Wordily billed as, “London’s leading artist-led fair that connects art lovers of all tastes and experience directly with the most talented emerging artists before they are signed,” this year’s Other Art Fair took place in a subterranean space near Baker Street.
The Other Art Fair’s roots lie in two pop-up galleries in Covent Garden which grew to a larger event at the Bargehouse on the South Bank in November 2011.
In May 2012, the Fair moved to Ambika P3 in Marylebone, and returned again in November, with tickets priced at an upmarket £12 a head.
I went along to take a few photos.
It’s rather a strange place to visit, with rows of expectant artists sat next to their work, hoping that their creation has moved you enough to dip into your wallet.
To be honest, I found it rather an unsettling experience – it’s now how I like to look at art, and you feel that you can’t really discuss the work with friends when the artist is sat there looking at you.
Upstairs there was a little cafe, which sounds like a great idea but ended up filling the place with the waft of frying burgers.
I liked this little room. I think it was supposed to be there to offer visitor information about the Fair but there was no one about.
Performance art ahoy! I’ve no idea what was going on here, but anyone waving their arms around while drinking lager is OK by me.
I felt sorry for some of the artists. I think I would have got quite depressed sitting around in a windowless room for several days (the fair ran from the 22nd to 25th November).
Some of the work on show was excellent, but it didn’t seem curated very well, with quite different sorts of art stuck next to each other.
It’s an art selling factory!
The industrial-looking entrance to Ambika.
More: theotherartfair.com/
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