ARTISTS TALKING
Visual art exhibitions and events with a platform for critical writing
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This year will be the second ’Fresh Art’ event at the Business Design Centre in Islington.
Here gallery director and selector Chris Noraika outlines his view on the event’s somewhat controversial status, and some artists tell us of their experiences and expectations.
It's easy to lapse into self-righteousness when talking about 'Fresh Art', the Business Design Centre's annual art fair for graduates, independent artists and art colleges, now in its second year. It's put together by the same people who organise the London Art Fair, the premier art fair in the UK, and one that also seems to raise people's ire. I say this because I've come across quite a few people who have shown initial scepticism and distrust of 'Fresh Art' – as if the premise of the show was to stitch-up disenfranchised and vulnerable artists. It also presupposes an inveterate level of dependency on the part of the artist. This problem seems to be one of disingenuousness and expectation. The fair wants us to believe that it's bringing the best new talent to a wider audience and supplying an opportunity for people to buy art before the galleries quadruple the prices. Neatly, it offers galleries the chance to do this as well. However, it also implies that an infringement has been made on artists' rights, asking them to pay for greater exposure and the opportunity to sell their work. Traditionally this is what galleries should do, it wasn't asked of artists at the Salons, at...
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