London’s autumn art scene kicks off again with British Art Fair at Saatchi Gallery.
This year, the showcases at the top showed noticeable improvement with strong artists featured in Spotlight: Contemporary. Unfortunately, the Digitalism section remained largely uninteresting, convoluted, and took up too much space. That isn’t to say digital art and new media can’t be interesting or ‘good’; the ones here just didn’t do it for me.
Special mention goes to the PensionBee exhibition Born To, curated by Jo McLaughlin, which featured five artists over 50 years old who were selected via open call from over 500 entries. Beautifully arranged, it helped to destigmatise those who came into creative practice later in life, a surprisingly prevalent issue that still affects emerging artists as we speak.
There is also a special display in memory of the late David Hockney (stand 51).
Here are my highlights:
Born To exhibition at PensionBee (2nd floor), curated by Jo McLaughlin
Sam Finn, Sophia, 2026, sculpture constructed from MacBooks (stand D13)
Jasmine Coe paintings at Coe Gallery (stand S6)
Erin Hughes hand cut paper collages at Ruup & Form (stand S8)
Gillian Brett, Life online, 2026, cold cast bronze, diptych (The Hyde Gallery, stand 36)
Albert Victor Ormsby Wood at Ottocento (stand 29)
Joseph Edward Southall, Humility, 1884, tempera with gold paint on panel (Harry Moore-Gywn, stand 26)
Walter Thomas Monnington studies for the Stations of the Cross, 1959, at Bowlby Fine Art (stand 56)
Mervyn Peake, Portrait of Francis Bacon, 1940s, oil on canvas (John Swarbrooke Fine Art, stand 50)
Henrietta Rae, Her Eyes are Homes of Silent Prayer, oil on canvas (Darnley Fine Art, stand 19)
British Art Fair (24 – 27 September 2026) is at Saatchi Gallery, London, https://www.britishartfair.co.uk/
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