Sky Arts - Review: London Original Print Fair

Hot on the heels of London’s ever-popular Affordable Art Fair, The London Original Print Fair is set to offer art lovers another opportunity to be beguiled by images that won’t break the bank. The clue is in the title - an artist can create any number of prints from one crafted surface, drastically reducing the cost of each image, but every one is still a unique and original piece.

Making its 24th annual appearance at the Royal Academy of Art this year, it’s the longest-running specialist print fair in the world and 2009 is larger than ever. Covering all styles and periods of printmaking from early 15th century woodcuts to contemporary graphics, there’s a staggering visual breadth the entries on display - from large, bright billboards to diminutive, detailed engravings. It’s a hard heart that can meet this year’s collection without once falling in love.

As was true of the Affordable Art Fair, the work on display here is attractive, sometimes quirky, and always appealing - thoroughly hang-on-your-living-room-wall-able - and the same themes (also cropping up in fashion and interior design) reappear - those butterflies are everywhere. But this is a more coherent exhibition in the sense that all the art is created by the same means, and it can be surprising to see how varied the results of the print method can be.

As always, it’s hard to pick favourites but let’s do it anyway: Michael Craig-Martin has designed a brash, highly graphic set of billboard-size images using the names of the seven deadly sins, and Cyril Power’s deco-esque linocuts offer some striking images of industry, looking stylish in a way that only 1930’s design can achieve. By contrast, Robert Ryan shows some beautiful, storybook-like screen prints, and elsewhere the fragile, lacy lines of modern gothic-romanticism show no signs of releasing their ivy-like grip.

The Print Fair is a great place to see and enjoy the very best work on offer, and its majestic setting within Burlington House is more than enough reason to pay it a visit. Prices range enormously from a very reasonable £100 into thousands, but if you’re a serious buyer you won’t find a better opportunity to meet international expert dealers - there are over 50 of them here.

The London Original Print Fair runs until 26th April 2009 at the Royal Academy of Arts, London.

Carla Evans - April 2009

Inset image: Robert Ryan's Bird Lady II, Courtesy of the artist and TAG Fine Arts, London