Article: MELBOURNE GETS NEW SATELLITE ART FAIR

This August will see the unveiling of the inaugural NOTFAIR – an art event unlike any other worldwide.

Combining the curatorial notion of a major Biennale and the commercial potential of an Art Fair, the NOTFAIR will be an opportunity for art aficionados to discover numerous unrepresented artists and a careful selection of artists the organisers believe deserve a higher profile.

Directed by artists Sam Leach and Tony Lloyd and writer Ashley Crawford, and with the support of commercial galleries as well as a prestigious advisory committee, the NOTFAIR is timed to coincide with The Melbourne Art Fair, a major event on the art calendar which attracted 30,000 visitors in 2008, many of whom travel to Melbourne for the event from elsewhere in Australia and abroad, interstate or overseas.

“NOTFAIR aims to present visitors with an alternative perspective on contemporary art in Melbourne and to provide exhibiting artists with an opportunity to show work to a larger and broader audience,” says Sam Leach.

“The NOTFAIR is not so much an anti-fair as it is an inversion of standard practice,” Leach says. “The NOTFAIR has as its’ priority the profile of the artist and the art as opposed to the gallery. The emphasis will be upon the intriguing, the innovative, the emerging and the adventurous.”

Amongst the key differences between NOTFAIR and the concurrent Melbourne Art Fair will be the structure of the event, the organizers say. As opposed to inviting galleries to select their own artists for display, NOTFAIR will directly invite artists based on innovation, skills and concepts.

The venue, Wardlow Art Residence in Fitzroy is located 10 minutes walk from site of the Melbourne Art Fair. Wardlow Art Residence, directed by Brodie Higgs, sponsors Australian and international artists to live, work and exhibit in Melbourne.

Alongside Sam Leach, Tony Lloyd and Ashley Crawford, Brodie Higgs will co-curate the event.


Wardlow Art Residence and Artinfo.com.au are hosting the first NOTFAIR.


NOTFAIR

August 4-8, 2010

Wardlow Art Residence, 4 Wood Street, Fitzroy


For further information please go to www.artinfo.com.au/notfair/nf/home/home.html

Writer: Tony Lloyd

Tony Lloyd

Tony Lloyd has worked variously as an apprentice printer, a bank teller, a designer of blackjack mats for illegal casinos, a gardener, a barman, a telemarketer, a photocopyist, a research assistant’s assistant, a teacher and an actor in Thai music videos. He is currently an Artist and shows regularly in Melbourne, Sydney and Amsterdam. He has work in public and private collections in Australia, Europe, Japan and the U.S. Tony Lloyd lives and works in Melbourne.