K-pop stars are the headliners at the Saatchi Gallery’s Start Art Fair

Over 70 emerging and established global artists and galleries from more than 25 countries will be on display from mid-October at the Start art fair, located at the Saatchi Gallery. The art fair, since its first edition in 2014, is known for bringing attention to lesser-known artistic communities. This year’s Global Eye programme takes a particularly keen look at East Asia, in particular, Korea. The art fair is looking forward to showcasing the first works by K-pop stars from the band Winner – Ohnim and Yooyeon –alongside an independent K-pop star Henry Lau. These artists have only recently begun their artistic careers, creating visual art as another form of expression alongside their music.

Elsewhere, Lucy Sparrow creates a signature piece that will fill the main triple-height space at the back of Saatchi Gallery. It’s entitled The Billion Dollar Robbery and it will capture the moment when the Metropolitan Police interrupted a billion-dollar robbery by the British criminal gang Sew Solid Crew.

Start founder David Ciclitira says, “As we gear up for the 8th edition of Start, I am prouder than ever of the talent we have on display. Rather than having a section of the fair devoted to emerging talent, this fair is entirely for emerging talent, the names of tomorrow.” He encourages us to not only watch this space, but to come and interact with it.

The fair will also act as the launch for the Start’s e-commerce platform, Start.art. It aims to sell traditional and digital art, as well as art-based merchandise, and artists will be able to sell NFTs on the platform, which will accept crypto-currencies. Dimitri Ozerkov, director of contemporary art at the Hermitage Museum, will curate the platform, with Johnson Chang – founder of the Asian Art Archive – on the advisory board, and Serenella Ciclitira. Managing director of Start.art Nicola Gross claims that the platform will make buying art accessible, practical and fear-free “for the new collector, whilst presenting new artists to the established collector”.

The art fair is on at the Saatchi Gallery on King’s Rd, London. It will run from 13-17 October. Online bookings for timed slots for viewing the K-pop and Lucy Sparrow installations are accessible online.