Antonio Sergio Moreira's work at Ricardo Fernandes Gallery. Photo by Mark Cocksedge, courtesy of London Art Fair. As one of the UK's premier art events, the London Art Fair returns this year with an expansive program celebrating both established and emerging voices in contemporary and modern art. Running from January 17–21, 2025, at the Business Design Centre in Islington, the fair welcomes galleries from around the world, offering an inspiring cross-section of artistic practices. From painting and sculpture to photography and digital media, the curated sections and special projects reflect the fair’s commitment to fostering creativity and cross-cultural dialogue.
The 37th edition of the London Art Fair brings together over 130 galleries globally, including 18 international exhibitors from countries such as the Czech Republic, Ireland, France, Iran, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, and Turkey. Visitors can expect a diverse range of works spanning sculpture, painting, photography, textiles, ceramics, and prints, with pieces by both established and emerging artists.
The fair continues to showcase contemporary practices and collecting trends through its critically acclaimed sections, curated in collaboration with leading experts. For its annual Museum Partnership, LAF has partnered with the Sainsbury Centre, presenting the innovative Living Art experience that transforms visitors into a part of the exhibition.
Curated by Becca Pelly-Fry, this year's edition of Platform explores the theme of reciprocity between humans and nature, inspired by the Q’ero concept of 'ayni.' Featuring works from eight galleries and curated by Anna Souter, the exhibition highlights interconnected ecosystems and interspecies communication, encouraging visitors to reimagine their relationship with the natural world.
Encounters, established in 2005, provides a subsidized platform for emerging and international galleries to showcase their work and test the market before transitioning to the main Fair. This year's edition features a diverse selection of galleries from nine countries, showcasing dynamic projects and fostering global collaborations.
Our selection at the fair celebrates a dynamic range of voices, with a focus on Indigenous, diaspora, and self-taught artists. These artists challenge conventions and provoke important dialogues through their practices, exploring themes of identity, tradition, and the complexities of global interconnectedness. Their works defy conventional boundaries, offering nuanced reflections on cultural preservation, transformation, and the ongoing negotiation of heritage in an ever-evolving world.
Presented by London's Elizabeth Xi Bauer, Guatemalan artist Antonio Pichillá Quiacaín blends indigenous iconography with modern techniques to craft vibrant works that challenge cultural boundaries. Rooted in his Tz'utujil heritage, Pichillá's practice delves into themes of globalization, identity, and memory. By examining the ancient traditions of his native roots alongside postcolonial notions of a unified national identity, his work resists binary constructs and the concept of otherness.
Through intricate, layered compositions, Pichillá explores displacement and the negotiation of tradition in a rapidly evolving world. His works at the fair highlight a commitment to representing Maya identity through performative and abstract forms. The artist is set to debut his second solo exhibition with the gallery in late 2025 at its newly opened Exmouth Market space.
Also featured in Elizabeth Xi Bauer's booth is Marta Jakobovits, a Romanian ceramist who explores casting, modeling, firing, and glazing techniques. During the Ceaușescu dictatorship, Jakobovits created works in secret, collaborating with others as part of the underground Transylvanian art scene. Her intricate installations engage in a visual dialogue with natural elements such as stones, leaves, bark, and found objects. Jakobovits delves deeply into the physical and chemical properties of materials, creating a personal library of interactions and transformations. Her ceramic works reflect a profound connection to nature and spirituality, serving as tangible expressions of her inner world through the medium’s transformative processes. A retrospective of Marta Jakobovits' work, titled Metaterra, is currently on view at Ţării Crişurilor Museum in Oradea.
Ricardo Fernandes Gallery presents the first UK solo exhibition of Afro-Amerindian artist Antonio Sergio Moreira, whose work draws deeply from African traditions. By merging religious ceremonies, popular Brazilian festivities, and diverse cultural influences, Moreira's masks, sculptures, and paintings act as powerful symbols bridging the spiritual and secular, the ancient and contemporary. His art reflects the enduring impact of African heritage in Brazil, capturing the dynamic energy of celebrations like Carnival and regional festivals. Through intricate forms and vibrant compositions, Moreira celebrates the universal connections between cultures, challenging boundaries between the sacred and festive while honoring the power of artistic expression.
New Zealand-born and North London-based artist Robyn Litchfield explores the emotional resonance of wilderness and the unknown through her paintings, presented by TIN MAN ART. Drawing on archival material and personal documents related to New Zealand's early exploration and colonization, Litchfield reimagines encounters with uncharted territories as metaphors for inner reflection. Her works, combining historic and contemporary landscapes, use transparent paint and stencils to evoke themes of loss and alienation. The red forms in her paintings symbolize the destruction of primeval forests and the biodiversity they supported, as well as the sense of displacement felt by immigrants. Through her layered compositions, Litchfield prompts reflection on humanity's connection to the land and the enduring effects of colonization and migration.
Japanese artist Makoto Okawa (1976-2016), known for his playful and mischievous approach to art, is celebrated for his felt dolls, or "Makoots," which embody a range of emotions and whimsical forms. Presented by Jennifer Lauren Gallery, a gallery that champions self-taught, disabled and overlooked artists from around the world, Okawa's dolls are entirely unique in their expression, with no two faces alike. Created from wool and crafted through a rapid, instinctive needle-felting technique, Okawa's felt dolls, which include variations of human figures, worms, and even octopuses, reflect his inner world, with each piece uniquely expressing a spectrum of emotions. The softness and gentle expressions of the dolls change in tandem with Okawa's emotional state, making them not just objects but alter egos of the late artist himself.
Also showcased by Jennifer Lauren Gallery, Shinichi Sawada is a self-taught Japanese artist known for his striking ceramic works, which often feature intricate and textured 'thorns' applied to the surface of each piece. Sawada's process is deliberate and focused, with each piece taking about four days to complete. He creates with remarkable confidence, applying each 'thorn' with quiet precision, often positioning older works nearby as though they are companions. His ceramics are fired only once a year, in a traditional hand-made wood-fired oven, resulting in works that display a rich variation of colors and textures due to the ash and the kiln's temperature fluctuations. Sawada's works, which are often devoid of glaze, are imbued with a sense of mystery, as his creative practice has remained largely silent and non-verbal.
