The Art Car Boot Fair, King’s Cross, London, 7th September 2024 – Summer came to a rather abrupt end last Saturday evening at around 6pm, we dodged a bullet, several rather large weather shaped bullets actually! No rain, no wind, not in King’s Cross, not in the old coal yard, not this time, not yesterday at this year’s Art Car Boot Fair. Seems that Summer-ending rain was hitting large parts of the country all day (and it has been on and off torrential here in London most of the time since, we are definitely in Autumn now). It really did feel like the last day of Summer at the Art Car Boot Fair last Saturday, the weather was perfect, the gods were with us (as Jaz Coleman once yelled that time during a lightening storm and violent downpours), it really did kind of feel like the end of a lot of things last weekend, let’s not go there though, let’s just celebrate this year’s Art Car Boot Fair and the glorious colour of it all.

So the art gods smiled alongside those who control the weather last Saturday, the sun shone down on us some twenty years on from the very first Art Car Boot Fair back there in an almost completely different London art world of 2004. Actually, very little was made of this being the 20th year of the ever evolving artist-led almost-institution that is the fair, an event that has always been a highlight of the London art year since the very start. Others may come and go, but the fair is always there and for the last few years ‘there’ has been the rather plush surroundings of Cubitt Yard over in London’s King’s Cross. Actually it isn’t yesterday any more, we’re onto Tuesday now (or is it Wednesday?), I started writing the first lines when it was still yesterday (or Sunday), back to writing it now, needed some time to recover, we artists pour a lot of heart and soul into things like this (as well as time and money), “yesterday” was Sunday, the real yesterday was Monday and if you must know, that was spent working on what was more a building site than a muddy garden – such is the life of an artist, we’re not all middle class playground dwellers whatever it might look from the outside these days! So today is actually Wednesday and I really must get something posted before the Autumn art season swallows us up – the 2024 Art Car Boot Fair happened last Saturday and if we don’t write something than who the hell will? Artlyst? That block in the hat from Fad? The London art Critic who never actually seems to any of these things and do what it says on his tin?      

Not everything is perfect with the Art Car Boot Fair, of course it isn’t, how could it be? And who wants perfection anyway, nothing worse than perfection, what is the point of photo-realism? Yes, I know, it isn’t like it was, the Art Car Boot Fair is miles (and miles) away from those early anarchic days of Brick Lane now, but then so is London and I think we said all this last year and as much as you may moan and you may want it all back, those days (and a lot of those attitudes) are long long gone now. True, this year did lack that touch of Paul Sakoilsky’s Kunst The Clown flinging pies (or reading poetry) at anyone who wandered into range, it lacked a hula hoop dancer or two, or an impromptu sighting of Faust playing live (yes that really did happen at the fair a few years back), dare we say things have got just a little bit too polite? And yes, maybe the fair is in danger of being swamped a just little by the easy option of print releases, those who pull the stings need to be careful not to let it just become a word-infested print fair, there were maybe a few too many just selling prints of their paintings this year? No, not the genuine print makers, I’m talking about those those just selling print versions of their paintings. And words, way too many words and slogans and most of them not that clever or funny or whatever they were trying to be – a bit too much farting in the yoga class if you know what I mean. No he wasn’t there but you get the drift, surely anyone can write a sentence and present it as a piece of art, isn’t it all getting a little tedious now, I really don’t care what the fish of the day is.    

Yes, the Art car Boot fair was always about Kunst the Clown throwing a pie at you, about a girl on roller skates with a hula hoop or two, about Faust suddenly turning up and playing, about the seeds planted by Joshua Compston or even the East London YBA days, as much as it was about buying a piece of art directly from Tracey Emin for a mere twenty quid (I think that was 2013) or the line for a Pure Evil print still wet ’cause he’s only just printed it five minutes ago, as much as it is about finding a new artist you’ve never heard of before, it was always about the fun in the queue to get in. People might not start lining up the night before these days and some of the bigger names might have jumped ship, no thingy this year, no whatshisname but then artists, rather like musicians and bands, never seem to see support as a two way thing, they’re never that loyal – Joshua’s aircraft carrier strikes again, although, there are two sides to every story and somebody has to stop me here, it isn’t the same as when it began and some might say artists are almost always taken for granted, hello, what do I know? Hello, hello, Hello, hello, Hello, hello, You never listened to a word that I said… What the hell am I trying to say here? it ain’t the same, London ain’t the same, but you can’t go back, you can’t unbuild all the new buildings, you can’t wipe out the damaged done by the Olympics and the developers, the greedy estate agents, you can’t chaise after the early days, or even ten years ago, that world has well and truly gone and the Art Car Boot Fair is still a defiantly positive thing. We might be surrounded by expensive coffee shops and way-to-slick bars now, by new build tower blocks no artist can afford to live in, hell, most of the participating artists have to travel in to London for the fair now, the city long ago became too expensive to survive in for most of us.

I’ve kind of grown to almost like this big Kings Cross square now, it all most very nearly feels like the Art Car Boot Fair’s home now. It kind of dawned on me sometime in the middle of the afternoon that the buildings on each side made it feel like we were in a valley in North Wales surrounded by Snowdonia’s mountains – something that Welsh painter Peter Prendergast said saw in the skyscrapers of New York that made him suddenly like the place. I’ve never made a secret out of how much I enjoy being one of the participating artists, this is my fifteenth year now, an invitation always appreciated and never to be taken for granted, so yes I am writing the piece from the point of view of an artist taking part as well as a fan of the fair. It is, as I have often said, one of my favourite days of the art year. And yes, the artist list does always evolve, so and so might not be here, but hey, she’s showing her work for the first time this year, can’t wait to see what she brings! I’m not going to start picking favourites or highlights in terms of artists, there are about 120 taking part this year, this is a big fair. It is really about the thing as a whole, I mean, there’s people walking around with art in their Russell Herron bags, waling around with Susie Hamilton pieces, with Pure Evil prints (where was the man himself?), with Julia Maddison tea towels, lot’s of people wearing Emma Harvey Fuck Your Boys Club badges, hey, there was one or two of those bags with those leaf tags spray-painted on them, they raised a smile as they went past – but it isn’t about picking out artists (do want to see those Gina Cross paintings for real rather than just as prints though, those prints were so good), it isn’t about picking our favourites (or indeed telling you who’s art doesn’t do so much for us) it is about the event as one big whole and the one big whole was good. 

The people watching wasn’t so much fun this time, hey come on, we brought the art, you need to dress for the day, there wasn’t so much celebrity spotting this year either, did it seem a little more serious this time? It is always good to see familiar faces, especially those who travel long distances for the fair, that is never to be taken for granted either. You start talking about it behind your stalls, “I haven’t seen those two who always come from Liverpool, oh there they are over there”. There are people you only see once a year, you start to worry when they don’t show up, it does sometimes feel like a big extended family gathering. 

Hey, the Art Car Boot Fair happened again, it is a unique event, a special thing, it isn’t just another art fair, far from it, it is almost the antidote, it was a day full of great people, of friends old and new, of music, drinking, art of course, artists, a whole host of artists and creations to fit most tastes, it is mostly about people. Yes it has evolved, it can’t be what it was, how could it be? Embrace the thing that it is now, this thing right here right now in 2024. The fair comes of age next year, I hope it happens, these things are tough to run, I hope it happens, I hope I get an invite, bring it all on! Celebrate what it is now, this year was great, the sun shined, the LowLife DJs did their NY House flavoured Life is Peachy thing, we missed the Karaoke, surely that’s a tradition we need back? Not sure what the Space thing was about? Saturday was a great last day of Summer, bring on the next one, forward with the Art Car Boot Fair, maybe a few more actual paintings next time, not so many words maybe? There again, bring it all on, every bit of it, words and everything, surely the 21st year will be disgracefully good, onward with the one and only Art Car Boot Fair…. (sw)

And yes, if you did miss it on Saturday, a lot of the artist and indeed their art can be found and, should you wish, bought at those Art Car Boot Fair prices for just this week and until September 14th over on the Art Car Boot Fair website..        

As always, click on an image to see the whole image or to run the clide show and get a flavour. Most of the photos are ours, one or two stolen off social media, and yes, we did get to everyone, and point cameras at them, we were busy in out own boot…