David Shrigley, Tracey Emin, The Connor Brothers and Harland Miller are among the artists with works for sale at this year’s Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair. Now in its seventh year, the Fair runs over four days at Woolwich Works, welcoming 500 artists and 1,000 original artworks. Meanwhile an online fair, open until November 20, is a chance to take a second look. It’s run by husband and wife duo Jack Bullen and Lizzie Glendinning, an artist and curator respectively, and is proudly the UK’s largest fair devoted entirely to contemporary prints. Holly O’Mahony speaks to co-founder Jack Bullen to find out more…
Exhibition Preview Evening at Woolwich Works
Holly O’Mahony: What can visitors expect from the seventh annual Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair? What’s new for this year’s festival?
Jack Bullen: More galleries, new international artists, more famous names. Bonhams Auction House will have a prints showroom on site for an upcoming auction; Mirabeau is back, serving rosé on site for visitors to enjoy, and it also has its own space to showcase the artists it’s supporting within the fair. We have family activities on Saturday and Sunday, and new releases from David Shrigley, Grayson Perry and many more.
HOM: Last year’s event was the first in your new home at Woolwich Works. How was that?
JB: Setting up in a new venue is always a challenge – last year was our 4th venue in six years if you include our virtual edition in 2020 as a new venue. [The team created a digital replica of the fair which visitors could walk through, pausing to browse artworks.] Woolwich Works is a beautiful space which has been sympathetically renovated and restored so as not to lose the striking architectural history that was so intrinsic to why we love the Royal Arsenal. This year, it feels good to have a working model as a starting point. Compared to our former ‘abandoned’ spaces where we didn’t know if the electricity was going to trip or whether the heating would work, it feels like a bit of a luxury to have running water and working loos!
HOM: Not to mention having to organise the Fair around the virus the past couple of years…
JB: Certainly! Last year was quite an experience, what with worrying about another potential lockdown, a brand new venue which always throws up a few surprises and the imminent arrival of our son, who was born little over a week after the Fair! Needless to say this year has been a joy in comparison!
HOM: According to the website, this year’s Fair has grown yet again, welcoming 500 artists and showcasing 1,000 original artworks. What’s your secret?
JB: We are incredibly grateful for the support of our galleries and returning artists who have believed in the premise of the Fair and stuck with us while we have been waiting on a permanent venue, not to mention Crossrail. We have a great offering and we’ve all worked hard together to get here.
HOM: You’ve got some big names selling prints at this year’s festival, including David Shrigley and Tracey Emin. Any hints on what they’ll be showing?
JB: Couldn’t possibly. But I can say it’s very pertinent! Jealous Gallery generously launches a Shrigley at the Fair each year. It will be launching on Thursday morning. We’ll be using a tier pricing system, where works are launched at a lower price point, then once they sell, the next price is released and so on. Tracey Emin is coming through Bonhams auctioneers as one of an exceptional line up for their upcoming auction. Beyond these big names, though, there are pieces for all tastes and budgets.
HOM: Oh yes, go on, which exhibitors are you excited to be showcasing beyond the seasoned masters?
JB: I find the most rewarding part of hosting the Fair is discovering artists via our open call and this year is no exception. Keep an eye out for works by Emmett-Merrill, Elena-Kartintseva, Felicity-Warbrick and Alli-Eynon who are all exhibiting with us for the first time this year and are personal favourites of mine. I am also really excited to see Jake Garfield’s gigantic woodblock in the flesh as part of the Boodle Hatfield Printmaking Prize display. Jake really is pushing the boundaries of printmaking both in terms of scale as well as technicality and reapproaching art historical narratives.
HOM: Is it really all budgets though? Original art is notoriously expensive…
JB: Works start at £100, which is very reasonable by industry standards. We also operate an ‘Own Art’ payment scheme, a national initiative that makes buying contemporary art and craft affordable by providing interest-free credit for the purchase of original work.
Exhibition Preview Evening at Woolwich Works
HOM: There’s also an events programme as part of the Fair, including workshops and demonstrations. What can visitors expect from these?
JB: We’re running daily printing press takeovers for visiting studios on both the etching and screen printing presses. These will be a mix of demonstrations and workshops giving visitors the chance to have a go themselves. Incidentally, one of our exhibitors was first introduced to printmaking via one of these workshops back in 2017, so hopefully this will inspire others to take up a squeegee! Exhibiting galleries are also hosting their own events including signings and woodblock demonstrations. We’re also running children’s workshops on the weekend.
HOM: Are there talks this year too?
JB: On Thursday evening, there’s two fascinating discussion panels on the ‘digitalisation of collecting art’ hosted by Bonhams’ Carolin Von Massenbach as well as another on ‘how to begin collecting’. There’s also an online talks programme for our virtual visitors.
HOM: You created the virtual Fair in 2020 when the pandemic meant you couldn’t run it in person. It was such a success that you launched it again for 2021. What can virtual visitors expect this year?
JB: We have our online viewing rooms with Artsy and are bringing back our interactive ‘walk-through’ exhibition which reflects how the work is hung at the physical event. It means people from all over the globe can be part of our event, join our online programme, and get a taste of the scale of the works. We had over 250,000 visitors to our online edition last year – fingers crossed we’ll see similar numbers again.
Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair. Woolwich Works, 11 No 1 Street, Royal Arsenal, London SE18 6HD. Physical fair running from November 3 – 6,
12pm, 2pm & 4pm.
Online fair November 3 – 20. Admission: £10.50/£8.50 concessions. www.woolwich.works/events/woolwich-contemporary-print-fair-edition-7
