Why It Matters: Art Hits the Streets of Brixton

Brixton was going through some bad press, so I thought – let’s have an art fair and do everyone some good

Even if you’ve never been to the annual Urban Art Fair, we bet Brixtonites will know about the weekend, each July, when SW2’s Josephine Avenue becomes an open-air art gallery. Ever wonder how the whole thing got started? Founder, Tim Sutton, explains

It was more by accident than design that I swapped careers and started painting portraits and running the Urban Art Fair; I became a full time artist after a friend asked me to paint their dog and I started the Urban Art event because we moved house.

South London has always been my home and we have lived in Josephine Avenue for twenty six years now. Fourteen years ago we moved across the road, quite literally, from a flat to a house and were suddenly confronted with lots of big blank walls. We couldn’t afford paintings so I started creating them myself. Then, wandering home, slightly merry, one evening, I looked at our garden railings and realised they would make excellent hanging space, also the residents association needed a fund-raiser and Brixton was going through some really bad press at the time, so I thought – let’s have an art fair and do everyone some good.

Our first event was back in 2002 with thirty-five keen artists showing for one day only. The event has grown ever since and we now boast a two day event, 13 and 14 July, with over two-hundred exhibitors, food stalls and a pedestrianised area. Also new for 2013 will be our Street Art area, where some of the biggest UK graffiti names will be spraying a life size London Tube Train. It’s going to be our most exciting art weekend yet!

Below: a selection of some of the artists exhibiting at this year’s event

A key ingredient for its success is the large creative community who live this side of the river and the lack of affordable opportunities for artists to show their work. It was for this reason that we also formed Open Arts Project , a non profit organisation that runs both Urban Art and the Lambeth Open studios event in October.

One of the most rewarding things for me is when I hear of artists, such as Priscilla Watkins or David Taylor, who first exhibited at our event and have now gone on to enjoy successful careers as professional artists. But equally rewarding are the part-timers who come year after year, regardless of their sales, purely because they enjoy the atmosphere and want to show their work.

Of course none of this would happen without our volunteers, charity partners and sponsors who this year include SumUp, JLT, Veolia and Great Art. Despite all the present gloom I think our event proves that if a community work together they can, despite the odds, really make a difference to their local neighbourhoods.

Words & photos: Tim Sutton. For more information about the event, check out Urbanart.co.uk