the free (quote) art (unquote) (quote) fair (unquote). the only words that are acceptable for this title are ‘the’ and ‘free’ and ‘OCT09′.
on saturday i had that feeling of’ ‘what shall i do today’. saturdays are exciting in that respect aren’t they? it’s a day you can do something or not do something. you can decide. that’s the luxury of a saturday. feeling like i was missing out on the art scene last week, what with the (not free) frieze and zoo fairs stealing the art thunder from london, i headed for the free art fair. it sounded perfect for my art fix. a free art fair. exactly that. well, not exactly.
arriving at the barbican was great. i’d never been there before. it’s a fantastic building set in what can only be described as a realised societal concept, a cheerful clockwork orangeesque environment – the barbican estate. if only all high rise developments had been this visionary. it’s a place erno goldfinger envied i’m sure. these lucky residents have culture at their feet, not a derelict grafittied costcutters and chippy.
the free art fair was situated in the ground floor lobby gallery. i walked through it twice and missed it both times. i was confused. where was this art fair? i approached the desk to enquire, only to discover i was standing in the middle of it! slightly embarrassed and largely horrified , i took an A4 page of floor plan and sauntered through the lobby. again.
the art ranged from quite good to quite shit. when i say ranged, there was a total of 52 pieces. most of them small. hence my failure to notice them initially. the quite good artists to note were, geraldine swayne, markus vater, cathy lomax and martin sexton. the quite shit artists to note are…i’m not that cruel. and art is subjective.
now, my problem with the free art fair wasn’t that it was free, nor was it because the art was mainly poor (hence the free part) it was because it had the audacity to call itself a fair. it was an exhibition. at best. i loved the concept behind the fair. i loved that on the last day there was a lottery giveaway of the art. all this is great for making art accessible to people like me and for that reason i’m actually sad there will be no more free art fairs (this was the third and final). that said, i felt cheated out of my saturday. i was disappointed to say the least.
leaving the barbican i noticed there was a free exhibition in the ‘curve‘ gallery. now this did impress me and satisfield my saturday art craving. a huge, elaborate and historically accurate reconstruction of a WWII bunker. it was called ‘bunker’ and the artist responsible is robert kusmirowski. walking through this labyrinth of a bunker evoked a spooky sense of fear and oppression. the dim lighting, the cool air and the sounds reverberating around created an incredibly powerful atmosphere. the offices, storage rooms, machinery, props everything was how you’d imagine a bunker to have looked and felt. right down to the train track and draisine running through it. this exhibition runs until 10 january 2010. i highly recommend it. (polski blog, art rabbit)
free art fair, bad. the barbican, great. robert kusmirowski, fantastic.