I have popped into Castle Fine Art on many a wander through the ICC, but had never really thought to review it until this weekend. This shop/gallery is mainly a showcase for pieces for sale, but that doesn't take away from it being a lovely place to pop in and have a gander at the different artist showcases and paintings and sculptures for sale.
As well as many permanent exhibitions (Salvador Dali and Bob Dylan for example), there are guest artists who pop up in this Gallery. On walking by on Sunday, we noticed that there was an Alex Ross (DC and Marvel) showcase and decided to pop in and have a look. There are also pieces by local Birmingham artists (Temper as a prime example), which I can't imagine you would find in other Castle Gallery shops over the country.
The art here (as you can imagine) is always of a particularly high standard, which comes with a particularly high price tag. That being said, I was particularly taken by a piece by Xue which was a moderately priced painting at £295.
The shop is set up as a gallery for browsing and as such, the staff aren't sniffy about people coming in and having a look at the pieces. It's worth 20 minutes of your time just to see sculpture that comes with a £60,000 price tag!
The space is quite dark (to conserve the paintings), but it's warm and welcoming. Again, it won't take you long to have a look at all the pieces on display but even if you've only got a passing appreciation of art you'll definitely find it's a good 20 minutes well spent. read more