SOLO CONTEMPORARY was first introduced as an initiative last year, a concept of British Art Fair’s owner Will Ramsay in collaboration with artist-curator Zavier Ellis, of CHARLIE SMITH LONDON. British Art Fair is pleased to announce that the contemporary strand of the Fair will return again this year with 20 galleries and dealers - twice the number involved last year - who will each introduce the works of one chosen star artist. 

British Art Fair promotes both long-established galleries and those new to the field.  The SOLO section of the fair, held on the second floor of Saatchi Gallery, gives a contemporary generation of British galleries and artists a chance to engage with a large audience of visitors, and presents the experimental, challenging edge of British art.

British Art Fair will also host a SOLO CONTEMPORARY Artist Award 2023 this year, with a distinguished panel of judges including Stephanie Nebbia from Windsor & Newton and artist Matthew Burrows, responsible for Artists Support Pledge. It will be presented during the Critics’ Circle Visual Arts award ceremony on Friday 29th September. Prizes include a £2,500 material award, sponsored by Winsor and Newton, and a £1,000 voucher for online courses, sponsored by Contemporary Art Academy.

Curator Zavier Ellis says:

SOLO CONTEMPORARY exhibiting galleries: Air Contemporary, Anise Gallery, Art Movement (London), Blond Contemporary, CHARLIE SMITH LONDON, Cross Lane Projects, Fiumano Clase, Gallery 13, Gallery 14, Guerin Projects, HM Electric, James Freeman Gallery, JEALOUS, Julian Page, OHSH Projects, Purdy Hicks Gallery, Rabley Gallery, Ruup & Form, UNION Gallery, Vane, Virginia Visual Arts, The  Warehouse.

Meet the Artists Friday September 29th, 6pm-8pm

On Friday evening visitors will be able to meet a selection of artists represented in the fair, and talk about their work, an event which proved popular last year. Some will give demonstrations of their working techniques. ‘Meet the Artists’ is fair-wide; artists will be easily spottable from their distinctive lanyards. The event includes a sponsored bar. It is free for all Friday ticket holders.

SOLO CONTEMPORARY Highlights

Stand SOLO 16

Gallery: Anise Gallery

Artist: Ian Chamberlain

Chamberlain’s distinctive drawings and etchings of derelict architectural structures have won him prestigious awards including the RWA Drawing Prize, Royal West of England Academy (2022) and most recently the Contemporary Printmaking Prize at Fenn Ditton Gallery, Cambridge,UK (2023). Anise Gallery are exhibiting at British Art Fair for the first time this year with new works by Chamberlain, as well as an immersive VR experience.

Ian Chamberlain, Transmission V. Etching, 74.4 x 64 cm. Edition of 30.

Courtesy of Anise Gallery

Stand SOLO 19

Gallery: Virginia Visual Arts

Artist: Wen WU
Virginia Damtsa, co-founder of iconic gallery Riflemaker, presents works by Wen Wu, a portrait artist from Qing Dao, China. Wu studied under Chinese American artist and influential art critic Chen Danqing, going on to complete an MA in Fine Art at Guildhall. Wu’s neo-realist oil paintings are receiving recognition from London galleries and beyond.

Virginia Damtsa at VirginiaVisualArts is pleased to present new exclusive series "Women of All Nations" by Chinese-born, UK-based artist Wen Wu.

Courtesy of Virginia Visual Arts

Stand SOLO 03

Gallery: UNION Gallery

Artist: Charlie Oscar Patterson

The progressive East London gallery UNION present Charlie Oscar Patterson’s new series, ‘Architectures’, which merges sculpture with oil painting, offering infinite possibilities and variations of shadow, tonality and colour.  Patterson’s work has been exhibited in London, Montreal and Chicago.

Charlie Oscar Patterson, Hello World 6.

Courtesy of UNION Gallery.

Stand SOLO 02

Gallery: Fiumano Clase

Artist: Tim Shaw

Francesca Fiumano, formerly of Fiumano Projects, and Andrés Clase, formerly of Orion Contemporary, made the decision to merge their London galleries and  establish Fiumano Clase in November 2017. For SOLO CONTEMPORARY they present the work of seminal British sculptor and visual artist Tim Shaw RA, whose Man of Fire sculpture was placed on permanent display outside the Imperial War Museum (North) in Manchester this summer.

 Tim Shaw RA, THE K PROJECT: BISTO KIDS GONE WRONG (RED), 2023. Archival print on paper 58 x 42 cm, 22 7/8 x 16 1/2 in, Edition of 25, Copyright The Artist.

Courtesy of Fiumano Case 

Stand SOLO 01

Gallery: CHARLIE  SMITH LONDON

Artist: Emma Bennett

SOLO CONTEMPORARY curator and gallerist Zavier Ellis presents one of London’s most significant contemporary painters, Emma Bennett, whose dark, arresting paintings, inspired by 17th-century still lifes, are held in private collections internationally.

Emma Bennett, This Abeyance, 2023. Oil on panel 21x27cm.

Courtesy of CHARLIE SMITH LONDON

Stand SOLO 05
Gallery: JEALOUS
Artist: Ines Fernandez de Cordova

Shoreditch gallery and publishing house JEALOUS, at the forefront of contemporary art trends, presents works by London-based Bolivian-Slovenian artist Ines Fernandez de Cordova, whose collaged grids and vertical cuts inform a series of photographs which begin as sculptures and are transformed through prints, before landing at their final composition.

Ines Fernandez de Corodva, Desde la Ventana Lila, 2023.

Courtesy JEALOUS Gallery.

Stands SOLO 04-05

Gallery: Guerin Projects

Artists: Sabrina Shah and Timothy Gatenby

Guerin Projects made their debut at British Art Fair last year and are returning with two bold contemporary artists. Timothy Gatenby’s nostalgic paintings of bygone pop culture reference familiar characters with a surreal twist; they are matched in energy by Sabrina Shah’s colourful expressionist works.

 Sabrina Shah, Counting Sheep, 2023. Acrylic on Canvas, 40.5x46cm.

Courtesy Guerin Projects.