Event

Bath Art Affair - 30 Galleries, 9 Days, 1 City

Date:: 12th November, 2010 — 21st November, 2010
Price:: Free
Venue:: Various, various, various
Posted by:: CreativeBath
Sector:: Art & Antiques

Contact information:

Email:: info@bathgalleriesgroup.com

Event overview:

From 12 to 21 November 2010 the Bath Galleries Group will host the first annual “Bath Art Affair”. With the support of Future Bath Plus, Media Clash, and the city’s leading hotels and restaurants, the galleries of Bath will be en fête with high profile exhibitions, live music, wine tasting, demonstrations and talks. It will be the first time that such a showcase has been held in Bath, presenting the best we have to offer art enthusiasts and collectors.

The most renowned names in the art world, from British twentieth century artists, Royal Academicians past and present, right through to cutting edge contemporary artists, can been seen and purchased in Bath. Our portfolio includes Damien Hirst, Barbara Rae, Elizabeth Frink, Paula Rego, Tom Lewis, Banksy, Nathan Ford, Mark Demsteader, Peter Blake and Henry Moore to name but a few. All are represented in the commercial and public art galleries of this beautiful world heritage city.

Positioned between the two important art centers of London and St. Ives, Bath has one of the greatest concentrations of galleries outside of London. The city has attracted artists for many years-indeed Gainsborough set up shop in fashionable Bath and it is here that his paintings, and a retrospective of Peter Blake’s work will be on show when the Holburne re-opens with its magnificent, modern extension in May 2011. The Fine Arts faculties of both Bath’s universities hold regular public exhibitions, giving us all a sneak preview of what the next generation of artists has to offer.

The art galleries range form the renowned and avant-garde Beaux Arts, the longest established commercial gallery in Bath, who like the highly regarded Adam Gallery, have sister galleries in Cork St. London, to inspring galleries tucked away in pretty cobbled streets, including bo.lee gallery, The White Room and Quest Gallery.

Patron of the Group Sir Christopher Frayling said of the initiative: "The City of Bath has many strong links with the history of visual art. Think Gainsborough and Rowlandson and the eighteenth century. Up to now, it has had rather less strong links with contemporary art. The Bath Galleries Group brings together a wide range of galleries, over thirty of them, to do something about this. The whole is bound to be more than the sum of its parts. This is an important initiative and a timely reminder that there is much, much more to the art world than what goes on in London."

-Sir Christopher Frayling (Bath Galleries Group Patron)