Hello World!

I exist!

Hello World is typically the first programming assignment in a class where one learns to code. It refers to how that first program has one task, and that is to print “Hello World” on the screen when it is run. For geeks, it is customary (though perhaps old school) to open any new digital real estate with a “Hello World” post.

In July 2023, I went to the Urban Art Fair for the second time with a couple of friends. I had discovered it in 2022, thanks to my friend Lizetta who has been going there for over twenty years and loves it. When she took me I fell in love with it.

I have been to several art fairs in London. New launches, gallery openings, the two Frieze art fairs in Regent’s park, The Other Art fair, the Summer Exhibition at the RA, a pop-up one organised by Sotheby’s in King’s Cross, and of course the Affordable Art Fair. None of them have the feel of the Urban Art Fair.

In a curved street lined with leafy green trees that almost join up to form a canopy, the railings are given over to more than a hundred artists who will exhibit their works to passersby. The fair is outdoors. If it rains, you clip plastic sheets over your artworks and pray they don’t get damaged. If it is sunny, things will slowly bake under the blistering sun. And all day, while you’re out there talking with visitors and artists, the trees will be swaying to the breeze overhead.

Well, last year, despite some serious rain, I felt a deep joy from just being there and seeing all the exhibited art. So when my friend Jess said “You paint, why don’t you get a stall?”, somehow, my brain asked itself why not, and had no answer to give. So when applications opened up in January 2024, I applied. All I wanted was a half-pitch. 3 metres. And I got it.

So here we are. June 2024, and I am making tiny paintings every other day to add to the growing collection of artworks I can sell at the art fair.

On the one hand I am scared I won’t have made enough. On the other even more scared I will have made too many and I’ll have spent money to be there (the pitch, hanging materials, art materials, all the mounts and plastic envelopes…) and not make any of it back. And while it would be truly grand to make some money from my art (having been unemployed since November, any income is deeply appreciated), I know that just being on Josephine Avenue for the day will be enough to have me leave with a smile. And if I have art left to sell… well… that’s what this little website is for.

I hope to see friends there. I’m sending a little message to many of the people I have met in my 18 years in London. I would be very pleased indeed if some of them came not only to say hi or to see my art, but to experience the joy of a tree-covered street lined in art.