Zero Art Fair Concludes Successful Inaugural Edition
Zero Art Fair Concludes Successful Inaugural Edition
Image courtesy of Zero Art Fair.
New York, NY – August 8, 2024 – Selling out by not selling out, Zero Art Fair 2024 concluded its inaugural edition the evening of Saturday, July 20, after giving away nearly all 190 artist-donated works a full 24 hours ahead of schedule. Participants reported robust signing of mutually beneficial “store-to-own” contracts with collectors who were ecstatic to take home artworks for free. The absence of commerce and currency fostered uncommonly interesting and unusually frank conversations about issues practical and existential, from the art market and career status to what, exactly, makes an artwork valuable. The event drew hundreds of visitors over its two-day run, cementing Zero’s status as the world’s leading art fair for free art.
Conceived by Brooklyn-based artists Jennifer Dalton and William Powhida, Zero Art Fair was hosted in a large and beautiful barn on the bucolic property of curator and No Longer Empty co-founder Manon Slome in New York’s scenic Hudson Valley. Coinciding with Upstate Art Weekend, the fair featured 190 free works by 83 artists, including Bo Bartlett, Chris Verene, Jane Fine, David Opdyke, and Dalton and Powhida.
The opening day on Friday, July 19, saw brisk art movement to private collectors and notable acquisitions by visitors from far and wide. An inclusive opening party titled “Beer and Badminton for Books” hosted by Maureen Sullivan / Red Art Projects closed out the first day of the fair. Celebrating the fair’s themes of generosity and the liberation of inventory, Sullivan gave away dozens of high-end art books donated by organizations like Karma Bookstore, Flag Art Foundation, and Zwirner Books, as well as participating artists. Attendees needed only to play a short game of badminton with oversized “can’t-miss” racquets to win.
Kristen Jensen and William Powhida. Image courtesy of Maureen Sullivan.
By late Friday night, the organizers were obliged to post a notice on Instagram that artworks were going fast, and on Saturday morning a small crowd waited outside the fair ahead of the 11am opening, including a few repeat visitors taking advantage of Zero Art Fair’s “one free artwork per person per day” rule. By mid-afternoon all wall-based artwork and most of the sculptures had been snapped up.
Zero Art Fair was pleased to report 178 artworks placed, adding up to $536,913 worth of non-sales. Additionally, 7 works totaling $3,850 were sold directly to collectors, as some attendees voluntarily paid for works. 4 large sculptural works remained regretfully unplaced.
Participating artist James Huang shared, ““If one assumes that every sq ft of prime Brooklyn real estate is worth $1,000, then giving away a sculpture in a crate that takes up a 2′ x 2′ footprint in the studio is actually an indirect way to generate $4,000 in value (if not cash).”
Zero Art Fair’s voluntary admissions philosophy was inspired by food writer Mark Bittman, who articulated his vision for a restaurant where diners would help share costs according to their means. A sign outside read:
- If you are not in a position to help support Zero Art Fair, welcome!
- If you can afford to pay your own way, we suggest a $5 donation to help cover our production costs, time, and labor to make this happen for everyone. Thank you!
- If you are in a position to help others enjoy and live with artwork, please make a contribution that makes sense for you. Extra support increases the chances we can do the fair again. Thank you for your patronage!
A transparent acrylic donation box sat on the entry table, and over the weekend it garnered $555 in donations.
The fair attracted first-time and seasoned collectors, market-loved and market-starved artists, Hudson Valley luminaries and unknowns, the art-curious and the art-jaded. No apparent celebrities were in attendance. People drove up from NYC or down from New England in all kinds of cars, from Subarus to a Cybertruck. The mood was joyful, as visitors marveled at the generosity of the participating artists and their own good fortune to be able to take home an artwork after entering into a friendly contract with the artist. Audio from Jennifer and Kevin McCoy’s “Talk is Cheap” live radio broadcast filled the fair, mixing voices of participating artists and themed songs (Donna Summer’s “She Works Hard for the Money” and Dire Straits’ “Money for Nothing”).
“The experience surprised me in a number of ways, one being that all 3 of my works in the fair were collected very quickly, and I was overjoyed to make these connections with new collectors,” said artist Bob Szantyr. “Another big surprise was that this was the first art event I’d been to where it seemed everybody was genuinely excited to be there — they were talking about the work they love and their excitement to bring it home.”
Dalton and Powhida expressed that “while it is not a sustainable model for artists to give away more than a small fraction of the artwork they create, the fair exists in part to remind the art world that the retail prices within the art market are a fiction for most working people, including artists themselves. This fair brought out into the open what is normally hidden behind smoke and mirrors: that fine art is abundant rather than scarce. When a lot of artists make a little of their work available, art is brought out of storage and into loving homes, enlarging the community of those who live with art and beginning a virtuous cycle of generosity.”
As the barn doors closed on Zero Art Fair’s inaugural edition, one question seemed to be on everyone’s lips: “Do you think you’ll do this again?”
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More information about Zero Art Fair is available at their website, www.zeroartfair.com. Zero Art Fair is sponsored by Netvvrk, the FLAG Art Foundation, Supreme Digital, and B. Avery Syrig Fine Art Services.
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Katrina Stewart
Blue Medium, Inc.