THE OTHER ART FAIR LONDON
9-12 March 2O23
The Truman Brewery
85 Brick Lane
London
E1 6QR
Saatchi Art’s The Other Art Fair returns to The Truman Brewery this March, coinciding with International Women’s Day. The Fair is proud to present an impressive 61% female line-up, championing some of the most exciting emerging female talents working today, continuing its ongoing mission to strive for gender parity in the art world. Here we delve into the art of some of the female artists you can meet and buy direct from at the artist-led fair. These individuals traverse various cultures, mediums and experiences, representing the very best the city has to offer.
Anastasia Tribambuka is a British artist with Russian roots, making art through painting and printmaking from her studio in Hackney. Thematically, Tribambuka’s portfolio has evolved over the years and encompasses shifting identities, home and belonging in her earlier works to exploring societal expectations of women in her most recent solo show, ‘Right To Rage’ at the Cluster Contemporary Art Fair. Her education at the Russian Analytical school of painting at the St. Petersburg State Academy
of Art and Design opposed the traditional canon and imbued a juxtaposition of structure and chaos in her work. As well as print making, Tribambuka works with brands in creating soulful and lively visuals.
The culture and people of London are integral influences in Zimbabwean-born, hyper-surrealist artist Natasha Muluswela’s work, one of the winners of the Fair’s New Futures 2023 initiative. Though graphite provides the foundations for each work, the colour comes from a range of mediums and materials, often informed by the subject of the piece. The subject’s themselves represent what society would deem ‘imperfections’, unique markings and freckles on skin, for example, as well as socio-political issue’s, particularly race and the discrimination of Black people. The New Futures program is part of the Fair’s continued mission to break down traditional barriers of the contemporary art world.
Each recipient is given free exhibition space at The Other Art Fair along with access to opportunities designed to jump-start their careers. Recipients are chosen in collaboration with art world experts and local creative partners to bring their respective talents and differing perspectives.
Sarah Lim-Murray has established a recognisable style as a contemporary painter, utilising her favoured medium, oil paint, and merging traditional painting techniques with contemporary portraits and scenes in a graphic style. This constant stylistic shift and her deliberate use of female subjects are elements she hopes will continue to engage and spark connection with her viewer. “I was in art college for five years in Singapore and London, training in fine arts, sculpture, design and creative thinking. There were too many people and experiences that influenced my work but fundamentally it is led by the ‘a feeling’ I have. When people see my paintings, I hope they will share a bit of what I felt.” – Sarah Lim-Murray.
Amy Wiggin is a North London based illustrator and printmaker based in Hampstead, whose work was selected by Grayson Perry for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 2018. She creates beautiful original works, often using zinc plate lithography hand finished with paint. The medium often dictates the direction of each piece as the interplay between the artist and the plate develops. “Much of my practice is inspired by my dreams and the unconscious world presents characters and people to me.“
Nathalie Kingdon is a French artist based in London, working from her bespoke studio at Wimbledon Art Studios. Kingdon utilises silk screen printing and a particular approach to colour, shape, and form to explore new narratives based on pre-existing images, particularly photographs of her native South of France. Imagination, sixties cinema and the female form are further inspirations for Nathalie and have become subjects she is constantly reimagining, favouring small editions of prints to give her the freedom to continually experiment and create. “I realise now how clear the use of women’s bodies is in my work, and how fascinated I am by the aesthetic of it. I work quite organically though, and therefore can’t say there is any message I want to deliver, but I would like for my work to tell a story.” – Nathalie Kingdon
Anna Sudbina’s dynamic visual language is defined by her use of gestural abstraction and masterful composition. She unites the precision of her background in academic drawing with the abstract process she discovered whilst studying at Central St Martins. Consequently, her expressive canvases mix minute and precise detail with mark-making, layering on the canvas to create figures both familiar and distant. Recently, her work has taken on a less formal figurative style, favouring found objects, such as clothes tags, as painting tools as opposed to brushes and incorporating more space into her pieces.
As well as painting, Sudbina has collaborated and worked on design and architectural projects. Her textile designs for Lucas Hugh were featured in Vogue and The New York Times. These projects have influenced her artistic aesthetic, from the tones she favours in her palette to texture and composition. ‘Coming from a great tradition of Russian abstract artists such as Kandinsky, Malevich, Chagal, my work draws upon newer ideas taking as its inspiration digitisation, fractals, quantum mechanics, the infinite and the unconscious.’ – Anna Sudbina
Helga Stentzel is an award-winning artist based in Shepards Bush. A graduate of Central St Martins, she has worked across advertising, illustration, photography, video, and stop-motion for brands such as the BBC, Honda and the O2. Now a full-time artist, Stentzel applies a surreal aspect to her work. The ‘Clothes Line Animal’ photography series featured in The Times and The Guardian, for example, invites the viewer to meet with their inner child, creating a sense of wonder in the ordinary. Stentzel strives to capture the magic in the mundane and hopes that her work can encourage her audience to slow down and notice it themselves in their everyday lives.
‘I love noticing playful similarities – be it a sweater on a clothing line looking like a horse or a slice of bread resembling a dog’s head. It’s only the starting point, though. From this moment onward, the stories and visuals start buzzing in my head: What will this horse look like? What’s her name and character? Does she like racing with other horses? The list goes on and on!’ – Helga Stentzel.
Katalin Macevics is an artist and illustrator based in London. Born in Moscow, she grew up in Ukraine where she graduated from the School of Fine Arts. Straddling the line between abstraction, expressionism and realism, her work focuses on the curves and shapes of a women’s body, capturing the female aura, warmth and strength. She is inspired by light and color and how they relate to each other with simple, beautiful works that celebrate the beauty of womanhood and the female.
Figurative painter Karen Turner was awarded the VAA Professional Artist Award 2022. Focusing on the physical body, and the scrutiny to which it is subjected, Karen’s paintings explore what society expects of a woman, the ways in which a woman’s shape is often considered to define her, and the impact that this has on her life and sense of self.
Catherine Vermaut is a Belgian artist, creating visually strikingly paintings that depict
vulnerability, transience, youthfulness and the loss of it. At first glance her pieces seem simple but on closer inspection the viewer notices the colourless faces are intricately detailed and expressive. The only colour in Vermaut’s figurative is in the stark, often white and void of detail, clothing. The result of the contrast is captivating, questioning and moving. Vermaut graduated from Sint-Lucas Art Institute Ghent in 1991.
Interpretation of the classic still life is unparalleled in Dawn Beckles’ use of vibrant colour and contemporary settings depicted alongside her reoccurring subject matter, the exotic flora inspired by her native Barbados. A mixed media artist specialising in combining painting, collage and screen printing, Dawn frequently parallels found images of man-made beauty with those of the natural world. It is in Dawn’s paintings that one will find high fashion, bespoke interiors juxtaposed with orchids and birds of paradise painted from her private collection.
The philosophy underlying Dawn’s body of work is to celebrate the intimate relationship between an item and its owner by illuminating the context in which it is presented. Her process, whether constructing an elaborately furnished roomscape or the study of an austere clay pot draped with crocosmia. In her painting she invites you to learn more about the home owner as she gets to know them.
Celebrated for its unexpected take on the traditional art fair experience, The Other Art Fair offers switched-on Londoners the chance to buy artwork directly from over 150 incredible emerging talents. The fair continues its mission to reframe art, and how it is enjoyed; offering a fair that is inclusive, evocative, and inspiring, with a vibrant programme of exciting features, guest exhibitions, immersive installations, live poetry readings and DJs.
©2023 Saatchi Art, THE OTHER ART FAIR
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