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Viewing 1-54 Contemporary Art Fair

The Wick Culture - Slawn, courtesy of Saatchi Yates.
Photographed by Georgia Jones

Above Slawn, courtesy of Saatchi Yates. Photographed by Georgia Jones

The Wick Culture - Abdelhak Benallou, Untitled, 2023.
Courtesy of the Artist and Les filles du calvaire

Above Abdelhak Benallou, Untitled, 2023. Courtesy of the Artist and Les filles du calvaire

The Wick Culture - Alimi Adewale, Luminous Essence, 2023.
Courtesy of the Artist and Pearl Lam Galleries

Above Alimi Adewale, Luminous Essence, 2023. Courtesy of the Artist and Pearl Lam Galleries

The Wick Culture - Ancestral Lungs, Metal Grid & Plants.

Above Ancestral Lungs, Metal Grid & Plants.

The Wick Culture - Portrait of Touria El Glaoui, London 2021.
Photo by Jim Winslet

Above Portrait of Touria El Glaoui, London 2021. Photo by Jim Winslet

The Wick Culture - Rugiyatou Jallow, Floating in Time, 2023
Courtesy of the Artist and Albertz Benda

Above Rugiyatou Jallow, Floating in Time, 2023 Courtesy of the Artist and Albertz Benda

The Wick Culture - Uzo Egonu, Painter at Work, 1977, Lithograph
Artist Proof, Courtesy of Nigeria Art Society UK

Above Uzo Egonu, Painter at Work, 1977, Lithograph Artist Proof, Courtesy of Nigeria Art Society UK

The Wick Culture - Ziyad El Mansouri, Marvel of shifting light, 2022.
Courtesy of House of Beau Gallery

Above Ziyad El Mansouri, Marvel of shifting light, 2022. Courtesy of House of Beau Gallery

Above Slawn, courtesy of Saatchi Yates. Photographed by Georgia Jones

Above Abdelhak Benallou, Untitled, 2023. Courtesy of the Artist and Les filles du calvaire

Above Alimi Adewale, Luminous Essence, 2023. Courtesy of the Artist and Pearl Lam Galleries

Above Ancestral Lungs, Metal Grid & Plants.

Above Portrait of Touria El Glaoui, London 2021. Photo by Jim Winslet

Above Rugiyatou Jallow, Floating in Time, 2023 Courtesy of the Artist and Albertz Benda

Above Uzo Egonu, Painter at Work, 1977, Lithograph Artist Proof, Courtesy of Nigeria Art Society UK

Above Ziyad El Mansouri, Marvel of shifting light, 2022. Courtesy of House of Beau Gallery

1-54

Somerset House
13 – 16 October 2022

Of course, there’s so much else going on to coincide with Frieze week. One of the most popular satellite fairs is 1-54, the fair – led by Founding Director Touria El Glaoui – dedicated solely to contemporary art from the African continent and its broad diaspora. Bringing together galleries from around the world in a range of mediums at Somerset House, 1-54 continues to lead the way forward in an international market that is still weighted towards the west.

This year’s fair will see 37 international galleries from 17 countries showcase work by more than 110 artists – a significant representation of the very best contemporary African artists working today. This year’s courtyard installation has been created by none other than Slawn, the young London-based Nigerian artist also known as Olaolu Akeredolu-Ale. His project, Transition, involves two iconic London double-decker buses – over 10 metres long and 4 metres high.

Also worth visiting is a partnership between Somerset House and 1-54, a retrospective exhibition devoted to the late Leila Alaoui, the French-Moroccan artist, photographer and activist who died in 2016 while working on a women’s rights campaign with Amnesty International. Alaoui was caught in gunfire during a terrorist attack in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and three days later died of her wounds. Honouring Alaoui’s photographic practice, the exhibition includes three of Alaoui’s defining series of works – Les Marocains, No Pasara and Natreen, as well as Alaoui’s final unfinished video work L’Île du Diable (Devil’s Island), exploring the lives of a 1960s generation of dispossessed migrant workers in France.

Viewing Enchanted Alchemies: Magic, Mysticism and the Occult in Art

The Wick Culture - Ithell Colquhoun, Alcove II, 1948
Courtesy of Lévy Gorvy Dayan

Above Ithell Colquhoun, Alcove II, 1948 Courtesy of Lévy Gorvy Dayan

The Wick Culture - Ithell Colquhoun in 1949
Photograph by Reg Speller

Above Ithell Colquhoun in 1949 Photograph by Reg Speller

The Wick Culture - Chitra Ganesh, Breathing Water and Air, 2024
Courtesy of Lévy Gorvy Dayan

Above Chitra Ganesh, Breathing Water and Air, 2024 Courtesy of Lévy Gorvy Dayan

The Wick Culture - Eileen Agar. DNA Figure, 1968
Courtesy of Lévy Gorvy Dayan

Above Eileen Agar. DNA Figure, 1968 Courtesy of Lévy Gorvy Dayan

The Wick Culture - Linder, Mantic Stain 8 (Sphere of Venus), 2014
Courtesy of Lévy Gorvy Dayan

Above Linder, Mantic Stain 8 (Sphere of Venus), 2014 Courtesy of Lévy Gorvy Dayan

The Wick Culture - Installation view, Enchanted Alchemies
Courtesy of Lévy Gorvy Dayan

Above Installation view, Enchanted Alchemies Courtesy of Lévy Gorvy Dayan

Above Ithell Colquhoun, Alcove II, 1948 Courtesy of Lévy Gorvy Dayan

Above Ithell Colquhoun in 1949 Photograph by Reg Speller

Above Chitra Ganesh, Breathing Water and Air, 2024 Courtesy of Lévy Gorvy Dayan

Above Eileen Agar. DNA Figure, 1968 Courtesy of Lévy Gorvy Dayan

Above Linder, Mantic Stain 8 (Sphere of Venus), 2014 Courtesy of Lévy Gorvy Dayan

Above Installation view, Enchanted Alchemies Courtesy of Lévy Gorvy Dayan

Enchanted Alchemies: Magic, Mysticism and the Occult in Art

Levy Gorvy Dayan, London
1 October – 21 December 21, 2024

Magic, mysticism and the occult have been something of hot topics in art again recently – in part due to revisiting the surrealists to mark the centenary year of the movement this year. Lévy Gorvy Dayan’s timely exhibition places historical figures such as Eileen Agar, Leonora Carrington, Ithell Colquhoun and Leonor Fini in conversation with more recent works by artists still active and prominent today, from Alejandro Jodorowsky to Bharti Kher, Linder, and Goshka Macuga.

It’s a major affair: more than fifty works feature, spanning painting, sculpture, ceramic, watercolour, and collage, sharing a sensibility and interest in the magical and mystical, the transformative and the alchemical.

The exhibition moves between works by British Surrealist, Colquhoun, explorations of an all-encompassing and dynamic force beyond what we might be able to see or perceive, to Jodorowsky’s Enchanted Alchemies – lending their name to the show’s title – the filmmaker, visual artist, and comic book writer, who worked with Carrington and continues a practice that engages with magical concepts today, rooted deeply in a Surrealist mysticism. A fascinating insight into a universe of alternative ways of seeing, being and relating to one another.

Viewing Rob and Nick Carter: Chroma Viscosity II

The Wick Culture - Rob and Nick Carter: Chroma Viscosity II
Courtesy of Rob and Nick Carter

Above Rob and Nick Carter: Chroma Viscosity II Courtesy of Rob and Nick Carter

Rob and Nick Carter: Chroma Viscosity II

5A Bathurst Street
4 October – 18 November, 2024

Rob and Nick Carter’s Chroma-Viscosity II, defies the boundaries of materiality, time, and technology in five framed works – a continuation of the duo’s Painting Photographs series – where stridently coloured swirls of wet paint are captured at a single moment with close-up photography, then enlarged 60 times to emphasise the medium’s sensuous, momentary quality.

Walking the line between painting and photography, two mediums that are intertwined in the contemporary era, Rob and Nick Carter use the photographic technology to draw out the materiality of paint, creating compelling abstraction compositions that query what a painting and how traditional techniques might be transformed for the digital age – a recurrent interest of Rob and Nick Carter’s enquiring and experimental practice.

Also on show is the duo’s new AI-generated film, (also based on the Painting Photographs) reimagining and transforming their captured fluidity and movement of paint into a dynamic, evolving digital format.