Encounters

Curated by Pryle Behrman Encounters is a section in which two meanings of the word ‘encounter’ meet. An encounter is often unexpected, perhaps leading to the discovery of an unknown artist or, alternatively, an unexpected style or theme from a well-known artist; an encounter can also suggest a confrontation between opposing positions and artworks that challenge entrenched views and understandings.

Encounters showcases the freshest contemporary art from across the globe featuring young, up and coming galleries eager to present their emerging artists on a major platform alongside established names who are creating new and exciting work, taking their practice in a different direction, all within one of the leading London art exhibitions.

Encounters 

Noun, plural 
1.  meetings between people and/or things, especially when unexpected 
2.  confrontations between opposing positions

ENCOUNTERS 2024

Curated by Pryle Behrman

For 2024, Encounters expanded on how an ‘encounter’ can refer to an unexpected meeting, perhaps one that leads to the discovery of an unknown artist or, alternatively, an unexpected style or subject from a well-known artist. The gallery presentations in Encounters showed an exciting diversity in artistic approach, theme and geography, drawing on practices and narratives that remain underrepresented in mainstream art discourse. Take a look back at the 2024 exhibitors below.

DOMOBAAL

For Encounters 2024, DOMOBAAL gallery proudly presents Alice Wilson and Aliki Braine. 

Alice Wilson (*1982) is a London based artist who works in a variety of mediums, her practice has developed through an engagement with participatory processes and negotiations of site. She uses residencies as a way to gain distance and make space for the unknown in her work, with a significant opportunity being realised through funding from the British Council to make and exhibit work in Aarhus, Denmark during 2018. She teaches at the University of the Arts London. Exhibiting widely both nationally and internationally, the relationship to space and place is of increasing importance and consideration

Aliki Braine was born in Paris in 1976. She has an MFA from The Ruskin School of Fine Art, Oxford University, an MA from The Slade School of Fine Art, London and an MA from The Courtauld Institute of Art where she was awarded a distinction for her masters in 17th century painting. Recent exhibitions include solo shows in London, Birmingham, Vienna, Madrid, Paris, and Oxford. Her work is featured in a number of recent publications including British Art and the Environment, Charlotte Gould and Sophie Meslède (Routledge, 2022), and Robert Shore, Post- Photography: The Artist with a Camera (Laurence King Pub, 2014.) Aliki is an associate lecturer for Camberwell College of Art, University of the Arts London and a regular lecturer for Christie’s Education, the Wallace Collection and the National Gallery. She lives and works in London.

Artists:  Alice Wilson, Aliki Braine

JANET RADY FINE ART

Janet Rady Fine Art is pleased to present ‘Paul Ettedgui | City Pathways’ at the Encounters section of London Art Fair 2024. ‘Paul Ettedgui | City Pathways’ will be the British artist’s second solo-show exhibition with Janet Rady Fine Art. The selection of works created between 2021-2023 consider the interaction between residents of the artist’s home-city, London, and their urban environment, the interrelation between natural landscapes and man-made infrastructure, and the way members of the city engage with and depend on the architecture that frames this existence.

Ettedgui’s new body of works considers the relationship between Man and Metropolis, examines sites of transport that connect space and place, and renders in paint the urban landscape filled with architectural structures that contextualise our interaction with London while grounding each work with quotidian figures of daily life. Ettedgui creates multi-layered works depicting the urban spaces and landscapes of London, during the commuter frenzy of the day to the late-night activity of the night. Fundamental to Ettedgui’s work is the experience of living in and engaging with London, as such this body of work feels wholly relevant and appropriate for being shown at London Art Fair 2024.

Artist: Paul Ettedgui

GALERIE RICARDO FERNANDES

Paris-based Galerie Ricardo Fernandes has dedicated their Encounters 2024 presentation to female artistic expression and the female history of power and resistance, focusing on the  portraiture work of two artists.

The first, Lucia Adverse, has created a gallery of portraits of important women from the past, relating them to trees. By doing so she associates those women to nature, discussing female resistance and power.

The subject of female oppression has been an important theme in Adverse’s artistic practice. Her works belongs to the Parisian Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP), among other institutions. 

The second, Juliana Sícoli is a young artist that has concentrated her research and artistic practice on (extra)ordinary women that have experienced male oppression during the mid-20th-Century. Part of these artworks were acquired by the permanent collection of the French National Library in 2023. 

Both artists give voice to female historical oppression and contemporary expression from their different approaches.

Artists: Lucia Adverse, Juliana Sícoli

GALERI/MIZ

Committed to supporting Turkish artists, Galeri Miz showcases exhibitions of both established and emerging artists from interdisciplinary backgrounds. Galeri Miz aims to foster and establish careers of young artists in the local and international art scene. For Encounters 2024, GaleriMiz will presents works by four contemporary artists whose artistic practices together create a sense of unity and curiosity. We believe thoughtful coincidences create meaningful stories.

Mert and Metin both work in a hyper realistic manner. Their works emit an honest, melancholic and dreamlike quality at the same time. They blur the lines between what’s real and what’s not. Mert focuses on the malfunction and deterioration of body and face and questions the idea of beauty. In the same manner, Metin portrays demolition of the nature and decay of our land. 

Belgin and Dogukan both have an expressive manner; they don’t shy away from colour and form. Dogukan’s works draw inspiration from historical tales and stories. Similar to Dogukan’s interest in mythology, Belmin explores themes of nature and the climate crisis from the perspective of Kybele, a mother goddess in Ancient Greek mythology associated with fertility and the earth. She primarily works with paper and draws colourful and fluid shapes combining circular compositions that explore new life cycles and alternate worlds.

Artists: Metin Kalkizoglu, Mert Özgen, Doğukan Çiğdem, Belmin Pilevneli, Mina Karwanchi

 

GALLERY G-77

“SELFVERSE” is a viewer-participatory light installation that celebrates self-expansion and self-discovery through the joy of the creative expression in a pure analogue approach, created by artist Yuiko Raika. 

In the exhibition, participants encounter a dimly lit space with several randomly installed pedestals. On top of the pedestals are glittering objects made of light-reflecting materials such as mirror balls, holographic sheets, acrylic crystals and aurora films etc. The participants are given a flashlight at the entrance to the space, which they can then use to interact with the objects. The light reflects and projects illusionary designs onto the walls, creating a magical immersive and interactive experience. Born out of the playful wish to share with others the joy and excitement of expanding oneself through one’s own creativity, the work provides a shared playground for both self-exploration and collective engagement.

Artist: Yuiko Raika

Gallery G-77.
Gallery G-77.

KOOP PROJECTS

Returning to Encounters for it’s second year, Koop Projects continues to champion African artists working with materials in new ways.

 

For 2024, Koop Projects will revisit their 2023 theme of materiality, taking the idea further and looking at the perceived gender of fabrics, contrasting soft “feminine” textiles with hard materials that have historically been considered more “masculine”.

Another core tenant of the presentation is to nurture conversations in the gallery space between African artists and their counterparts in Brighton and Sussex. Koop Projects is therefor excited to announce that their exhibition will feature both African and Brighton based artists for Encounters in 2024.

“Our artists use materials in innovative and new ways, exploring societal and geopolitical themes of female identity, war, social structures, race, environmental and animal conservation. As well as the challenges inherent in making art itself.”

Artists:  Senzeni Marasela, Arabel Lebrusan, Peter Mammes, Georgina Maxim

KITTOE CONTEMPORARY

Kittoe Contemporary’s presentation for Encounters 2024 will be a solo show of the work of artist Henry Ward. The centrepiece of the exhibition will be Ward’s focusing on his large-scale composite painting Medusa. 

Inspired by Gericault’s ‘The Raft of the Medusa’ this wonderful piece promises to make an impact.

Medusa will be exhibited alongside a number of smaller, more accessible works on paper and canvas  – all demonstrating Ward’s instinctive, abstract style and love of colour.

Artist:  Henry Ward

Kittoe Contemporary
Kittoe Contemporary

LONDON PAINT CLUB

2_Romulo Avi_Chove Chuva (Na sua Boca)_2023_Oil on board_120x90cm

London Paint Club presents an introspective solo exhibition, “Romulo Avi in Focus.” LPC are delighted to spotlight the Brazilian emerging artist Romulo Avi, whose exploration into the liminal spaces between abstraction and representation has earned him accolades including the 2022 City & Guilds London Art School Prize for Outstanding Critical Engagement.

The booth will feature 5-8 medium to large paintings that encapsulate Avi’s unique ability to traverse abstraction and representation, facilitating “psychologically charged spaces of contemplation and projection,” as the artist himself puts it. These works offer viewers an intimate lens into the artist’s ceaseless quest for an “elusive north,” embodied in his ever-evolving pictorial space.

Supplementing the exhibited paintings, a short video interview shot during a studio visit with Avi will be showcased. The interview illuminates the philosophical and technical underpinnings of his work, diving deep into the “process of controlled jeopardy” he employs. Complementing the visual and multimedia elements, a print catalogue will be available. This catalogue features high-definition reproductions of Avi’s works, as well as an extended interview and critical essays that delve further into his evolving artistic narrative.

Artist: Romulo Avi

MK PROJECTS

MK Projects is pleased to present a solo show by Yifat Bezalel.

“Encounter, in my native language, Hebrew, can be translated in a number of ways. The context, the spontaneity, the force, the brutality, the intensity of the encounter can each be expressed with different words. The particular encounter which permeates throughout my work, since my days at Art school, is the one most closely translated as “tryst” or the intimate encounter of two lovers.

I decided to explore love through Michelangelo’s Pietà. It is through my compulsive sketching, hatching and drawing of the sculpture that I, as an artist, and as a woman, encountered Michelangelo. When approaching such a famous masterpiece, one comes with a certain degree of humility, but also courage.

As a central piece to the display, I plan to use my work entitled “Duties of the Hearts” with the Pietà as the main subject. I used a drawing pen, pastel oil and black gesso on paper. The title refers to the primary work of the Jewish rabbi, Bahya ibn Paquda, where he emphasizes that faith is primarily and most unequivocally a matter of the heart to own and to love God. The work, to me, is a communion of two faiths, two philosophies, two traditions around the essentiality of love. ” – Yifat Bezalel

Artist:  Yifat Bezalel

Yifat Bezalel, Pietà 2023. Pencil and gold leaves on archival print paper, 160 x 227 cm. Courtesy of MK Projects.
Yifat Bezalel, Pietà 2023. Pencil and gold leaves on archival print paper, 160 x 227 cm. Courtesy of MK Projects.

MOOKJI GALLERY

For Encounters 2024 Mookji Gallery is proud to present an exhibition of works by Mahchen Jung and Bu-kang Lee.

Mahchen’s work draws inspiration from the universe and nature. His colours and textures feel like an unknown world that is subtly combined. The artist always tries to visualise the inspirations he receives.  As if swimming freely in a dreamy world, he expresses a free world without specific rules or standards. The freedom he dreams of may be an irregular order that harmonises with an unknown world like the universe. The artist is currently expanding his art world by going back and forth to Asia, Europe, and the United States.

The concept of Lee Bu-gang’s work is a work that expresses the recollection of familiar urban landscapes that are breaking and disappearing. In order to capture the longing for the disappearance of the old appearance due to the continuous urban development project, the contents of the work are contained by recycling and working on the materials that came out after demolition. His work also has a story that connects to the abstract works of Mahchen. Mahchen’s abstract concept is also a disorganizing expression as its appearance disappears, inspired by nature. 

Artists:  Mahchen Jung, Bu-kang Lee

OUTSIDE IN

Outside In works with artists encountering significant barriers to the art world, including health, disability, social circumstance, and isolation. Its artists often produce highly individual work using processes and subjects uniquely their own. Intuition is a group show curated by Outside In’s director, Marc Steene featuring four of the artists that the charity supports. The exhibition explores how being intuitive enables self-taught and non-traditional artists to produce work of great beauty and individuality.

Being intuitive could be seen as having insight, being able to perceive and access areas of the mind and body that others cannot, a true clairvoyant. It is a rare skill and not all can access it, though many try. It is difficult to bypass the conscious and verbal self to find the point where you are no longer thinking but doing.

Working with artists on the periphery of the art world it is noticeable how some of them have maintained an innate way of creating and expressing themselves. It may be that by circumstance, which some might think fortuitous, they have bypassed the conventional approach to making art drilled into all of us at an early age.

Artists:  Manuel Bonifacio, Rakibul Chowdhury, Victoria Bowman, Chaz Waldren

Outside In
Outside In

PERVE GALERIA

João Artur da Silva, Untitled, 1955. Courtesy of Perve Galeria.
João Artur da Silva, Untitled, 1955. Courtesy of Perve Galeria.

For their presentation at Encounters 2024, Perve Galeria offers a project that produces interactions and merges the gap between Europe, North America, Africa and the Middle East, presenting artists with different origins, from three different generations.

The exhibition, presenting never-before-seen works, seeking to establish a dialogue between four artists, João Artur da Silva (1928, Portugal/Canada), founding member of the seminal Portuguese surrealist group “Os Surrealistas”, Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim (1962, United Arab Emirates), member of the UAE’s first generation of contemporary artists from the avant-garde scene of late 1980s, Beezy Bailey (1962, South Africa) who has worked as both a solo artist and as a collaborator of Brian Eno and finally photographer Bogdan Gulyay (1980, Ukraine). 

Through the various connections that can be established between the works of these artists, Perve Galeria will underline the importance of space for artistic practices emerging in different parts of the world, as well as the plastic quality of certain landscapes, territories and architectures, and their physical, mnemonic and psychological effects.

Artists: João Artur da Silva, Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim, Bogdan Gulyay, Beezy Bailey

SAUL HAY GALLERY

BRUTAL brings together painters and sculptors who each offer a unique perspective on how post war architecture has shaped not only our towns and cities, but also our lives.

The often maligned Brutalist and Modernist schools took on a grand vision to solve society’s ills through architecture. Half a century later what can we learn from these visionaries?

Often incorporating the very materials that make up their subject matter the artists ask us to consciously and critically reflect on the habitats in which we live and work and how they shape the fabric of our society.

Artists:  Mandy Payne, Jen Orpin, Harriet Mena Hill, William Braithwaite, Dan Broughton, Richard Perry

Saul Hay Gallery.
Saul Hay Gallery.

SIGER GALLERY

Transfiguration represents a journey of transformation and metamorphosis. It symbolises the process of personal growth, self-discovery, and the attainment of enlightenment. Through the exploration of transfiguration, individuals can challenge societal norms, redefine their identities, and connect with a higher purpose. This concept serves as a reminder of the human capacity for change and the potential for individuals to transcend limitations, both internally and externally. Transfiguration in art refers to the depiction of a transformation or metamorphosis in a visual artwork.

Artists: Susana Sanroman, Guillermo Monroy, Nicolas Jolly, Russell Herron, Mutalib Man,Armelle Burke, Gail Deayton

VANE

At Vane’s Encounter’s stand, discover a curated group presentation that juxtaposes five artists that provide different perspectives as to how humans make a physical and/or psychological imprint or projection on the spaces, objects and beings that surround them. Visually, many of the artists’ works seem to have little in common, appearing in opposition with each other even. Indeed, the aim is not to present an aesthetically complimentary union of works. Rather, the commonalities are to be found in the (unseen) intention that underlies their creation, specifically an interest in various forms of dualities and binaries. Themes of concealment, of things not being what they first might appear recurs throughout each artist’s work.

Artists:  David Fox, Nick Fox, Kirsty Harris, Stephen Palmer, Matilda Sutton

 

VIRGINIA VISUAL ARTS

Wen Wu, Venus as a Boy, 2011, oil on canvas. 240 x 145cm. Courtesy of VirginiaVisualArts.

Virginia Visual Arts’ unique display at Encounters 2024 will present “Small is Beautiful” or “The Semiotics of Small”, with works from six artists who will all be presenting new work at the Fair. For the exhibition, each artist will be given a canvas of the same size and will present their work alongside one another at Encounters placing the works in dialogue even as each artists offers a unique piece of work. 

Artists: Wen Wu, Malgosia Stepnik, Simon Williams, Tilo Kaiser, Naila Hazel, Colin McMaster

 

WIZARD GALLERY

Wizard Gallery is proud to present a solo exhibition by Frederico Luger. 

Federico Luger draws inspiration from different characters of the history and theory of contemporary art, especially from conceptualism (Joseph Kosuth and André Cadere) and minimalism (Fred Sanback).

He uses the combination of lines and words, which he takes from different comic books, so that the dialogues are incomplete, or arbitrarily combined. These lines float in space, together with the words and some images that, in the ensemble, form a visual dialogue. These dialogues are incomplete, almost nonsensical; at the same time, the lines are abstractions, of Cadere’s stick, of the stick as a symbol of power and knowledge.

The colours and the words come together at one point in which, for Luger, the artistic event has its origin: the viewer gets actually in touch with the work because of the need of fulfilling the sense, of imagining what is its meaning. The images, the words, and the color overpass the limit of the line, like a border that have to be cross.

Artist: Federico Luger

MEET THE CURATOR

 

Dr. Pryle Behrman

 

Dr Pryle Behrman is a curator, art journalist and academic who teaches art and design at USP College in Essex. Prior to curating Encounters, he was the curator of the Art Projects section of London Art Fair, and he has recently gained a PhD from University of Westminster centred on his curatorial practice. Amongst other topics, Pryle has written about the art market, art curation and international biennales for national newspapers and international art magazines.

Encounters Selection Committee

 

Alistair Hicks

Curator, Writer and Advisor. Former Senior Curator at Deutsche Bank

Pryle Behrman

Art Journalist, Curator, and Senior Lecturer at Writtle University College

Domo Baal

Director of DOMOBAAL Gallery

Hannah Payne

Director of Benjamin Parsons x Hannah Payne Gallery

Sarah Monk

Director of London Art Fair

Encounters 2023

2023 was the inaugural year of Encounters at London Art Fair featuring TIN MAN ART, Shame Gallery, Aleph Contemporary and others. 

Click the link below to lookback at the 2023 programme.

2022 Art Projects

In 2022 Art Projects presented a curated showcase of the freshest contemporary art from across the globe; it featured large-scale installations, solo shows and thematic group displays – selected and endorsed by a panel of key opinion formers and industry leaders

Click the link below to lookback at the 2022 programme.

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