Comme Ca Art at the Buy Art Fair

Urbis, Manchester
9th - 12th October 2008

PREVIEW EVENING, 9 October 2008

Buy Art Fair’s aim is to stimulate the collecting and buying of original art in the North West. Not only does it offer those in the region who already collect art the chance to do it here in the city without having to go London, it also introduces the idea of owning original art to more people who wouldn’t normally consider trying to.

Buy Art Fair will bring together private galleries, up and coming gallery spaces and public organizations and combine them with a feature programme of curated exhibitions and talks to provide a place to learn about, enjoy and buy original art.

The Buy Art Fair’s highlights include;

• An Exhibition of works by International 3 and the students from Manchester Metropolitan University’s Contemporary Curating Course.
• A programme of talks covering topics including buying & investing in art and artist talks linking with the programmes of our cultural partners
• Inspirational roomsets created by Comme Ca Art showing how original art can your enhance your home
• Student Art Work – displaying the finalists of our competition open to students studying in northern colleges
• 40-50 galleries from around the UK displaying the work of artists covering a number of different styles and mediums.

Comme Ca Art has been invited to select artworks for the two mock household rooms that will be installed in the ground floor entrance of the Urbis for the event. The rooms aim to demonstrate in an approachable and creative way how artworks can fit into our day to day environments. Working in partnership with Simon Green Interiors, Comme Ca Art has selected a range of artworks for a dining -room and a living –room set-up, utilizing a range from sculptural ceramics to more traditional oil on canvas to inspire the visitors.

Comme Ca Art will also be presenting a collection of works from some of the more prominent artists on their books. The Stand will be situated on the ground floor, and will showcase new works and also feature an interactive point from which any visitor can explore Comme Ca Art’s very own Limited Edition Print Shop.

To visit the Online 'Comme Ca Art Shop' click: HERE

Matt Davies - 'Welcome to Fabulous'
Oil on Canvas
130cm x 100cm
£1,195

Davies’ large-scale paintings bring to life his personal preferences and influences. Often hectic and colourful, he celebrates past photographs and memorabilia using text and illustration within multi-layered paintings to bring a sense of vivacity and nostalgia to his emotionally charged works. 

For details of a recent exhibition by Matt Davies click: HERE

Rebecca Davy - 'Chocolate Covered'
Oil on Canvas,
50cm x 70cm
£550

Davy’s primary subject is painting, the seductiveness of pushing paint on canvas. The imagery she uses are chosen in order for her to arrange a composition that is full of luminosity, light, and colour, often with a hint of the macabre.

For details of a recent exhibition by Rebecca Davy click: HERE

Rael Gough - 'Follow Me'
Mixed Media on Canvas
91cm x 91cm
£800

Inspired by family, friends the stories they have and the decisions that determine the people we become, Gough’s works are varied and experimental, very detailed and intensely personal expressionist paintings which can be abstract and sometimes more figurative.

David Hancock - 'Into the Trees'
Acrylic on Canvas
122cm x 183cm
£10,000

David Hancock lives and works in Manchester. He studied Fine Art at Manchester Metropolitan University, graduating in 1996, and was included in that years Northern Graduates exhibition at the Royal College of Art. In 1999, he was selected for the John Moores 21 Contemporary painting exhibition, and in 2000 his work was included in the BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery. In 2007 he had a solo exhibition at Transit, Mechelen, Belgium and will appear in 'Teenage Kicks' curated by Ken Pratt at Vegas Gallery, London.

For more information about David Hancock click: HERE

John Hamilton - 'Light Headed'
Oil on Canvas
60cm x 60cm
£900

Manchester based artist, John Hamilton has a unique artistic practice, depicting figures in various disguises or costumes, centering on figures in (mis) adventurous situations. There is a continuous theme of role-play, with a theatrical element. They are sometimes story-based, and are always told with a touch of humour and a sense of loyalty. John Hamilton has exhibited his work extensively in the UK and also has artworks in private collections in Australia, Germany and the USA.

For more information about John Hamilton click: HERE

Little Artists - 'Basquiat and Warhol'
Limited Edition of 25 Lambda photographic prints
21cm X 30cm
£125

An alter ego of artists John Cake and Darren Neave, ‘The Little Artists’ are mischievous animated characters with a penchant for cheekiness. Most famous for their reproductions in Lego of landmark artworks of modern art, they playfully express the Artists’ concerns and aspirations for the modern art world.

For more information about the Little Artists click: HERE

Andrew George Magee - 'Nightjar'
Oil on Canvas
183cm x 123cm
£3,950
(Sold)

Magee’s paintings are populated with goat-headed girls clothed in haute couture and housed in opulent interiors. These women are not for pitying. The paintings suggest a world where mutation has been heightened to a pinnacle of reverie. Magee references the portraits of Velazquez throughout his work; especially the late paintings of the infamous Maria Teresa and Margarita, painted in the late 1650’s.

For more information about Andrew George Magee click: HERE

Jane Morley - 'Untitled No 17'
Acrylic on Canvas
40cm x 40cm
£300

Morley’s paintings refer to the use of modernist inspired design within gardens/outdoor spaces, creating a utopian idea of modernist architecture within beautifully soft and idealist landscapes.

For details of a recent exhibition by Jane Morley click: HERE

Catrin Mostyn Jones - ‘Purple Velvet Portal’
Ceramic and flocked velvet
60cm (diameter)
£1,500 - one of sculpture

Catrin Mostyn Jones' work is inspired by exploring creatures of the sea and images of the human body at a microscopic level. Examining the complex and colourful images derived from these studies has given Catrin the stimulus to develop and explore differing combinations of form and colour. Catrin’s collection of Vivid Ceramics employs a range of earthenware glazes that give them their distinctive texture and character.

Sophie Nixon - '24/7'
Oil on Canvas
45cm x 50cm
£675

Working from photos taken randomly during her commute and manipulated both digitally and manually, Nixon is drawn to create reflective light and movement in her painting to evoke a captured moment or a chance meeting, influenced by the city and inspired by the work of Edward Hopper.

Sophie Nixon's solo exhibition at the Lowry Hotel opens on the 25th September and continues until the 4th November 2008.  For more information about  click: HERE

Joe Simpson - '5am'
Oil on Canvas
50cmx120cm
£1,950

Simpson's practice deals with the narrative potential of the still image. Working in oil paint, he creates photo-realistic images that utilize the conventions of cinematography to present ‘staged’, fictitious scenes where time has been stopped and extended. 

For more information about  Joe Simpson click: HERE

Simon Taylor - 'Untitled - Study of a Film Still'
Oil on Canvas
25cm x 55cm
£950

Taylor's work is part of a continuing project based around ideas of perception; with genuine responses to modern life including subjects such as televisualisation, film theory, popular and mass culture and identity. Winning the Sefton Open Art Prize in 2006 his work has been purchased by many private collectors, public collectors and galleries.  Original paintings and images have been used for television productions and a variety of publications worldwide.

For more information about  Simon Taylor click: HERE

Hannah Wooll - 'Portrait of a Girl'
Oil on Canvas
122cm x 92cm
£2000

Wooll’s works pay homage to the depiction of the female within art history and old Hollywood, tethered with the frivolity of more contemporary media imagery. Narratives within Wooll’s work explore the dynamic between her painted seductresses and the viewer caught between these vying eyes.

For details of a recent exhibition by Hannah Woollclick: HERE

Amy Russell - 'The Fifteen Year Hangover'
122cm x 122cm
Acrylic on Canvas
£1,100

Amy Russell’s narrative, autobiographical works combine paint and mixed media with collages of mundane print materials preserved from her day-to-day life to create striking, evocative and personal imagery.

For details of a recent exhibition by Amy Russell click: HERE

If you would like to attend the preview or would like further information about Comme Ca Art at the Buy Art Fair please contact: info@commecaart.com.

Home | Past | Current/Future