Last updated on January 7th, 2019
It’s time to rev those arty engines and get over to the START Art Fair at the Saatchi Gallery. Now in its fifth year, the annual art market is promoting 50 artists from over 25 countries, providing a unique platform for emerging young artists and galleries. Launched in 2014, START was the brainchild of super-collectors David and Serenella Ciclitara and takes place over the three floors of the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea. And what an exceptional home for these artists, even if only for a few days – after all, the Saatchi Gallery has more followers on social media than any other museum in the world, and it’s been host to 17 out of 20 of London’s most popular exhibitions in the last 5 years.
Fucking Amazing Infinity by Brit, Lauren Baker
The fair is all about brilliance, daring, cultural diversity and originality. Making its debut appearance at START this year is London’s first and only commercial space dedicated to non-academic and private art making, The Gallery of Everything. And Open Doors Gallery is in attendance, an organisation that believes that art should be accessible to all by showcasing its artists via Instagram instead of a traditional gallery space.
David Ciclitara and his wife Serenella are the founders of START Art Fair.
Follow me for a glimpse into some of my favourite pieces in the fair. This avid art collector could have walked away with at least ten ten pieces under her arm. Oh, if only I had a wee bit more wall space…
South Korean artist Ung Pil Byen’s self-portraits explore beauty, ugliness, racism, gender, and prejudice.
It’s all good baby baby. Eve de Haan is a London-based artist who has also produced artwork for Nike and who has exhibited in the Museum of Neon Art in Los Angeles. I bet this one already has a sold red sticker on it.
Hein Thit, Matters of a second skin 01. Thit is from Myanmar, using comic strips as the background for his nude canvases. The gallery Akroyd Art provides a platform for the contemporary Burmese art scene.
Another one in the Akroyd Art gallery, I reckon these topical screenprints of Kim Jong-un by BartWasNotHere will be snapped up in a jiffy.
South Korean Kyung Min Nam’s Monet’s rest II.
British artist Magda Archer’s kitsch art was also on display at the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition. Invest in this one, I say!
Russian Maria Agureeva’s works use plastic and latex.
Wild at Heart by Malaysian Ahmad Zakii Anwar
Elisabeth Lecourt produces her exquisite geographical dresses from her studio in Clapham. She’s French but has lived in London for 20 years.
What an illusion! The fellow in the hat was rapidly snapped up by the START founder before the doors opened to the fair. You would be forgiven for thinking these photographs by Frenchman Arnaud Montagard are paintings. His works are available in the Open Doors Gallery, a space which promotes artists via Instagram.
START Art Fair is on at the Saatchi Gallery from the 13 to 16 September. You can buy tickets here.
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