David Shrigley, Brian Eno, Helen Beard, Sir Michael Craig-Martin, Harland Miller lead Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair 2024
Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, Europe’s largest international art fair for contemporary print, has announced its galleries and artists for its 9th edition. Showcasing internationally beloved artists alongside emerging talents, the Fair presents a unique alternative model that is revolutionising the traditional art market, disrupting the elitist nature of art fairs, and pushing the boundaries of print.
The global art platform hosts 50% specialist galleries alongside 50% independent artists selected by industry experts from an international artist open call who sit alongside celebrated names and ambitious works in the Curated Hang.
Brian Eno, David Shrigley, Harland Miller, Damien Hirst, Stanley Donwood – the artist behind Radiohead’s album covers and Glastonbury’s official artwork, Helen Beard, Charming Baker and YBA godfather Sir Michael Craig-Martin are just some of the leading artists at this year’s Fair.
Jamie Reid whose God Save The Queen Sex Pistols cover was hailed “the single most iconic image of the punk era” by The Observer and Ben Kelly the designer of the scene-defining Hacienda nightclub in Manchester can both be found at WCPF 2024.
Morag Caister – fresh from a 2024 National Portrait Gallery Portrait Award nomination – and former Turner-prize nominees David Mach and Ian Davenport also feature. Julian Opie also exhibits at WCPF 2024 via Atelier Rose & Gray. Julian’s enduringly iconic portraits of Blur among others can be found in National Portrait Gallery, V&A, Tate and MoMA collections.
Selected works from the WCPF 2024 Curated Hang. Top L-R Alli Enyon, Jodie Wingham, Wilhemina Peace.
Middle L-R Pascale Parrelin, Martha Beaumont, Flavia Pinto. Bottom L-R Mingxi Li, Louise Benton.
In the Curated Hang, you can find trailblaizers like Yinka Illora MBE who the New York Times credit with “shaping the design world.” Illora’s work uses design as a storytelling medium, referencing both his British and Nigerian heritage, drawing on Nigerian parables and verbal traditions in landmark public art commissions. Yinka Shonabare RA continues an incredible 2024 in the Curated Hang following his 2024 Whitechapel Gallery Art Icon Award, Serpentine South solo exhibition Suspended States and work in the Nigerian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2024.
Every purchase at WCPF 2024 will enter buyers into a prize draw to win David Shrigley’s Shut Up and Eat Your Fries print
Galleries at this year’s Fair include the return of Jealous, the debut of India Rose James-founded Soho Revue, Oliver Projects which Harper’s Bazaar hail as “the perfect place to start a collection”, Paul Stolper Gallery, the almost 100-year-old print institution Pauper Press, leading curators of prints by emerging British artists Art School Prints, Atelier Rose & Gray, The Centre of Print Research from the University of the West of England, East London Printmakers, Rhodes Editions, Wrong Shop, TAG Fine Arts and Anise Gallery.
This year Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair includes a WCPF Public Art Trail for the first time. Launching one week before the opening of the fair, free for all, and featuring exceptional installation works in the local area around Woolwich Works. The trail gives Fair visitors and locals alike the chance to enjoy groundbreaking public art.
This year’s Fair also features the cutting edge of contemporary printmaking – 3-D printed work, automated reality – alongside traditional paper and fabricated pieces.
WCPF are proud to announce Sotheby’s Institute of Art (SIA) as an official education partner of Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair 2024. Sotheby’s Institute of Art traces its foundation to 1969 and for over fifty years has educated future leaders across all sectors of the art world, with a community of over 8,000 alumni in prestigious positions around the globe.
After a hugely successful debut in 2023, WCPF will once again partner with United in Design. Showcasing an exclusive booth, designed and presented by an emerging interior design talent, the collaboration with UiD amplifies the diversity and inclusivity at the heart of WCPF’s ethos. United in Design’s ongoing mission is to offer an equal opportunity pathway for entry into the interior design industry for people from Black, Asian, ethnic minority and socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
WCPF will host its annual New Collectors’ Evening Thursday 21 November, offering an inclusive experience for both new and seasoned collectors to take in the Fair with walking tours, a live DJ set and a return performance from the popular Art Laughs Collective.
Lizzie Glendinning, Co-founder of Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair says “we are so excited to be welcoming back old friends and introducing new faces for 2024. In anticipation of our big 10th year in 2025, we are working with some exciting partners to give a taster of what’s to come with new releases and big names, while the introduction of a very special VIP programme has really refined our offering this autumn. We are delighted to partner up for a second year with interior design charity, United in Design, whose outreach and objectives very much parallel our own in providing a platform for young people and emerging creatives; while our philanthropic project, Young London Print Prize will expand again to deliver fine art workshops to over 2000 primary school children across some of London’s disadvantaged boroughs.”