Flora Fairbairn

Anticipation Show

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Flora Fairbairn, Jodie Carey and Jo Robertson

Anticipation showcased the talents of 25 of London’s finest MA and BA students from between 2005 - 2006, collated by three of the sharpest-eyed contemporary curators in the UK: Flora Fairbairn, Kay Saatchi and Catriona Warren.

This exhibition was the first to be hosted by contemporary art collector David Roberts at his art space One One One (Great Titchfield Street), which is also home to his charitable Art Foundation.

Fairbairn, Saatchi and Warren joined forces for the first time to present these stars of the future. With their pedigree for spotting emerging talent, Anticipation bought together the very best of London’s young artists.

Meredith Etherington-Smith stated 'For those of us who want and need to know what is actually happening and is important on the frontiers of British contemporary art practice, I really believe this show must not be missed'.

Flora Fairbairn works as a freelance curator and art consultant advising on many private and public collections worldwide.

Formerly the director of scopeLondon Art Fair, in 2006 she launched and co-directed Madder Rose Gallery. In 2007 she curated Salon 2007: New British painting and works on paper.

Fairburn spent much of her time representing some of the most exciting young British artists such as Rachel Kneebone, Annie Kevans and Jason Shulman.

She is also dedicated to promoting emerging artists. As part of Anticipation she invested much of her time visiting graduate shows at Camberwell, Central St. Martins, Chelsea, City & Guilds, Goldsmiths, London College of Communication, Royal Academy, Royal College of Art, Slade and Wimbledon College of Art, making dozens of studio visits to artists.

Anticipation conducted thorough research to establish these artists’ ideas, in order to present a selection they felt had the creative and intellectual stature to continue to produce thought provoking work for years to come.

Highlights from the show included Royal College of Art graduate Jodie Carey’s eight foot chandeliers made out of fluff from a hoover, Tom Price’s animated, small scale sculpted plaster heads, Emma Puntis’s mesmerizing miniature portraits, Tatsuya Kimata’s ironic sculptures of everyday objects sculpted using traditional marble and stone carving skills, Douglas White’s haunting piece ‘Owl’ made from a window pane bearing the ghostly perfect imprint of an owl which had the misfortune of flying into it, Michael Lisle-Taylor’s army uniforms crossed with straight jackets, which play to his 19 years in the Navy, and Boo Ritson’s large-scale photographs of people she transformed into characters caked in thick paint, which sold out in her second solo show only a year after graduating.

The philanthropic show was created to provide a platform from which new talent could be launched to a mass audience, with the artists receiving 100 percent of the sales.

'As a collector it is important to me to encourage good, new talent to flourish. I feel artists are better supported than curators in the UK, and I want the art space to give young curators the opportunity to gain essential experience alongside their artist contemporaries.' David Roberts.