Feature: THE BIG PICTURE - Pick Me Up: Contemporary Graphic Art at Somerset House

Published: 17 March 2011

SOMERSET House is hosting the second edition of Pick Me Up, the UK’s first contemporary graphic art fair. Due to popular demand after the fair’s launch last April, Pick Me Up opens in the Embankment Galleries today (Thursday) for a celebration of graphic art.

The best, most innovative and avant-garde graphic artists, collectives and galleries from the UK and across the world will exhibit and offer an exuberant mix of artworks for sale. 

Somerset House will once again become a platform for the graphic art and design community and a great place to experience first hand the energy and excitement of the graphic art scene.

A lively programme of events and activities will accompany the fair:

Heavy Pencil
Two evenings of live music and drawing, where the best illustrators in London and the world are invited to draw in response to live music, DJs and sometimes even poetry. As the illustrators draw, the process will be projected onto the wall.

Anthony Burrill’s Open Studio
For his 10-day studio residency, within the Pick Me Up fair, designer Anthony Burrill has invited long-time collaborators to join him in creating new work across different media. In addition to various special guests, Burrill will hold a daily session inviting members of the public to participate in making collages that will later be photocopied into a zine.

Mokita1
A one-day conference will discuss the future of illustration with eminent practitioners including Adrian Shaughnessy, Luke Best, James Jarvis and Simone Lia. The aim of the day is to propose a new definition of the subject, speculating about its potential dominance in the future of visual culture.

• Pick Me Up: Contemporary Graphic Art is at Somerset House, Strand, WC2, from March 17-27. Open daily from10am-7pm, Thursdays until 9pm. 020 7845 4600.  Find out more and book tickets at www.somersethouse.org.uk/pickmeup

Pictured:  ‘Varoom’ 2010 ©Revenge is Sweet