The Other Art Fair was actually a lot cooler than I was expecting!

Somehow they found out I’m an artist and have been pestering me to apply for a few years now. This time they gave me a free ticket to check it out, and I’m actually glad I went!

I’m a terrible audience member, especially when it comes to art, so I was expecting to just turn up, do my research, and get the heck out of there. Didn’t help that a lot of things were poorly aligned today, including the government stealing an hour of my sleep, Triton digging up some cuttings that needed urgent rescue when I was already time poor, and protesting in the city messing with bus diversions so I HAD to go in early to beat it. I also didn’t enjoy the location being so far from public transport, and the sunny final walk there making me fear for my vampire skin.

Once I was in though, HELLO ICED CHOCOLATE 😋 and already the coffee cart chatting me up about my shoulder cat lol. Then the framing place with glass that actually looked so invisible that I asked to touch it to make sure it was actually there. AND THEN starting to look at things, and the first artist who approached me for a chat about her work, and she had video of her process, and it was actually interesting! From there I ended up talking to way too many artists (plus a break for some dumplings) that I had to rush towards the end because I was actually running out of time to see it all.

This basically never happens to me!

But I think there were some key elements that made this a really good show for me:
1) no set theme or medium, so it was a lot more varied and interesting than just going to an exhibition at a gallery with all the boredom curation seems to introduce for me, and
2) actually getting to meet the artists, find out about their processes, and get some insight into what’s actually going on in their works!

Too often I find myself at exhibitions just having a quick look at stuff, getting the gist, and moving the fuck on. Even if they have artist statements, there’s just not that same depth, and I might not even bother to read anything.

Here though, there were a lot of really friendly artists who were all too willing to share and discuss. Didn’t matter that I wasn’t looking to buy. They were actually just really nice, gave me some tips, and some even asked about ME and took MY card!! It felt a lot more open than a lot of other experiences I’ve had with the art world in the past.

I’m still nowhere near ready to apply to something like this, but it definitely gave me something to consider and potentially work towards. It was also just a boost for my sense of progress over my mental illness. I’ve gotten a lot better at talking to people over the years, but I tend to feel nothing, and can often only simulate things like interest and excitement. Today though, I think I can actually say the interest was not a simulation?? That’s actually pretty huge!!

Anyway so behold my pile of cards and flyers! This week my task will be to go through them all and follow as many as I can on Instagram. In the past I’ve not really followed anyone unless they weren’t on Facebook, but thanks to the flood of brainless Reels that show up when no one I follow has posted anything new, I’ve realised I need to change that. I’d much rather see art updates than whatever the algorithm is trying to suck me into this time. I’m also thinking of going through my list of followers and seeing who I should follow back, although that’ll be a much bigger project I don’t have time for right now lol.

ALSO I BOUGHT A THING!! Just a small print, and I’m too scared to unwrap it until I figure out how exactly to display it, but it had FIRE and BURNING and was DARK and with a level of Photoshopping skill I can only dream of, but mostly FIRE and BURNING and DARK and since I’m missing a couple of therapy sessions thanks to various absences, well I have a bit of extra money so let’s call this purchase its own sort of therapy!? Thanks to my friend Kit for enabling me lmaooo!!

I’m so tired now though. What a busy freakin’ day! Didn’t even get time to do my usual Sunday cleaning, but since it’s a long weekend, let’s just call tomorrow “Sunday Part 2” haha seems legit!!