The Free Art Fair was an exhibition of contemporary artworks and performance art in London in 2007, 2008, and 2009. Each fair culminated with all the artworks being given away at the end. Jasper Joffe, the founder, claims he set up the fair to "do something different from what everyone else is doing at this time of year and non-commercial, and something that excites people and values art, not selling."

Background

In 2007,

Jasper Joffe Jasper Joffe (born 1975) is a British publisher at Joffe Books contemporary artist and novelist who lives and works in London. Life and work Joffe is the brother of artist Chantal Joffe. He studied Fine Art at the Ruskin School of Drawing and ...

set up the first Free Art Fair with the participation of 25 artists, all giving their art away for free in three empty shop spaces in Portman Village, near Marble Arch, London. It was described as the "most radical departure from art fair commercialism" that year. Taking place in October at the same time as the

Frieze Art Fair Frieze Art Fair is an international contemporary art fair in London, New York, and Los Angeles. Frieze London takes place every October in London's Regent's Park. In the US, the fair ran on New York's Randall's Island from 2012–19 and in 2 ...

it was written about as an alternative asking questions of the market-driven art fairs. In 2008, the fair took place again near Marble Arch. It was reported that £100,000 of art was given away, with people queuing up for two nights to get artwork by artists including

Gavin Turk Gavin Turk (born 1967) is a British artist from Guildford in Surrey, and is considered to be one of the Young British Artists.Tate Modern. (2009)'Pop Life: Art in a Material World' Retrieved 14 August 2012. Turk's oeuvre deals with issues of aut ...

and

Stella Vine Stella Vine (born Melissa Jane Robson, 1969) is an English artist, who lives and works in London. Her work is figurative painting, with subjects drawn from personal life, as well as from rock stars, royalty, and other celebrities. In 2001, she ...

. In 2009, the fair moved to the

Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhi ...

. Fifty artists participated, including

Marlene Dumas Marlene Dumas (born 3 August 1953) is a South African artist and painter currently based in the Netherlands. Life and work Dumas was born in 1953 in Cape Town, South Africa and grew up in Kuils River in the Western Cape, where her father had ...

, one of the world's most expensive female artists by auction results at the time.

2007

Participating artists: Artists Anonymous, Centre of Attention, Matthew Collings, Stuart Cumberland, Stephen Farthing, Rose Gibbs, Alex Hamilton, Peter Harris, Saron Hughes, Lee Johnson, Chantal Joffe, Jasper Joffe, Peter Lamb, Cathy Lomax, Amanda Loomes, Bruce McLean, Stephen Nelson, House of O’Dwyer, Harry Pye, Danny Rolph, Bob & Roberta Smith, Terry Smith, Markus Vater, Edward Ward, Michael Ward.

2008

Participating artists Artists Anonymous, Centre of Attention, Matthew Collings, Jimmy Conway-Dyer, Sacha Craddock, Stuart Cumberland, Adam Dant, Stephen Farthing, Rose Gibbs, Luke Gottelier, Alex Hamilton, Peter Harris, Pablo Helguera, Saron Hughes, Lee Johnson, Sayshun Jay, James Jessop, Chantal Joffe, Jasper Joffe, Peter Lamb, Cathy Lomax, Amanda Loomes, Marta Marce, Bruce McLean, Alex Gene Morrison, Stephen Nelson, House of O’Dwyer, Harry Pye, Danny Rolph, Martin Sexton, Bob & Roberta Smith, Terry Smith, Geraldine Swayne, Chris Tosic,

, Markus Vater, Stella Vine, Michael Ward, Douglas White, Charlie Woolley. With performances by: Laura Wilson, Frog Morris, Lee Campbell, Mark Dean Quinn, Dora Wade, Adrian Lee, Jenny Baines, Rebecca Birch, Calum F.Kerr, Jordan McKenzie, Charlotte Young, Victori Melody, Alex Staiger, Peter Bond, Sarah Turner, Daniel Lehan.

2009

Participating artists: Artists Anonymous, Phil Ashcroft, Centre of Attention, Maria Chevska, Matthew Collings, Jimmy Conway-Dyer Sacha Craddock, Stuart Cumberland, Adam Dant, Marlene Dumas, Stephen Farthing,

Rose Finn-Kelcey Rose Finn-Kelcey (4 March 1945 – 13 February 2014) was a British artist, born in Northampton. Finn-Kelcey grew up in Buckinghamshire as part of a large farming family, and went on to study at Ravensbourne College of Art and Design, and later ...

, Jaime Gili, Rose Gibbs, Alex Hamilton, Peter Harris, Pablo Helguera, Russell Herron, James Howard, Catrin Huber, Saron Hughes, Lee Johnson, Sayshun Jay, James Jessop, Jasper Joffe,

Sonia Khurana Sonia Khurana (born 1968, in Delhi, India) is an Indian artist. She works with lens-based media: photo, video, and the moving image, as well as performance, text, drawing, sound, music, voice, and installation. Career Sonia Khurana studied ar ...

, Peter Lamb, Cathy Lomax, Amanda Loomes, Robin Mason, Bruce McLean, Hugh Mendes, Alex Gene Morrison, Chloe Mortimer, Stephen Nelson, House of O’Dwyer, Henrik Potter, Harry Pye, Danny Rolph, Martin Sexton, Bob & Roberta Smith, Terry Smith, Eva Stenram, Matthew Stone, Geraldine Swayne, Chris Tosic,

Josef O'Connor Josef O'Connor (born 20 January 1990) is a British-Irish artist and curator. His multi-disciplinary works include interactive media and digital content.Butter, Susanna ''London Evening Standard'', 2 November 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2019 He ...

, Markus Vater, Edward Ward, Michael Ward, Douglas White, Charlie Woolley. Performance Art curated by Lee Campbell and Frog Morris.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official Free Art Fair website

"Art Fairs are about money not art" debate at Saatchi Gallery 2010
Festivals in London Arts festivals in England Art fairs