Islington’s New Artist Fair brought together artists from across the UK to exhibit their work at Candid Galleries in Angel.
Islington Now attended the opening night and caught up with some of the talent. Find out more in our gallery below.
Carlos is half English, half Salvadoran, and paints using teabags. He was three-years-old when his father first gave him a paint brush. Eight of his pieces have been chosen for exhibition in the Affordable Arts Fair next week.
Carlos, on his teabag technique: “I do a pencil layout and then I give it a wash with the tea. I let it drip, run, I’m very liberal. Sometimes I drink it at the same time. I use two types of tea, normal tea and fruit tea for the purple colour. I love the feeling, it’s so spontaneous.”
A working mother of two from Devon, Jacqueline Steel began painting just two years ago. In her last exhibition she put together a solo exhibition of 100 paintings which she completed over 12 months.
Jacqueline Steel, on her inspirations: “Turner, Monet and JW Waterhouse but I made a conscious decision not to go down one style route. I paint what I want to paint.
Leah has had her artwork featured in Vogue and is originally from Texas. At just 25 she is the curator of the New Artist Fair. She is also exhibiting some of her own work. She set up the New Artist Fair as a result of her frustration with breaking into the industry.
Leah Michellé Norris, on curating the New Artist Fair: “It’s an open submission; most people get in touch through the website. My motto is if it’s not offensive then I would like to give anybody a chance. Paintings have to be worth under two thousand pounds though, I want it to be affordable really.”
Hong Kong-born Stephanie Ho chose to pursue a career in the arts after completing a degree in Economics. Inspired by the works of many Chinese contemporary artists, her work refers to what she calls “people traffic” in modern city life.
Stephanie Ho, on her subject matter: “The subjects of my works are things that I see or experience on a daily basis. I live in a metropolitan city, and what I see the most are crowds of people.”
