The Urban Art Fair is an annual outdoor street art event. It has been taking place since 2002 on Josephine Avenue in Brixton, South West London. It is an artist led event, where visitors can buy directly from the artists at affordable prices. There were over 200 exhibitors at the 2015 event showcasing their creative skills. Works included street-art, painting, printmaking, photography and mixed media. Exhibitors ranged from the novice to the established artist.
On a cloudy summer day, I made my way to Josephine Avenue, to visit the second day of the Urban Art Fair. I was excited to be visiting, because I was going to the part of London where I spent my formative years with fond memories. I visited the show last year, so I was looking forward to see what was on offer this year in comparison to the event last year. Here are some of the works that got my attention.
As I walked along, the first piece that caught my attention was the works of Chris Lessware from South London. The bold bright colours and the abstract formation were captivating. I tried to decipher the images presented before me by relating it to real life. I initially thought I could see a female form in one of the paintings, but each time I looked at the same piece I saw something different. That’s the beauty of abstract art. I liked the big bold lines, the vivid colours and tones. His works had a calming effect on me.
I walked a few metres and turned into one of the side streets, which was also part of the fair and I came across the works of Akeisha Walters. Looking at Akeisha’s works immediately brought joy to my being and put a smile on my face.
Her illustrations contained positive messages, which were reflected in the title of her works such as “You can become strong and powerful and beautiful”. This title, reminded me of Serena Williams recent win at Wimbledon and some of the negative press she received regarding her strong powerful body. Yes. You can be strong, powerful and beautiful at the same time, as some think beauty does not come into the equation when talking about strength and power in a woman.
I knew I could not leave without one of Akeisha’s artistic creations, but then I thought, I should pace myself, as there might be some more work that would grab my attention, so I decided to leave and see if I could forget about her work, by putting it to the back of my mind.
Back on Josephine Avenue, I immediately notice an array of works in bold colours depicting a broad range of subjects and concepts. I was intrigued and asked for the artists, as I was under the impression that the works was by more than one person. Deirdre approached me and said they were all hers.
I was surprised, but on closer inspection you could see her distinctive style in each of the pieces. The different subjects that Deride presented consisted of her old and new work, there was no uniformity in her display but it definitely worked, her selected colour palettes brought all the works together into one unanimous theme.
The piece below from Deirdre’s creation through me off guard, as I thought it was inspired by Missy Elliot, but it was titled Precious. This pieces shows Deirdre varied style and diverse sources of inspiration. A true artist, I thought.
Moving along, I spotted these mini framed paintings from across the street, a motor bike parked in front of the stand added to the mystery of the works and I wanted to find out more. I crossed over and I was greeted by a range of works depicting nude bodies, which were predominately based on the male body and male genitalia.
This was refreshing to see, as when it comes to nude paintings the female body is usually the subject.
In conversation with the artist, we talked about her creative process. I asked her how she created the painting of herself and she said it was a combination of taking photographs and also drawing from her reflection in a mirror. You can see the paintings of Chrissy below. The black bag in the painting is a depiction of the baggage we carry around.
I thought that was a very interesting way to create work of one’s self. I also liked the way she placed her subject in different positions in a box to capture different body expressions in her paintings.
Laetitia Lawrence
Another piece that that got my attention was the portrait works of Laetitia. The first image below reminded me of Maya Angelou. I asked the artist who the portrait was of and she said it was of her mother, but it was not finished. It looked like a perfect finished piece to me! I particularly liked the painting against the grid white background and the illusion of transparency of the works emerging from the grids.
Interestingly, the other subjects in her work were of her brother as an adult and a child and another image of her mum in her twenties. I liked the depiction of then and now in her work showing her family members at different ages and stages in their lives.
It was a great opportunity to meet her mum as well. This is the first time Laetitia is showing her work to members of the public, as she wanted to get some feedback on her creations, well I thought her works was a job well done and wish her all the best. I hope to add one of her pieces to my collection in the near future. Laetitia Lawrence is a self-taught portrait artist and lives in Brixton.
Final Thoughts…
I had a good time at the fair. I find art comes alive when you get to meet the creators of the pieces. I had the opportunity to meet loads of artist and their amazing creations. I also like to see art exhibited in unusual places, as I covered in one of my post on exhibiting art in unusual places. Organising a fair out in the open makes the event livelier and adds a different vibe to the event in comparison to Art Fairs held in doors.
The fair included works by local talents from Brixton as well as talents from further afield. One of the Artists I spoke to was exhibiting at the back of her garden, which was backing onto Josephine Avenue. It was good to see the talents of Brixton still have the opportunity to show their work locally, despite the high cost of house prices which has led to a lot of artist moving out of the area.
I saw some of the works last year. I must say I preferred last year’s event, it was livelier and there was more unique works available. My preference of last year’s event could be partly due to the novelty of me attending for the first time and the weather was not so great on the day I went this year. But this will not stop me from attending the next one!
Did you visit the Fair? What were your favourite bits? I also visited the Street Art area of the fair, click here to see some amazing Street Art creations organised by PositiveArtsUK.
I did go back to purchase this gorgeous pieces from Akeisha Walters, as I could not get it out of my mind, which is now sitting pretty on my wall.
Bye for now. The 2015 Urban Art Fair took place on the 10th & 11th July.
