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
2023 ENCOUNTERS
Pryle Behrman, curator and member of the Encounters Selection Committee, introduces some of its key themes of the 2023 Encounters section.
Often it is the artists themselves that might be challenging their own understandings and crossing over to new positions. Perhaps prompted by the opportunity to re-evaluate our priorities during the recent COVID-19 lockdowns, several of the participating galleries are exhibiting practitioners who have moved from their previous creative field to explore artmaking: Nathan French, originally a fashion designer, has created an installation of found objects, animal materials and crystallised faces on Shame Gallery‘s stand (P8) that reference the multiplicity of tempers, moods and thoughts that occur inside every one of us; Catherine Anholt’s paintings at TIN MAN ART (stand P6) see the artist exploring a range of emotions and experiences spanning childhood, parenting, the natural world, birth and death, having previously been primarily known as an author and illustrator of children’s books. At April Contemporary (stand P4), an installation by Luqmaan Godfrey – the artist alter ego of muralist Damilola Odusote – combines mixed media drawings, poems, texts, collages, and murals to present ‘reality’ as a continually changing map that is both malleable and wholly transient.
Amongst other presentations within this section, unexpected encounters result from a dialogue between intention and chance within an artist’s work. Aleph Contemporary’s exhibition (on stand P9) titled ‘Beyond Borders’ sees a variety of material dragged, cut, spread, glued, and lined, with each method creating a mixture of known and unforeseen outcomes that build into visual spectacles of colour fields and scattered, perspectival fragments. Art Mûr’s stand (P10) features practitioners who similarly embrace elements of chance by allowing their chosen media to dictate the direction that the artworks take, whilst also ensuring that materials are in some sense pushed to their limits in the hands of the artists.
Visit the Encounters section at London Art Fair 2023 to explore these highly relevant themes amongst many more, such the often under-represented Black experience explored by Janet Rady Fine Art (P20), or issues of displacement, identity, and womanhood at the group show by Otherlandz (P3).
2023 EXHIBITING GALLERIES
A Modest Show | Aleph Contemporary | April Contemporary | Art Mûr | Black Dwarf | Cavaliero Finn | Cross Lane Projects | Cubitt Artists Co-Op | DOMOBAAL | Janet Rady Fine Art | Kevin Kavanagh | Koop Projects | MADEINBRITALY | OtherLandz | Shame Gallery | Siger Gallery | TIN MAN ART | VIRGINIAVISUALARTS | Wilder Gallery
Encounters Selection Committee
Alistaire Hicks
Curator, Writer and Advisor. Former Senior Curator at Deutsche Bank
Pryle Behrmam
Art Journalist, Curator, and Senior Lecturer at Writtle University College
Domo Baal
Director of DOMOBAAL Gallery
Sarah Monk
Director of London Art Fair
TM LIGHTING X ENCOUNTERS EXHIBITION
TM Lighting, the UKs leading art lighting specialists, is combining its passion for art lighting and the promotion of emerging artists, to hosted a selection of artwork from London Art Fair’s Encounters collection. The collaboration is part of TM Lighting’s ongoing programme of exhibitions to support artists. The artwork selected for the exhibition is professionally lit at their gallery on Cubitt Street using TM Lighting’s Gallery 130 Spotlight and Gallery 160 Floodlight.
Opening Times:
Tuesday 17th January: 10am – 5pm
Wednesday 18th January: 10am – 5pm
Thursday 19th January: 10am – 5pm
Friday 20th January: 10am – 5pm
Address:
TM Gallery, 7 Cubitt Street, London, WC1X 0LN
Free entry with London Art Fair Passes
Galleries participating in Encounters 2023 will be announced in winter 2022. Subscribe to our mailing list to be notified when Encounters 2023 is announced.
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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