In April 1994, Boulestin restaurant in Covent Garden closed down after nearly 70 years and London lost one of its most influential and best-loved restaurants. Now Joel Kissin, who alongside Sir Terence Conran was credited with changing the face of the London restaurant scene, is set to introduce this fine-dining institution to a new generation when he opens Boulestin in September 2013.

In relation to your great success in the 1990s as co-founder of Conran Restaurants, what is your vision for Boulestin?
Boulestin will comprise a 60 seat restaurant and Café Marcel serving a lighter, more casual menu which will be 30 covers. We will be serving classic French dishes that will be more high-end bistro style than brasserie style. I wanted to create something on a more intimate scale to many of our previous restaurants; Boulestin will be inspired by the philosophy of Marcel Boulestin who was a pioneer in his field. I hope to create a restaurant with food that will reflect his culinary ethos; it had a muscular simplicity, which I much admire.

You’ve been out of the restaurant business, working in property development, for over 10 years. What was it exactly that lured you back at this point in time?
New York was an amazing time for me, but it came to the point where I wanted to come back to restaurants. I already had so much experience within the industry and have always enjoyed the process of launching a new venture. Simply put, I missed the business. In addition I am happier bringing up my daughter, now aged seven, in England.

The restaurant will be re-locating from its historic spot in Covent Garden, to St James’. How much overlap is there between working in property development and opening a new restaurant, and did this help in deciding on the location?
I don’t think my experience in property development helped that much in deciding the location, however, there are many of the same issues in terms of selecting a site and construction.  But a restaurant has so many more layers of complexity.  Cooking and serving the food, for example, is essentially manufacturing and retailing under the same roof; you buy raw materials and create a product which you then sell – at least twice daily. Personnel issues are legion too; there is great complexity in selecting just the right employees who in the kitchen can cook and serve great food quickly and efficiently while in the front of house efficiency has to be tempered with just the right level of interaction with the customers.

You’ve said that Boulestin’s history presents a rich tapestry that has influenced you both in terms of the design and the food. How can customers expect these influences to translate into the restaurant itself, once it is up and running?
I wanted to create something that was heavily influenced by Marcel Boulestin the man and the writer, not a re-creation of the original restaurant in Covent Garden. I have all of his cookery books that I take into account when working with the chef to design the menus and dishes. Boulestin’s restaurant offered a menu of French classics which nevertheless were familiar to an English audience. I suppose the new Boulestin restaurant will pay homage to his ideas and notions about food that were very modern for the time, so timeless in fact, that I hope  a 21st century audience will appreciate them just the same. In addition the restaurant will be full of paintings and drawings inspired by Jean-Emile Laboureur who illustrated most of Boulestin’s books and who created paintings for the original restaurant.

Address: Boulestin, 5 St James’ Street, London SW1A 1EF
Website: boulestin.co.uk

The future of London’s cultural landscape has been given an exciting new complexion with the announcement of the Crossrail Art Programme. London’s transport services will be comprehensively enhanced through artistic engagement like nowhere else on the planet, with the introduction of a new mode of transport, The Culture Line.

The Culture Line will add a unique edge to the travel routines of Londoners, and visitors, by providing an innovative incorporation of globally significant art into the essence of the stations’ architecture and design.

This ambitious vision will aim to unite the creativity and verve of the art world with the influential presence of the business world, establishing a more dynamic identity for London.

Due to the fact that public transport is such a prominent feature of life in London, Crossrail Art is intent on improving people’s daily routines through artistic inspiration.

Each of the programme’s shortlisted artists will be encouraged to submit proposals which embody The Culture Line’s three big ideas: Art and Architecture, The River of Light, and The Urban Gallery. These specific areas of focus will represent the heritage and personality of each individual station, whilst establishing a consistent atmosphere and style across the entire line.

Acclaimed American contemporary artist Spencer Finch has been commissioned to design the first piece. The theme of his project will be English clouds, and Finch’s ‘A Cloud Index’ will ressemble skies as found in works by traditional English landscape painters. Covering a 2318 square metre area, the glazed canopy will consist of 200 panels each 6.1m by 1.9m. and will be located next to the Grade 1 listed existing Paddington station.

Partnerships with some of London’s most prestigious art galleries have been developed to bring to life the Crossrail Art Programme. Among the galleries already identified to work in partnership with Crossrail are: Lisson Gallery for Paddington station, Victoria Miro for Liverpool Street, Gagosian for Tottenham Court Road, White Cube for Bond Street station and Sadie Coles for Farringdon.

Crossrail is set to announce a number of other renowned galleries for the remaining stations at Whitechapel, Canary Wharf and Custom House. The planned opening date for the Culture Line is 2018.

Website: http://www.crossrailart.co.uk/

Art Basel’s first ever edition in Hong Kong will be taking place from Thursday May 23 – Sunday May 26, at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC).

There are 245 of the world’s leading galleries taking part in the show, representing artworks by over 3,000 different artists. There will be a wealth of quality and originality on display, including a diverse selection of styles and specialities.

Li Tianbing, Petit #2. Courtesy of Stephen Friedman Gallery.

The decision to stage the show in Hong Kong was made with the aim of strengthening the already fantastic relationship the organisation has with art galleries from Asia and Asia-Pacific. The region will provide over 50% of the galleries for the event, 26 of which have exhibition spaces in Hong Kong. However, 48 galleries will be appearing at a fair in Hong Kong for the very first time over this exciting weekend.

The show will be divided into four sectors: Galleries, Insights, Discoveries and Encounters.

Galleries is the main sector of the Hong Kong exhibition and will include 171 modern and contemporary galleries, each chosen based on the strength of their overall gallery program. The sector presents the highest-quality paintings, sculptures, drawings, installations, photographs, video and editioned works from both the 20th and 21st centuries. Some notable London-based galleries which will be involved in the Galleries sector of Art Basel Hong Kong include: Alan Cristea Gallery, Atlas Gallery, Ibid, Lisson Gallery, Paragon, Rossi & Rossi, and Stephen Friedman Gallery.

Ai Weiwei: Hanging Man in Porcelain. Courtesy of Lisson Gallery.

The Insights sector comprises curatorial projects developed specifically for Art Basel Hong Kong, specifically from Asia and the Asia-Pacific region. Presenting a mix of solo shows, exceptional historical material, and strong thematic group exhibitions, Insights will be a destination for visitors eager to learn more about art from across the Asia and Asia-Pacific regions, diverse histories, ideas and aesthetics.

The Discoveries sector will be devoted to emerging and developing talent from around the world, showcasing the work of solo and two-person exhibitions, with a $25,000 Discoveries prize. 27 galleries will be competing for the prize, including Paradise Row and Pippy Houldsworth galleries from London.

The Encounters sector offers the opportunity to observe artworks on an institutional scale, featuring large-scale sculptural and installation pieces from internationally recongised artists.

Art Basel Hong Kong will focus on important works from around the world produced over the past 100 years, providing a fascinating opportunity for visitors to discover and explore contemporary and historical art from different cultures, disciplines and aesthetic backgrounds.

Mel Bochner, Blah, Blah, Blah. Courtesy of Simon Lee Gallery.

Website: https://www.artbasel.com/en/Hong-Kong

Harold Cohen, The Richard Hamilton Suite 1967. Courtesy of Dominic Kemp.

The 20|21 International Art Fair, which took place at the Royal College of Art in Kensington Gore, shows Modern and Contemporary art from Britain and around the world, providing a truly eclectic selection of works. A.A. Gill, who opened the fair, said that “This is where the true heart of art still lies. If you like your art with craft in it, then you’ve come to the right place”.  Below is a selection of our favourite works.

Jimmy Lawlor, Sound Byte, The Contemporary Fine Art Gallery
Jimmy Lawlor’s work is based not only on the Irish sense of humour, but also on the realization that the old way of life is slowly disappearing, and will most likely be extinct by our next generation. “I call my work surrealism. It takes elements from my surroundings and mixes them with the people of the place, in their environment and doing what they love best”. He observes that distinctive characters and characteristics are essentially the same throughout different towns.

Jimmy Lawlor, Sound Byte, 18"x18" oil on board. © Courtesy of The Contemporary Fine Art Gallery. .

Tim Kent, The Mistress Chatsworth, Moncrieff-Bray Gallery
Tim Kent, an art history enthusiast, focuses his work around paintings within paintings. He is intrigued by the collections in historic houses and the sense of time passing and past ownership.  His paintings are deserted, and the paintings in the rooms play out the central role, hence the title of this particular work. The Mistress refers to the lady in the painting dominating the room, as if laid for a banquet without people.

Tim Kent, The Mistress, Chatsworth, 41x43cm, © Tim Kent. Courtesy of Moncrieff-Bray Gallery.

Christopher Gilvan-Cartwright, 6am, Nicholas Bowlby
Christopher Gilvan-Cartwright makes his paintings instinctively and looks for them to fizz as both luscious and decrepit, to feel epic and frail, beautiful and grotesque. His paintings explore rapturous, dark and hallucinogenic spaces yet reveal ambiguity. Aesthetically they need to be intense, sparkling and jewel-like.  He works straight onto the canvas employing an automatic drawing technique, exploring intricate and gestural line through automatism. Once a fresh image is formed he’ll build up the painting with layers of thin washes, glazes and passages of painterly excess.

Christopher Gilvan-Cartwright, 6am. © Christopher Gilvan-Cartwright. Courtesy of Nicholas Bowlby.

Carl Melegari, Eligio 2013, Edgar Modern
Melegari’s strong monochromatic palette is at play in his deep and arresting selection of 30 new paintings, with figures emerging from the depths and stepping forth with sculptural solidity. Through the veils of paint we become consumed by the density and inspired by the life within it. Melegari replicates the unmasking of self through the stripping back and layering of paint. Ghostly apparitions through painterly gestures emerge to create a figural imprint of the observation and imagination of the artist.

Carl Melegari, Eligio 2013, 36"x36", © Carl Melegari. Courtesy of Edgar Modern.

Chris Orr RA, Who done it?, John Iddon Fine Art
“Many of my pictures are composed of well-mixed metaphors, arcane references, allusions and jokes but I have always drawn from life and seen the role of the artist as a viewer and a voyeur.” He summons viewers to not only look at his works but to ‘read’ them. The subject here is a comically handled mystery – the viewer sees a house full of gruesome sights including murder and torture, as well as some very suspicious looking characters. The fun is in discovering the horrors and then trying to guess ‘who done ‘t?’!

Chris Orr RA, Who done it?, 2011, Litography and silkscreen. © Chris Orr. Courtesy of John Iddon Fine Art

Adam Lach Lunaris, Daydreaming – Soul Travels, Vernissage
Adam Lach Lunaris strives to create provocative, multidimensional art, which captures various emotional states, desires and dreams of a contemporary human being. Lach Lunaris experiments with various techniques merging Polaroid, negative and digital photography. Since 2006 Lach Lunaris has been creating and developing an innovative field of art named luna-graphy, by which the artist has established a dialogue with works of Dutch Old Masters such as Rembrandt van Rijn or Johannes Vermeer.

Adam Lach Lunaris, Soul Travels (Golden Dust), 2009, Velvet Series on Canvas, 125x183 cm. © Adam Lach Lunaris. Courtesy of Vernissage.

Hazel Mountford, Upward Fox, Quantum Contemporary
Hazel Mountford uses her passion of animals to paint them in different poses and on different panel shapes. Her current work is dedicated to the wildlife of Great Britain, both past and present, and the changing ratio of space between humans and animals. They are painted life-size in acrylic on angled self-crafted gesso panels. “My works began to visualise the mixed fortunes of varying populations, and the angled panels are deliberate and carefully thought-out, relating to the rise and fall”.

Hazel Mountford, Upward Fox, © Hazel Mountford. Courtesy of Quantum Contemporary.

Galleries’ websites:
Dominic Kemp: dominickemp.co.uk
The Contemporary Fine Art Gallery: cfag.co.uk
Moncrieff-Bray Gallery: moncrieff-bray.com
Nicholas Bowlby: nicholasbowlby.co.uk
Edgar Modern: edgarmodern.com
John Iddon Fine Art: johniddonfineart.com
Vernissage: vernissage.co.uk
Quantum Contemporary: quantumart.co.uk

This year’s Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, opening June 8th, is being designed by Sou Fujimoto, a multi-award-winning Japanese architect, considered to be one of the most important architects coming to prominence worldwide.

The Serpentine’s annual Pavilion commission, now in its 13th year, offers one of the most significant international sites for architectural experimentation. For a duration of four months, Sou Fujimoto’s temporary structure will be gracing the Gallery’s lawn, following in the footsteps of Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei (2012), Frank Gehry (2008), the late Oscar Niemeyer (2003) and Zaha Hadid (2000).

Sou Fujimoto’s work focuses on re-inventing our relationship with the constructed environment. Taking his inspiration from organic structures, such as the forest, the nest and the cave, Fujimoto seeks to design buildings which inhabit a space between nature and artificiality.

Sou Fujimoto © David Vintiner

Describing his design concept, Sou Fujimoto said “For the 2013 Pavilion I propose an architectural landscape: a transparent terrain that encourages people to interact with and explore the site in diverse ways. Within the pastoral context of Kensington Gardens, I envisage the vivid greenery of the surrounding plant life woven together with a constructed geometry. A new form of environment will be created, where the natural and the man-made merge; not solely architectural nor solely natural, but a unique meeting of the two.”

Sou Fujimoto’s delicate, latticed structure of 20mm steel poles will have a lightweight and semi-transparent appearance that will allow it to blend, cloud-like, into the landscape and against the classical backdrop of the Gallery’s colonnaded East wing. The Design, occupying 350 square-metres and housing a café, is set to be a multi-purpose social space allowing visitors to interact with the Pavilion in different ways.

Julia Peyton-Jones, Director, and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Co-Director, Serpentine Gallery, said: “We are thrilled to be working with one of the most fascinating architects in the world today. A visionary, who has conceived an extraordinary response to our invitation to design the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, Sou Fujimoto has designed a structure that will enthrall everyone that encounters it throughout the summer.”

Attracting up to 300,000 visitors annually, The Serpentine Gallery Summer Pavilion is one of the top ten most visited architectural and design exhibitions in the world.

Gerhard Richter work sells for $37m, setting new record for living artist (The Guardian)
“An enormous Gerhard Richter painting of Milan’s Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral Square) that was commissioned to cheer up the offices of the electronics conglomerate Siemens sold for $37m (£24m) on Tuesday, setting a new auction record for a living artist. At almost 3 metres by 3 metres, Domplatz, Mailand from 1968 is one of the German artist’s biggest works and, with its look of a fuzzy black-and-white photograph, is instantly recognisable as Richter. It was bought by a Napa Valley vineyard owner, Donald Bryant, who punched his fist in the air after successfully buying the Richter at Sotheby’s big contemporary art sale in New York. The work “just knocks me over”, he said, although when told it was the most ever paid for a Richter he laughed: “I’m not sure I should be breaking those kinds of records.”"

Tino Sehgal: Invisible art worth £100k (The Telegraph)
“An artist whose work leaves no tangible, material traces to be traded in like a painting, sculpture or even a document is being billed as one of the stars of this week’s Frieze Art Fair in New York. Often described as a performance artist, British-born Tino Sehgal, who has also been nominated for this year’s Turner Prize, refutes the description, saying that he makes or choreographs “constructed situations”. At Tate’s Turbine Hall last year, he employed 70 well-briefed participants, or “interpreters”, to mingle with visitors, asking unsettling questions and engaging in brief, improvised conversation, before moving swiftly on. In contrast to performance, in which the audience are normally passive spectators, Sehgal’s work engages them to become active participants. But when it’s over, all that is left is the memory.”

40 Nations, 1,000 Artists and One Island (NY Times)
“Some people hate art fairs all of the time, and most people hate them some of the time. It’s fashionable to be snarky and condescending about them, but that’s too easy. Art fairs are here for the foreseeable future and represent the collective efforts — if not the hopes and dreams — of thousands of people who want art to be at the center of their lives. Frieze New York tends to short-circuit art fair hating. It has unusually spacious quarters — a big white tent on Randalls Island, where it put down stakes last year — with more natural light than any New York museum. Viewing is enhanced by springy plywood floors that are relatively easy on the feet and is sustained, if necessary, by excellent food from outposts set up by hot restaurants (among them Mission Chinese Food, Roberta’s and the Fat Radish).”

Rain doesn’t dampen early sales (The Art Newspaper)
“More than five dozen collectors braved a deluge to line up at the entrance of Frieze New York on Thursday morning. When the clock struck 11am, early arrivals—including the collectors Anita Zabludowicz of London, Bob Gersh of Los Angeles and locals Susan and Michael Hort—filed in for a first look at the British fair’s second stateside edition. What followed was a steady trickle, if not a flood, of sales. “I saw many of the usual New York collectors, but it’s not really a fair for heavy-hitters,” the art adviser Wendy Cromwell said. “It’s more for a certain kind of collector who is interested in both emerging art and mid-career work.””

Venice Biennale to show art commissioned by Vatican for first time (The Guardian)
“The Venice Biennale is not known for its religious reverence. In 1990, a work entitled the Pope and the Penis criticised the Catholic church’s refusal to endorse condoms; in 2001, a model of John Paul II was shown lying prostrate on the floor, crushed by a meteorite. But this year, for the first time in the contemporary art festival’s history, one of its pavilions will showcase art commissioned by the Vatican. The Holy See said on Tuesday that the works inside its debut pavilion were not overtly religious but had been inspired by the book of Genesis.”

Hermès’ Festival des Métiers, a seven-day exhibiton showcasing 10 of their distinctive crafts, will be coming to London this month. Festival des Métiers will be held at Saatchi Gallery and will run from Tuesday 21st – Monday 27th of May 2013, following its recent success in Beijing and Shenyang, China.

Festival des Métiers © Hermès

Just as they would in the Hermès workshops in France, the craftspeople will be working throughout the entire week, producing a fantastic selection of Hermès’ unique objects by hand.

Expo Cuir © Hermès

Festival des Métiers will provide the public with an exclusive look into the creative process, rooted in tradition, which contributes to each individual object Hermès produces. Guests will be welcome to meet and converse with the Hermès artisans to gain a comprehensive insight into how much care and detail goes into their meticulous work.

Festival des Métiers © Hermès

Presented in a contemporary setting designed by Paola Navone, the exhibition is designed to highlight the values that Hermès apply to their craft. The talented craftspeople will be displaying their skills by creating a variety of illustrious items. Guests will be able to witness the famous Hermès silk scarf being printed before their eyes, to the rhythmic sounds of the artisans’ tools, as well as handbags, watches, ties, fine-jewellery and other iconic objects from Hermès being brought to life during the course of the exhibition.

Festival des Métiers © Hermès

Following the Saatchi exhibition, Festival des Métiers will travel to Dusselfdorf, Germany.

Festival des Métiers © Hermès

Address: Saatchi Gallery, Duke Of York’s HQ, King’s Road, London, SW3 4RY
Website: http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/

Traditionally a less common culinary go-to than the City’s established West End, East London has proclaimed itself to be a thriving gastro-heartland busily reviving the imagination and skill behind unforgettable food. Here are our top five restaurants from a wave of new openings across the East.

Ceviche
Peruvian food took London by storm last year and ex-director of Disney music (you heard right) Martin Morales paved the way with his Peruvian supper club and later a restaurant in Soho. Morales’ decision to open a larger Ceviche restaurant and Pisco bar in Shoreditch this autumn is proof that Peruvian is more than a passing trend.  The venue promises to feature a large barbecue and to host live music and DJs. And after the success of Ceviche Soho, which the Wall Street Journal named “a gastronomic dream”, this is definitely one to follow.

Opens Autumn 2013
Website: cevicheuk.com
Address: Shoreditch

The Clove Club

© The Clove Club

Opened in March amidst appropriate excitement in the food world, the Clove Club occupies two rooms within the once-upon-a-time grandeur of Shoreditch Town Hall. Danny Willis, Johnny Smith and chef Isaac McHale, key players behind Upstairs at the Ten Bells, a popular pop-up-turned-permanent in Spitalfields, reunite to present their latest offering of innovative dishes. A five-course set menu (£46) offers quirky and high quality British-inspired food, such as Mackerel, Pickled Rhubarb & Tokyo Turnip, all industriously prepared before your eyes in the open kitchen. Sharing plates (£4.50-£17 each) can also be selected à-la-carte in the Clove Club’s bar area.

Website: thecloveclub.com
Address: Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old St, London EC2A 3BE

Bird of Smithfield

© Bird of Smithfield. Smokin Bird Burger

If you need further motivation to “go East” then the decision by the Ivy’s former executive chef Alan Bird to open a flagship five-floor venue in Farringdon must surely clinch it. Opposite the famous Smithfield market, Bird of Smithfield just opened its doors to the public. On the menu in the circa 50-seat restaurant will be British dishes which pay flavoursome homage to the colonial influences that have seasoned the country’s plates over centuries. The Georgian townhouse venue also boasts a bar, lounge and roof terrace.

Website: birdofsmithfield.com
Address: 26 Smithfield St, London EC1A 9LB

Casa Negra
Casa Negra which opens this spring, is the latest offering from Australian-born restaurateur Will Rikker of Rikker Restaurants, whose past successes have included the pan-Asian e&o in Notting Hill as well as Mexican eatery La Bodega Negra, on Soho’s Old Compton Street. Casa Negra is housed on the former site of one of Rikker’s first restaurants, the acclaimed Great Eastern Dining Room, and will be a sister venue to La Bodega Negra. Diners can expect to see Rikker building upon La Bodega Negra’s ability to take Mexican cuisine beyond guacamole and burritos to offer imaginative renditions of classic dishes, such as their Wild Sea Bass Red and Green Adobe.

Opens Spring 2013
Website: casanegrarestaurant.tumblr.com
Address: 54-56 Great Eastern St  London, EC2A 3QR, United Kingdom

Nanban

© Nanban. Photo credit: Paul Winch-Furness

MasterChef fans will remember the daring and by all accounts eccentric dishes of 2011 winner Tim Anderson, which included “cola-braised pork belly”. This spring will see the opening of his first restaurant on Shoreditch High Street offering Southern Japanese cuisine.  Visitors can expect to see the same playfulness Anderson displayed on screen but also a devotion to recreating authentically the dishes of South Japan, where he lived for two years, gaining a love of the culinary traditions.

Opens Spring/Summer 2013
Website: facebook.com/NanbanLondon
Address: Shoreditch High Street, London E1

The first annual Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards were held last night, Tuesday 14th May, at the world-famous department store in London’s Picadilly area. The awards have been created to celebrate the presence of food and drink within the media, mainly focusing on writing, publishing and broadcasting.

The award ceremony was hosted by television presenter Claudia Winkleman, and was attended by revered members of the UK media, as well as a wealth of emerging talent.

There were 10 categories to compete for, with an initial shortlist announced back in April. The winners of the 2013 Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards are as follows:

Food Book: Sud de France, Caroline Conran (Prospect Books)

Drink Book: Wine Grapes, Jancis Robinson, Julia Harding and José Vouillamoz (Allen Lane)

Food Writer: Christopher Hirst: The Independent, Intelligent Life Magazine

Drink Book Newcomer of the Year: Drink Me!, Matt Walls (Quadrille)

Online Food Writer: Daniel Young, youngandfoodish.com

Online Drink Writer: Helen McGinn, knackeredmotherswineclub.blogspot.co.uk

Cookery Writer: Diana Henry, Stella Magazine

TV: Ottolenghi’s Mediterranean Feast, Presented by Yotam Ottolenghi (Keo Films)

Radio: Britain’s Food Safety Net, Presented by Sheila Dillon and Dan Saladino (BBCRadio 4, The Food Programme)

Visual: Angela Dukes, Food and Travel

The 10 categories were judged by an expert panel which included Angela Hartnett, Tom Parker Bowles, Xanthe Clay, Hamish Anderson, Fiona Beckett and Peter Richards MW.  The Chairman of the panel was the CEO of Fortnum & Mason, Ewan Venters.

Additionally, there was the Judge’s Choice award, an open award presented at the judge’s discretion to a person or piece of work which has inspired people to enjoy, explore and experiment with food and drink. This award was given to the outstanding food blogger Jack Monroe, a 24 year old single mother, who has been touted as ‘one to watch’ by the esteemed panel. Her blog posts range from tasty nutritious recipes to how to feed your family on virtually no budget, and have accumulated over 16,000 regular readers.

Finally, the Food and Drink TV Personality award was won by Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood of The Great British Bake Off. Over 7,000 votes were cast online and in the Fortnum & Mason store for this award, which is dedicated to inspiring creativity and originality in the kitchen.

Website: http://www.fortnumandmason.com/

The inaugural Photo Art Fair featured the work of 50 established and up-and-coming photographers from around the world. Among the exceptional collectible photographic art, spanning decades, territories and disciplines, here is a list of our favourite works.

Edward Hopley, Blind Man Porto
In his photographs Hopley calls upon the viewer’s imagination, generating mixed emotions, with unsettling beauty often set against an intense, cloud-filled backdrop. Katharine Arnolds, from Christie’s, explains “Contrasting an oneiric tranquility against the uneasy, incongruous elements within a landscape, it is his remarkable ability to distill a memory, real or imagined in every shot, which lends them such power.” In this particular work however, Hopley strays from his characteristic style, photographing a blind man in front of strikingly beautiful azulejos.

Edward Hopley, Blind Man Porto, 24"x16" Hahnemuehle paper - Archival Pigment Print, © Edward Hopley

Gina Soden, Blue Orphanage
Gina Soden’s photography focuses on abandoned structures and locations. Through her travels she explores the boundaries of beauty, decay, nostalgia and neglect, and invites the viewer to wonder why, how and when. This particular structure was built in the late 1800s and was a former family home, boarding school, orphanage, conference centre. “I love to tell the stories around the work. It took a 40-minute walk through the woods, avoiding the local farmer with a shotgun, a dodgy climb through a window, avoiding falling through rotten floorboards to get this shot, and it was worth every second. My personal favourite!”

Gina Soden, Blue Orphanage, 2012, 27.56"x27.56" C-type prints, © Gina Soden

David-Emmanuel Cohen, Moondance
After acquiring his first camera at the age of seven – at which point he believed it to be spy technology – he became captivated by photography, later directing his attention to urban landscapes and architecture. During his travels, Cohen started to build his own world and formed a new relationship to urban spaces, distant from realism. When describing this work, he says “I like the ‘mystery’ around it. Like where it had been taken? or what time of the day was it? I like when people can actually bring their own story to the image”.

David-Emmanuel Cohen, Moondance, 31.5"x47" C-Type, © David-Emmanuel Cohen

Gerald Jenkins, Knowledge Without Love Is Lifeless
Gerald Jenkins seeks to grasp elements of universal language in nature, mythology and symbolism. White Peacocks can have many meanings, from death, resurrection and eternal life in some beliefs, to glory and incorruptibility in others. “It took me two years to build the courage to attempt the photographs, it all being very complex to organise and the degree of failure to succeed very high. I had to find myself in order to know this outcome was possible. Acting on intuition and blending into the scene allowed everything to evolve. I reached an epiphany.”

Gerald Jenkins, Knowledge Without Love Is Lifeless, 50"x60" Giclee, © Gerald Jenkins

Emma Summerton, TdH 2005 #1
Emma Summerton’s in-depth technical knowledge coupled with her eye for detail and love for fashion have given her images a very distinctive style. Her Polaroid work began as a personal experiment, using herself in the images to play with ideas without having to involve anyone else. They also for a time became visual love letters to a long-distance boyfriend. This experiment grew into a commission for Terry de Havilland, which led to shooting the Polaroid Self Portraits for Dazed and Confused and Self Service magazines.

Emma Summerton, TdH 2005 #1, 40x50inches, © Emma Summerton.

Marlene Marino, Sisters (Untitled 1)
Marlene Marino endeavours to catch on film narratives around women, intimately documenting their lives through moments that radiate an atmosphere difficult to articulate, evoking a spirit of tenderness and trust. These images are an artefact of our times to analyse individuality, feminism and freedom. “I hope to capture women, and communities, in a sensitive, non-alienated way, to celebrate them”. Her shots aren’t prearranged, they take place naturally with women whom she generally just met, who are not fashion models posing to look beautiful.

Marlene Marino, Sisters (Untitled 1), 2009, 20"x16" Silver Gelatin, © Marlene Marino

Artists’ websites:
Emma Summerton: emmasummerton.com
Gina Soden: ginasoden.co.uk
Edward Hopley: edwardhopley.photodeck.com
Gerald Jenkins: geraldjenkins.co.uk
David-Emmanuel Cohen: davidsystem.prosite.com
Marlene Marino: marlenemarino.com