Going Underground

Over the weekend of 14-15th September I took part in the New Artist Fair at the Truman Brewery on Brick Lane, although you probably know that as I spammed a lot of people with my social media posts about it 😁 This was the second year in a row that I have done this art fair and it marked a big step forward for me personally. The fair last year was the first time I had exhibited at a large art fair, prior to that I had only done smaller group exhibitions and markets. I invested in 2m of wall space and thought I’d give it a try, I was so glad I did. Although I only sold 1 print the feedback I got was amazing, I made some new friends and some great contacts and I learnt a lot about doing art fairs. After doing my first New Artist Fair I couldn’t wait to do another one.

So this year I stepped it up a notch with a whopping 5m of wall space. I was a little worried that I would struggle to fill it but fortunately that wasn’t a problem in the end as I had some shiny (they actually were shiny) new artwork to unleash on the unsuspecting public.

In April, at the Cult House Fusion exhibition, Oliver Norris asked me if I would be interested in collaborating with him on some artwork. I’d never done an art collaboration before but I’m always up for trying new things and thought it would be nice to have someone else to bounce ideas off. Oliver is definitely an ideas man and he had come up with a cracker - alternative tube signs. As soon as he told me my mind started racing, I couldnt wait to get started on designing them. What began as a few ideas quickly expanded into a page full, and over the next few months, over numerous pints and lunches, we designed and printed 9 alternative tube sign on shiny aluminum, paper and card, just in time for the art fair.

We had kept what we’d been doing a closely guarded secret until the Private View on the Friday evening and the response was fantastic. So many people came to admire them, ask about our inspiration, suggest new ones and contribute to our special Brick Lane sign. It was great to finally see our ideas come to life and I loved every minute of it. We’ve had great fun designing the signs and can’t wait to add more to the collection!