London Art Fair 2015: Pallant House Gallery museum partnership and new curators announced

London Art Fair, the UK’s premier fair for Modern British and contemporary art, returns to the Business Design Centre, Islington, from 21-25 January 2015. Following the success of the inaugural partnership with the Hepworth Wakefield last year, the award-winning Pallant House Gallery, Chichester has been announced as the museum partner for the 27th edition of the Fair. New guest curators are revealed with Anna Colin curating ‘Dialogues’ for Art Projects 2015 whilst Sheyi Bankale will curate the much anticipated next edition of Photo50.

Museum Partnership with Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, West Sussex Simon Martin, Artistic Director of Pallant House Gallery, will curate a unique exhibition focusing on paintings and drawings by some of the leading British figurative painters of the 20th century including Walter Sickert, David Bomberg, Lucian Freud, William Coldstream and Frank Auerbach. In a specially designed pavilion at the front of the main Fair, ‘The Figure in Modern British Art’ will explore how different artists in Britain approached the human figure and will feature a selection of exceptional works drawn from the Gallery’s permanent collection. Alongside these, some of the Gallery’s significant collection of 1960s British Pop Art will be on display, including key works by Richard Hamilton, Eduardo Paolozzi and Peter Blake.

Art Projects: ‘Dialogues’ curated by Anna Colin Anna Colin will curate ‘Dialogues’ for Art Projects 2015, featuring collaborative presentations between invited UK and International galleries. Building on last year’s successful collaborations, the section promises unique, shared presentations featuring the freshest contemporary art from across the globe. Anna is co-curator of the next British Art Show, associate curator at Fondation Galeries Lafayette in Paris and co-founder of Open School East. Art Projects continues to garner widespread critical acclaim and a distinct audience, featuring large-scale installations, solo shows and group displays, alongside an extensive Film Programme.

Photo50 curated by Sheyi Bankale
Photo50, the Fair’s annual showcase of contemporary photography returns for 2015. Entitled ‘Against Nature’, this year's exhibition, curated by Sheyi Bankale, presents a series of questions considering what it is to look at and display a photograph. How does a photograph become elevated to the status of an object, act or intervention? The title is in homage to the novel ‘Against Nature’ by J K Huysman. A variety of installations challenge our assumed presumptions of photographic representation. These frameworks will be the touchstone of the exhibition, blurring the boundary between the tangible object and the photographic aesthetic plane.

The Fair’s Photography Focus Day takes place on Wednesday 21 January with artist talks, guided tours and panel discussions examining contemporary photographic practice.

Sponsors
New for 2015, The Macallan, the Fair’s Official Single Malt Whisky Sponsor, will host a Masters of Photography Lounge on the mezzanine next to Photo50. London Art Fair is also delighted to welcome the following returning sponsors and partners for 2015:

Peroni Nastro Azzurro - VIP and Thursday Late Drinks Sponsor Natuzzi - VIP Furniture Partner Maybourne Hotel Group (Claridge’s, The Connaught and The Berkeley) - Official Hotel Partners Lund Humphries - Sponsor Expofreight - Official Packing Company