides of the partitions. There were so many partitions, it created a maze-like path for people to follow. So you tended to walk the same space twice, or three times to make sure you had not missed anything. It felt to me that the amount of people at the event has increased compared to previous years, or it could just be the fact that I went on a Saturday.

There was a definite increase of prints compared to previous years. Almost every gallery exhibiting had prints on display. In my opinion, for the amount some of the prints were selling for, I would rather spend a little extra money and buy a one-off. There was also an increase in technology-driven pieces; video, holograms and light installations. The vast majority of the collection is was what you would expect to see; lots of traditional paintings, and lot of ‘modern’ art from established and emerging artists. The real excitement was to see the increase of street art on display. They had lots of beautiful prints of Shepherd Farley, Banksy and even some Faile (I love Faile)!

Noticeable trends this year included ‘cut-out’ artwork. Stencil cut-outs, collages, cut-outs of Darwin books and just general slicing and dicing of images. Also maps! Lots of map-inspired art work, some amazing; others not so. One problem with the amount of maps on display is that by the time we were nearing the end of the exhibition, I couldn’t bare to look at another map (no matter how good)!

A couple of stand-out galleries for me were TAG Fine Arts, and BEARSPACE.

All in all a great day out, with lots to see and take in. Definitely a good exhibition to start the year with.