EO On Moniker & The Other Art Fair 2016
Moniker Art Fair
Over the past few years The Old Truman Brewery has seen a bombardment of art admirers, first time collectors, and the creatively charged shuffling in through the doors to explore London's rising premiere event during London art week in October. With its roots firmly embedded in urban culture, 'The Moniker Art Fair' celebrated its seventh year in showcasing emerging and established artists, galleries and curators within their genre.
The Other Art Fair On the 'other' side of the shared venue were 145 emerging artists hand selected to exhibit by London’s leading artist-led fair, 'The Other Art Fair'. Reaching a milestone in their five year history, 'TOAF' partnered up with the worlds leading online gallery, Saatchi Art to jointly present their 14th Uk edition. This marks the fourth year that 'Moniker' and 'The Other Art' Fair have combined their creative energies, which in turn has become the pivotal spicy recipe for it's growing credibility as the preferred 'alternative' to the Frieze Art Fair.
Amidst the heavy lifting and awkward corner turns there's usually a rising buzz amongst exhibiters echoing across the boards just hours before the opening. I've experienced this at first hand in this same venue two years ago when helping out a few compadres (Shout out to Lhouette & Vas Zavialov). This year however, the infectious energy of the private view opening seemed to multiply tenfold, verified by the influx of dazzling Instagram posts, hashtags and live raving whatsapp messages I received. Unable to make it to Thursdays private view, I popped down on the Saturday, and to my pleasure the buzz was still flowing at peak levels. I brought along the EO power symbol to snap exhibiting talents and highlight the creative power present (only visible via gifs 👀 ).
Spread across this post are personal insights on exhibiting, EO gifs, and snaps I took which summarise why Moniker and The Other Art Fair once again have pulled off an encapsulating fair for all involved.
The Other Art Fair EO Highlights
Archie Proudfoot
Tim Fowler
Insight: One of the most enjoyable aspects during my browse was experiencing the openness of the exhibiters (established or not) who were more than willing to share their endless hours of grind insight, business investment, emotion, and most importantly their personal expression of originality. This graft and unique expression is what the artists and galleries seek to evoke and communicate to the public. All this along with the intention to move the audience through their work with the hope of at least breaking even. It is this mutual unseen bond between all exhibiters along with the excitement of being a part of something greater that provides the foundations to ignite energy and the celebration of art within the room.
Alex Voinea
Since there's no backroom or behind the scenes, what the public see of galleries and artists during trade hours is what they get, with probably a slightly polished approach coated with a tint of varying professionalism. Beyond this is probably a mixed bag of emotions shifting between momentary excitement and gratitude to concerns for surviving and succeeding. I'm referring to the “Will I even cover the costs for my stand?” and “Is my time and effort even going to pay off in the long term?” thoughts. Why do I bring this up? Because this is one of the predominant aspects of exhibiters vulnerabilities, which happens to be overlooked when they are criticised by the few for 'overpriced artworks' and labelled as 'sell outs' for exhibiting at such fairs (which is another discussion in its' entirety for a later date). The truth is, a number of exhibiters do lose money when exhibiting whilst some make a little, and others a lot, yet it is art fairs such as 'Moniker' and 'The Other Art Fair' among others that have become a breeding ground for nourishing artists and emerging galleries through the provision of insight, connections, exposure and guidance. Although the platform is created with ripe opportunities, an artists success at such fairs depends on varying factors which some eventually attain through trial and error whilst other's instantly through their entrepreneurial preparations. It is up to those who take part to manifest a valuable experience of insight and relationships. In the long-term I've found this to be far more beneficial.
A big salute to all those I met who provided me with a greater experience through exchange, insight and inspiration. Below are further highlight shots during my creative exchange.
The Other Art Fair Founder Ryan Stanier charging the fair with his creative power.
Camille Walala brought her Tribal POP style to TOAF and also transformed the Grand Entrance.
Lene Bladbjerg
Carolina Mizrahi
Rebecca Mason
Anna Fafaliou
Liam O'Connor
Moniker Art Fair EO Highlights
Maser's colourful, three-dimensional, 18-metre-long interactive playground.
Monikers' Project Manager Olivia Skalkos vibin' her creative power into the fair.
Fatcap series - James Earley - MAF Urban Settlers
Tape Artist - Max Zorn - Stick Together Gallery
Slap N Tickle Installation by Josh Stika (host: Danielle Jacques)
Josh Stika - Digital Print
Worldart Gallery
Rise Gallery
Louise McNaught - Curious Duke Gallery
The Secret Art Prize - Tristram Aver/ Alexandra Gallegher
Colin McMaster
Shoreditch Lives - Acrylicize
Schoony Sculpture
Static - Lawrence Alkin Gallery
Lucy Sparrow - Lawrence Alkin Gallery
Dynamite Gallery
Blessings to all for checking out this post. For further browsing hit up www.monikerartfair.com and www.otherartfair.com. Gifs created by Eccentric-O Photos snapped by Eccentric-O
