Featuring the freshest contemporary art, the Art Projects is by far the most interesting part of the London Art Fair that is taken place this week in Islington, North London. Two galleries, Limoncello and the Eagle Gallery are exhibiting an outstanding group of works by artist like Cornelia Baltes (Limoncello) and Carolyn Thompson (Eagle Gallery). The work presented by the latter, Black Mirror, is a series of 13 pages of Truman Capote`s book Music for Chameleons where the text is replaced by a pictorial composition over a black background. These compositions seem quite musical to me, as they have rhythm, pauses, silences. Thompson`s work is part of the project Word Works. Signs and Syntax presented by the Eagle Gallery around the exploration of the language through art. There are other fascinating examples in the fair featuring words, texts and books as the main elements of the artwork which brought to my mind Mira Schendel`s work with typography and letters. The most striking are Chris Kenny`s collage-constructions (England & Co.), intriguing assemblages of words and short sentences cut out from books, which acquire a new visual meaning in their new context. The printed fragments are stuck on pins which gives a three-dimensional character to the otherwise two-dimensional texts. Also stuck on pins are Rebecca Coles`s hundred of butterflies hand-cut from stamps and assembled as new entomological displays (Mark Jason Gallery).
Another artist who works fundamentally with paper and scissors is Sarah Bridgland. She is presenting (Patrick Heide Contemporary Art) some of her characteristic collages in relief together with an awe-inspiring small constructivist-like sculpture, beautifully crafted from cardboard and balsa wood. And last but not least in this brief review, Clive A Brandon (Axixweb) also shows some small-scale works combining collage with watercolors. The sobriety of his palette along with the raw color and textures of the humble materials result in a stimulating and peaceful elegance.
In the digital era, it seems that paper, printed or plain, has lost none of its magic!
↑ Limoncello Gallery / Cornelia Baltes / Tigerbear, 2011
↑ Mark Jason Gallery / Rebecca Coles / Stamps 75, 2013
↑ England & C0. / Chris Kenny / Does the darkness make you long for love?, 2013
↑ Eagle Gallery / Carolyn Thompson / Black Mirror, 2011
↑ Patrick Heide Contemporary Art / Sarah Bridgland / —
↑ Axisweb / Clive A Brandon / works on paper, 2013
↑ England and Co. / David Taborn / The Story of the Nations, —
