Another year, another Art Car Boot Fair but it never is quite just another year and another fair is it. And the Art Car Boot Fair is certainly not just another art fair, actually it is nothing like any of those boring old art fairs (it probably isn’t even an art fair).  The Art Car Boot Fair is an ever evolving thing, a thing that is, as always, a big part of an ever evolving London Art Scene and here we are for a 22nd or is it a 23rd year? Kind of lost count now, whatever the count is, it is always a highlight of any London art year and it does feel like we say these same things almost every year. We have been covering the Fair since the first one back in the early years of the century and yes, I have been involved as an artist in every one since I as first invited to take part back in 2009, I am once again writing this as one of the participating artists, it is always an honour to be one of the invited artists, it is never something to be taken for granted, it is always a very well curated rather select event in terms of the artists taking part. This is not another one of those cynical open call art fairs where anyone willing to pay to take part gets in, you have to be invited, you can’t apply, this is not one of those dreadful art fairs (that I would never dream of taking part in)  

The prospect of taking part in the Art Car Boot Fair is always exciting. Thing is, what is there to say that wasn’t said on these fractured pages last year or the year before or the year before that or…? What can i say this time that I haven’t said already? 

You watch the weather apps, you keep checking the rain radar for what seems like weeks in the lead up as you work all hours of the day making new work and curse the need to be active on social bloody media when you’d rather not be (oh how I detest Instabloodygram and how some people in the art world seem to think it to be the start, the in-between and the end of absolutely everybloodything). You set your alarm to stupid o’clock, you curse the taxi for arriving fifteen minutes early while you’re still trying to grab a piece of that toast you just burnt because you were trying to find your mailing list and your boots (you give up trying to find your best boots and throw on your falling apart work shoes, every year I think I’ll dress up and every year I fail). You haul all your boxes of paintings and pieces of art out to the now rather irritated taxi driver who wants to get ahead of himself at the start of his no doubt stressfully busy day. Hey, the weather looks good and the wind seems to have taken a day off, the sun is way too bright as the taxi (and the rather silent taxi driver) weaves through the early East London traffic and over to the brightness of Kings Cross. The first Saturday morning of September, the clock not yet reached nine and artists are converging from all parts of the city as well as beyond (actually a good proportion of the once London-based participating artists have long since been priced out of town and have far longer journeys in from the seaside and such than those of us just about hanging on in our Hackney bunkers). 

Tables are being set up, the art of putting up a gazebo, paintings unpacked, signs erected, a sneaky look at what others have brought, people you haven’t seen since this time last year, greetings, old faces, new faces, people who know the score, people taking part for the first time trying to work out was the score is, everyone pulls together (well most people do). The carefully drawn up map is already out of the window, not that there are any windows, this is an outdoor affair, lots of windows looking down on us from the new buildings that surround the plush square, no windows, doors or barriers down in the square, we;re out and open, ready to play. We’re in Lewis Cubitt’s square again, it has been the home of the Fair for a good few years now. it does actually feel like home these days, it took a while to not want to still be in Brick Lane, if feels right to be here now though, here in this third decade of an already long century. It didn’t feel like home when we first came here, Brick Lane was brilliant back there but those days and that East London is long long gone now. I like this square, I like the feel here, I like the ordacity of the buildings that g owith the ordacity of the fair; “Ordacity” – a humorous, non-standard portmanteau and malapropism combining the words “audacity” and “nerve”. I might not particularly like some of the occupants of those buildings (Meta are over there aren’t they?), I do like the sound of the trains in the sunshine as they head in from Paris or Amsterdam, the sound of the practising dance troops in the big shed over there (wonder where they’re going today?). Not sure what Mr Cubitt would have made of it all but then his buildings were kind of ahead of their time, the ambition of his Kings Cross railway station back there, his Great Northern Hotel and such, kind of like that the square is named after the architect. Do like that red brick building with the odd shaped windows at the end of the square. 

More artists arriving, more gazebo construction, some in a flap, you know what, we can trust the weather, let’s not put ours up, let’s go topless in the sunshine, Bars are being set up, sound systems tested, performance artists are preparing, strange shaped hats, a gang of witches over there (the Which Witch coven are in the corner casting spells and who knows what),  the organisers, are running around trying to direct several people all at the same time while dealing with multiple questions for yet more people. It is quite a thing watching it all coming together ahead of the midday opening, it is quite a thing to watch the  fair and everyone’s effort coming together… 

The queue to get in isn’t quite a mad as it once was back in the early days, there was a time when it would start on the night before! These are very different days, there is once again an impressively long line of people eagerly waiting for this year’s Art Car Boot Fair to open which of course means I need to get back to my boot (well my stall, the days of classic cars and boots are well past their sell by date now, everyone’s doing it, the Art Car Boot Fair has once again moved on). of course being stuck in my boot means I can’t really write a critical piece about the art; I can hear some of the performance, I am aware of D*Face screen printing live on his stall, the singing that’s going on somewhere around Bob And Roberta’s boot, I know the Knickers stage is in full swing and we can hear from our end of the square that John Lee Bird is up to his shouty mischief again, I catch the briefest of glimpses of Julia Maddison’s good looking washing line and there are various pieces of art on various stalls that I just don’t get time to put a name to as I hardly get to leave my own stall for six very hot rather busy conversation-filled hours. 

I do like the engagement of the fair, I do like all the direct conversation, the faces put to names, the people watching. True, some of the people can be frustrating, you do want to go full Peter Prendergast on one or two and yell something about not looking and that art is all about looking and at least have a look as you walk past! Do you know how much of me is down there on those canvases you’re not even bothering to look at any of them? I guess it is as much about the event itself as the art and the hundred or so artists who have put so much heart and soul into it all. it is as much about just enjoying the day with you friends and your cocktail and soaking up the atmosphere and the performance of it all, the people watching. The people who do stop to look more than make up for those who don’t, the ones who buy are priceless (the woman who said she loved my work but she only buys off female artists made me bite by tongue rather hard) 

Hey look, like we said here at this time last year, the London Art Scene is a constantly evolving thing, right now it might not be as exciting as it has been, it might be that the new breed of galleries and gatekeepers seem way more conservative and (almost tediously) by the book, it might even feel a little unfriendly, a touch aloof, a bit too cool for school, all following the art school rules far more than it once did, almost not wanting to burst any of those comfortable little bubbles that desperately need to be burst right now whilst over there the mid size as well as some of the bigger galleries are closing on an almost weekly basis. And in amongst it all the Art Car Boot Fair almost defiantly goes on, it evolves, it adapts, it continues to makes glorious noise as the self-appointed London art critics try to pretend it isn’t a thing any more. Yes it offends some, it excites others though, it is actually more of a (busy) thing than ever. 

There were new artists, old faces, crowds of people, mostly there was one big whole collective thing and a whole lot of playing free, of freedom, the notions of playing free. Sure, I didn’t like all the art I saw, it would be strange person who did, there was something for everyone though and I certainly didn’t see everything on offer. I’m not going to even start to try and pick out individual highlights and I didn’t have time to go buy a couple of really affordable pieces that I would have really (really) liked to have bought if I had had the time (or indeed the room to hang it). There is always treasure to be found and the Art Car Boot Fair once again had something for everyone. 

And Once again there were smiles and cheers and high heels and high spirits and playing free and great music, there was trumpets, there was creativity, there was doing, there was performance, some it almost anarchic, there was dancing, drinking (no roller skating hoolahoop dancers this time). It did maybe slightly feel like it was losing the magic somewhere around the time of Covid, but as we said last year, the Art Car Boot Fair is back and in rudely good health. It is an evolving thing, it needs to be an evolving thing and in more than one way it feels more important than it ever  was in these slightly down days of the tired London Art Scene. The Fair might not get the media attention it once did, Artlyst and the others might not think it even worth a mention these days but right now it feels more vital than it ever was, more important, more alive, almost an antidote. 

The Art Car Boot Fair this year was playful fun (again), it was serious art, it is important, it is barriers broken down, it is playing free and long may it flourish, long may if flow, long may it be the thing it is, long may it evolve, long may it be… (sw)   

And if you missed the chance to buy some of the art then the whole thing now moves on line for a Week, the online version of the 2026 Art Car Boot Fair opens on line on Saturday September 11th…

And we did try to photograph all the artists and we did once again fall way short of doing so, we tried to start with the setting up (and we have stolen a couple of the photos that are up there). Here in this gallery are our photos from the day, do as always click on an image to see the whole thing or to run the slide show…