Book tickets: The Manchester Contemporary ft. Baltic & Castlefield Gallery at the Buy Art Fair 2017

The Manchester Contemporary is the leading fair of critically engaged (and critically acclaimed) modern art outside of London. This celebration of the best of the contemporary art scene is part of the annual Buy Art Fair, which celebrates its tenth year by moving to the huge venue of Manchester Central this October. Expect work from the UK’s leading galleries and curators taking in both local galleries like Paper, Castlefield and Islington Mill and public institutions such at the North East’s acclaimed Baltic Arts Centre, and London’s Royal Academy of Arts. We’ve picked out a few names to watch for your delectation below:-

Castlefield Gallery presents, among others, Rebecca Halliwell-Sutton’s ‘Texts From The Universe’ which explores associations between land and body, new work from Omid Asadi, and Lindsey Mendick who fuses patterns with classic fashion and images of big names from the 1980s and 1990s.

Manchester School of Art is the second largest and oldest school of art and design in the UK. Their rising stars at the fair include small-canvas fine artist Jenny Eden, German artist Katerina Eleftheriadou whose work has been curated by Tate Britain, and the abstract oils of Francesca Neal.

The UK’s learning disability art scene will be represented by Venture Arts. The Hulme studio brings with it numerous playful artworks from across the UK such as clay fruit pies and mobile phones, and a lobster sunbathing on a pine cone. Look out for Jennie Franklin’s ‘Collection of Straws, Black Straws and Ink’.

Watch out for Salford’s creative hub Islington Mill, who will bring artworks spanning photography, printmaking, ceramics and sculpture. This will also be a chance to view – and buy – Maurice Carlin’s ‘Temporary Custodians of Islington Mill 2018-2028’ consisting of a hundred reliefs taken from the Mill’s abandoned fifth floor.

Performance artist and word-wrangler Martin Hamblen will appear thanks to Preston’s Birley Studios. Hamblen’s works include ‘Ticking Boxes’, which involves him ticking endless boxes, ‘A Plinch of Salt’ in which he pours salt onto plinths, and a vocal piece called ‘FoolooF’ where he recites the word “fool” forward and backwards.

Sat 28 – Sun 29 Oct (VIP preview Fri 27 Oct), Manchester Central Convention Complex, Windmill Street, Manchester M2 3GX. Tel: 01457 851151, VIP preview 5pm-9pm, Sat 10am-6pm, Sun 10am-5pm, £5 (VIP preview £12), www.eventbrite.co.uk