BRITISH ART FAIR: CRITIC'S DIARY
- FETCH
- Sep 30
- 6 min read
"Some fine, some genuinely good, and one floor that should be sealed off like asbestos."
Three of Fetch's finest and freshest take on the annual Modern and Contemporary British Art Fair in an attempt to answer the question: are the British still making good art?
Photography courtesy of the British Art Fair/Guy Bell.
Ruby Mitchell
I arrived at the British Art Fair around six, which is when the entire Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea also decided to arrive. The ground floor was basically elbows with tote bags attached. After desensitising myself with free wine, I started actually looking at things.
The fair, in short: some fine, some genuinely good, and one floor that should be sealed off like asbestos. The “Digitalism” section ("the first ever art fair section dedicated entirely to digital art") on the third floor was an especially dire showcase of AI art (if you can call it that). It all had the clingy, congealed presence of cooker grease in an extractor fan, lingering in the air like a hot fart. The problem isn’t that AI is derivative (all art is derivative), it’s that it has no centre and no point of view at all. The only work worth pausing for was Ruby Pluhar’s - her photography brings actual intensity and imagination to digital practice. Her images of performance and couture (she’s worked with Givenchy, Erdem, Dior, McQueen, and the Royal Ballet and Opera House) had energy and perspective - rare qualities in a room otherwise brimming with Shutterstock sludge.
Ruby Pluhar, New Landing, 2024
Downstairs, Simon Quadrat’s The Card Player at Panter & Hall (Stand 63) was another piece that caught my eye. I’ll admit I’m already biased toward any art that involves games - I once wrote about Rococo game-playing and apparently still haven’t recovered. Quadrat has set a deck of cards against a chessboard, which is frankly sexy. It doubles the intellectual dare: chance piled atop strategy. You can’t quite work out what game the subject is playing, or if she’s playing at all. If it’s poker, the spectators' hand is clearly shit and our hazle-eyed subject knows it. Her expression doesn’t give an inch. The perspective is deliberately off-kilter too: the cards and table are seen from above, then the scene warps as we move up into portrait view. Her hands flicker with possible meaning - Vitarka Mudra, a biblical echo, or just artistic mischief? Whatever it is, it’s a little unsettling - like you’re being addressed directly but have no clue what’s being said. I’m reminded of Cézanne’s card-players series. Quadrat replaces habitual labourers (a bit like how it felt walking around the fair, where the majority are frighteningly solvent) - and the painting feels instead like a more private and pointed meditation on the tension of being watched while you play. (N.B. I’ve been playing A LOT of Balatro recently, which might also explain this painting’s appeal).
Simon Quadrat, The Card Player, 2024
The other work that stopped me was Reginald Hallward’s Burial by Moonlight at Harry Moore-Gwyn (Stand 26), inspired by Blake's Procession from Calvary. It’s spare, ghostly, almost Pre-Raphaelite - without the sermonising. Silvers and shadows. It’s small - only 21.5 by 28 cm. You can tell Hallward was a glassmaker - the scene is almost lit like stained glass. If I had the money - I’d buy it!
(Overall: Some work demands attention, but most does not.)
Victoria Comstock-Kershaw
I have such fondness for the BAF, because it is so completetly different than the sorts of fairs I usually attend. If Basel/Frieze are the ketamine-inclined baby siblings of the art world, the BAF is the eccentric godmother that takes you to the Chelsea Arts Club to tell you about how she used to hook up with Keith Richards over lapsang soushong. It's all just a lot more sensible, a lot more direct, a lot more polite. I stare at a man struggling to wrap up a canvas for about five minutes while trying to figure out the Fluxusian semiotics of the packaging, before realising that ah, this is not an advanced piece of post-object performance art, it's just guy wrapping up an artwork. Great stuff, really humbling, reminds you that a lot of art is complete tosh and you're an idiot for caring about it in the first place. Now, there's a lot of tosh here too - Clarendon Fine Arts, my beloved, I feel like it was only yesterday I was begging you to let me work for one of your P&O cruiseship galleries - but also some extremely tasty and capital-b British art that overall justifies caring about anything made after 1945.
Photography courtesy of the British Art Fair/Guy Bell.
Marcus Campbell Art Books - Stand 4A
OTTOCENTO Petworth - Stand 29
De Stijl via the British neo-romantics. Extremely fine selection of sculptures and sketches from the likes of Ben Nicholson and Keith Vaughan.
Edward Burra's drafts are some of the most tender works of the entire fair; simply oozing stylistic affection for the fine art of costume design.
Gallery TEN - Stand 34
In many ways, the epitome of the British Art Fair's best: powerful, elegant, understated without being self-effacing.
Can never resist a good Wilhelmina Barns Graham.
Castlegate House Gallery - Stand 9
Another example of Good British Art: Auerbach, Atkings (Ray, not Ed), Norman Cornish, Alan Davie, Joan Eardley, Sheila Fell, Craig Simpson.
These are painter's painters, works that delight in their own medium; intense, extensive, assured. One of the least disjointed booths in terms of both aesthetic and theme.
Men in sweatervests <3
Frank Auerbach, Seated figure, 1951
The Scottish Gallery - Stand 12
Didn't actually notice much of the art here, but included because this is the booth where I accidentally treated a sale wrap-up as a peice of performance art. "Can I help you?" asks an assistant, noticing my fascination. "Oh, I'm just watching!" I say cheerfully as a particularly clever peice of Kraft origami is executed for what I assume is my viewing pleasure. The assistant nods. "Are you an art handler too?" they ask. "Yes," I lie, realising my mistake. Ah, well. There are cathedrals everywhere for those with the eyes to see.
Albertina Campbell
Willoughby Gerrish - Stand 2
Simplistic, well-curated recipient and winner of Best Curated Booth 2025.
Emily Young's large sculpture Contemplate Man stole the show, adding a contemporary meditative flair.
Broadbent - Stand 13
Had the punchiest range of fine art media paintings of medium to large proportions, really showing different styles of abstract and colour field paintings, which commanded presence from a variety of artist.
Blond Contemporary - Stand 14
Good balance of emerging contemporary and established artists (i.e Henry Morore, Bridget Riley, David Hockney, Clyde Hopkins, Elisabeth Frink).
Powerful Henry Moore large Untitled screenprint commanding presence.
Colourful Julian Wild minimalist metal sculpture was a main attraction; the artist toys with industrial medium and colour to create a playful relationship between.
Photography courtesy of the British Art Fair/Guy Bell.
Kittoe Contemporary - Stand 30
The presentation championed younger emerging and established artists, with a dedicated space focused on six talents including Ilona Szalay, Clare Packer, Daniel Preece, Ann Winn, and William. Complimented by the booth's interior design sensibility.
Liss Llewellyn - Stand 18
Most effective use of booth wall space - a bit like the Summer Exhibition style, a treasure trove packed with a coherent display of 20th-century British artworks.
Captivated audiences with Eric Ravillious (1903-1942 )'s Oranges on a plate, design for wallpaper wallpaper, which added a striking contrast to the booth.
Stand-out piece: Barbara Jones's Mural design for the Royal Post Office.
Ruup & Form - Stand 8
Solo presentation of British ceramicist Henrietta MacPhee. Display a combination of older and newer works, showcasing the range of her practice.
Small clay tiles covered by ceramic glaze pieces inspired by her time in India and Old Master still life paintings.
Three-dimensional appliqué vases designed specifically for the fair, focused on the natural world. Artist demonstrates an inventive use of the ceramic medium, moving between two- and three-dimensional forms.
South African gallery solely showcased the work of Nigerian artist Barry Yusufu, whose presentation was among the strongest of West African contemporary art at the fair.
His paintings radiate a striking luminosity, capturing both reverence and presence, while offering a poignant commentary on Black figuration through a Western lens.
A Modest Show - Stand 10
Booth dedicated to British artist GL Brierly, recipient of the British Art Fair Solo Contemporary Award 2025.
Featured dark, uncanny miniature portrait paintings with echoes of Francis Bacon—expressive and well executed, with an otherworldly quality.
Booth design included brown, austere shelving along the walls where some of the artworks were placed, creating a sense of domesticity.
A strong collaborative effort for a good cause, the project bridged art and mental health with real social resonance.
The featured artist, an established practitioner and artist of colour, brought depth and authority to the presentation. The space itself was thoughtfully curated: immersive, well-structured, and anchored by a compelling narrative that connected immersive text with representational painting in a way that felt both impactful and meaningful.
AR Fifth Plinth on Meadow Artist – Stand D8
Most digitally forward and immersive toying with Spatial awareness.
Required viewer to download an AR app called Meadow in order to see invisible AR-generated artwork.
Particularly liked the Shroom Room by Ria Mahajan and The Crowd by ARTWP.
