ON APRIL 22 and 23 the Rivermead Leisure Centre will be transformed into a vast and diverse gallery of modern art.

The Reading Contemporary Art Fair was set up in 2010 in the footsteps of its sister event in Windsor.

Each year since it has brought together more than 130 artists, print makers, photographers, sculptors and ceramicists from the UK and Europe with an ethos of 'real art for real people' - prices range from £40 to £4,000, and all the artists are accessible and happy to chat with the public.

One such artist who is returning to the Fair for the fifth consecutive year is Tom Cartmill, who has been forging an increasingly successful career for himself over the past 25 years.

"Last year I was using paper almost as a 3D object, scrumpling it and using it as a material," explained the 51 year-old, who works a sheeps' bleating distance from the famous lambing pens of Amners Farm.

"Over the past year my work has become increasingly simplified.

"I find one line and then repeat it, putting one level on top of another to create what seems to be three dimensional."

Through this new method simple black and white ink drawings begin to bulge and push out of the paper as abstract waves twist and contour across the surface. It is an arresting effect, and one that has won the Swainestone Road resident serious plaudits.

As well as a space in the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition, Cartmill was selected from 5,000 artists for the Derwent Art Prize and has recieved invitations to exhibit at the 164 RWA Open and the Brighton Art Fair.

Come April 22 he will be at Rivermead along with 20 of his pieces, ranging in price from £50 to £1,700.

To find out more go to www.readingcontemporaryartfair.co.uk and www.tomcartmill.com