LONDON - Among those spotted strolling the stands at the glitzy champagne opening of London's Grosvenor House Art and Antiques Fair this week was Hollywood actor Dustin Hoffman. He seemed to be particularly drawn to the stand of film poster dealers the Reel Poster Gallery, but whether he was in serious buying mood or just taking time out from promoting Last Chance Harvey, his new film with British actress Emma Thompson, was not clear.

Of course, it takes more than a lone star to brighten the dark skies of economic recession, but somehow the charismatic presence of cinema royalty added to the distinctly optimistic buzz at Wednesday's event.

For the rich and famous, the opening of a big international art fair is as much a social occasion as a shopping opportunity. However, like TEFAF in Maastricht, the Grosvenor House Fair has additional cachet in that it offers an opportunity to see a stunning range of museum-quality objects.

By mid-morning on the first day (the fair continues until 17 June), there was an encouraging number of red dots sprinkled around the stands. Stephen Foster of Buckinghamshire dealers A & E Foster, who specialize in early treen, European sculpture and works of art, had sold a set of three impressive Elizabethan carved oak caryatids for £2,800 ($4,500), and a pair of chubby 18th-century Austrian limewood cherubs bearing traces of original polychrome, for £8,000 ($13,100).

"Both of these sold to private clients, so it augurs well for the next few days," said Foster, whose stand was attracting lots of visitors, all of whom appeared to be looking with real intent rather just politely passing through.

"There does seem to be a level of serious engagement of the kind that usually turns into a sale," said Richard Philip, whose eye-popping stands at the Grosvenor House and Olympia fairs never fail to turn heads.


This year he used an arresting blend of baroque exuberance and postmodern daring to provide an extraordinary visual backdrop to the objects. Blood-red walls and moody lighting set off an eclectic array of treasures that included a tiny wall-mounted alabaster figure of the crucified Christ, circa 1550 with original gilding, which had already found a buyer at £5,500 (£9,000). "I no longer have a shop," said Philp, "so although these fair appearances are hugely expensive and rather stressful to mount, they're also the best way to reach new buyers."


It was not only the relatively affordable objects that were being snapped up on the opening morning. Gerry Farrell, director of Sladmore, London's leading specialists in modern and contemporary animalier sculpture, was in a chirpy mood. His current exhibition of open-air sculpture at Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire has enjoyed an enthusiastic reception in recent weeks with buoyant sales to boot, and that trend looked set to continue at Grosvenor House. When London Eye homed in on his stand just before midday, he had already sold a small but powerfully modeled bronze of a crouching panther by Rembrandt Bugatti for "over £100,000" ($164,000).

The Grosvenor House Fair is now as well-known for modern art as for more traditional sectors such as English antique furniture and porcelain. The Modern British section of the fair is particularly strong, attracting leading dealers such as Offer Waterman whose stand contained some fine and rare works by the likes of Naum Gabo, David Hockney, Peter Lanyon and Kenneth Martin.





The fact that by mid-morning on the opening day Waterman had already found buyers for Naum Gabo's Linear Construction in Space No.1 of 1942 at £130,000 ($213,000), and for British constructivist Kenneth Martin's bewitchingly delicate Model for Mobile I, 1961 (for the International Union of Architects) at £20,000 ($32,700) was surely proof that Grosvenor House is now an important port of call for serious Modern British collectors.

While Grosvenor House is now firmly established in the London calendar as a once-per-year venue for up-scale art shopping, another prestigious London landmark, Selfridges department store on Oxford Street, is about to host a rather more avant-garde art event: a "pop-up" show of contemporary art.




Pop-up exhibitions are where unrecognized artists stage an impromptu show in an urban space on a strictly temporary basis. They tend to proliferate during recessions when economic downturn forces the closure of retail shops and leaves factory buildings vacant. With conventional gallery venues often too expensive for struggling artists to rent, the hit-and-run guerilla approach became a low-cost way for artists to show their work. More recently, however, pop-up shows have evolved into highly organized affairs. They are now a familiar feature of the metropolitan art scene, often involving the great and the good and, occasionally, corporate sponsorship.

The latest high-profile pop-up show has been organised by independent curator and creative director Flora Fairbairn, who has teamed up with pioneering cultural entrepreneurs murmurART to stage a show at Selfridges. Together with Alannah Weston, Selfridges' enterprising creative director, they have assembled a panel of 10 art world luminaries, including Sir Peter Blake, Tracey Emin and Kevin Spacey, to choose work by the most promising young 'emerging' artists. The selected works will go on display from July 1-15 in Selfridges' Concept Store, or what the retailer describes as the "alt-creative hub" of its luxury department, The Wonder Room.


All works will be for sale, with prices starting at £1,000, with 100 percent of the sale price going to the artist. Computer consoles in the exhibition will link through to the murmurART website at www.murmurart.com where more works will be available to buy. With the recession forcing many retailers into cutting prices, it's good to see some preferring the cutting edge.

Tom Flynn is a London-based writer and journalist. His monograph on British sculptor Sean Henry has just been published by Scala.