Over 200 international artists descended upon up-market Chelsea this week, for what has already laid claim to being the world’s largest curated international art fair, showcasing an eclectic selection of over 1000 pieces of contemporary art.
Up-scaling from their previous home at La Galleria, Royal Opera Arcade on Pall Mall, this year sees the Parallax Art Fair move to the glorious Old Town Hall set on King’s Road.
“Our usual four private views alone were attracting over 2500 guests, so it made sense to upscale the venue” – explains curator Dr Chris Barlow.
From established to emerging international contemporary artists, Parallax AF showcase a variety of mediums spanning paintings, sculptures and photography, providing a platform for artists to present their work to dealers, collectors, buyers and enthusiasts, without paying any commission charges. The artworks are all typically in the accessible price brackets of circa £50 – £3000+ and for the more savvy buyers there will inevitably be some fantastic opportunities to pick up works by lesser known emerging talents. Among others were some rather unusual works from French artist Vincent Fichard who actually mixed his own blood in a vase of flowers to create an delicate assortment of pink-tinged blooms. Equally controversial, yet perhaps using more conventional techniques, was German illustrator extraordinaire Bastian Preussger whose distorted wall of shame had them all, from Russia’s Putin to Italy’s Bunga Bunga Berlusconi and Iran’s deadliest man of the moment president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Aside from the aforementioned obscurities, I was also dazzled by the vivaciously pop-art like works from Kymberly O’Carroll-Fitzpatrick and was a huge fan of ‘Peaches’ as is featured right. The impressionist inspired abstract acrylic pieces by Margot Abbring were also outstanding and would definitely have to recommend that any serious buyers should most certainly put her on their radars, presenting some very colourful, emotive originals at the art fair and certainly drawing a crowd.
Also in the mix were some outstanding photographic works, including some exceptional images by the seemingly well-travelled Gerard Hancock and some absolutely breath-taking photos by Carmen Spitznagel (as seen in the example below), to which I soon found myself mesmerizing by and would have to recommend that you at least visit her website if you can’t make it to the exhibition itself.
Another unlikely piece that grabbed my attention was ‘Omnia Vanitas’, a gouache painting by Karen Jones, depicting the Aesop fable about a vain stag whose vanity ultimately destroys him. There is just something about the dark beauty of her signature mysterious yet delicately rendered images, seamlessly journeying between history, folklore and fairytales
Fortunately for anyone who has so far missed-out, there is one last day for the fair to run, and the sheer diversity of original artwork on display simply beckons that you visit. To see our full gallery of photos from Wednesday’s private viewing you can head to our Facebook page, where you can also ‘like,’ tag and share: your favourites facebook.com/cdclifestyle. Judging by the outstanding success of 2012’s fair I think it is fair to say that Parallax AF is certainly beginning to forge a name for itself on the International circuit, and much look forward to the next event.
Parallax is taking place at
Chelsea Old Town Hall,
King’s Road, Chelsea,
London, SW3 5EE
Exhibition open from Thursday 16th – Saturday 18th February 2012.
To find out more information visit: barlowfinedrawings.com
You can also follow them on Twitter @ParallaxArtFair
