Three to buy at the Art Car Boot Sale

I tried. I really want to say I tried; haggling the artist down, securing at an original X [artist’s name withheld] at something of a steel. I failed. But hey, ££ for an original X is pretty great. I went home with it wrapped… call it a business expense.

Now in its sixth year, the Art Car Boot Sale (Tramway, Glasgow) is something of an art fair antidote. One of Scotland’s biggest contemporary art events, the two-day sale brings together over 100 contemporary artists, from Turner Prize nominees to new graduates and everyone in between. Packed into one of Tramway’s ex-railway warehouses, the atmosphere is collegial and infectious, nothing like the self-aggrandizing bug I have experienced at art fairs in London, Paris, Milan nor Basel. Indeed, as a punter, it genuinely feels like everyone is here for the art, not just to be seen snobbing around meekly stating “send me the details”. Thick with laughter and chit-chat, with a live JD and workshops and even a city council sponsored prosecco stand—its an art world event less we forget—the Art Car Boot Sale is more than a pleasant weekend out: it’s a pioneering model, bucking the artworld trend for white-cube mediation by allowing ‘clients’ to directly support the artists that constitute Glasgow’s contemporary art scene. Or in other words, it’s a great opportunity for friends to drop into their overdrafts.

I got all lost in the Art Car Boot Sale on day one. I spent too much time lulling around trestle tables and trying to squeeze into the cars parked in the gallery space—again, its an art world event less we forget. I made one purchase, so I say, but spotted plenty of things to add to the list… 1, 2, 3, examples below.

Toby Patterson, A Room for London Colour Study

This small drawing comes from Toby’s 2010 project with the architect Martin Ebert. Part of a competition to construct a series of temporary structures on top of the Hayward Gallery (London), ultimately the project was never realised — the team didn’t win the competition — shame. Despite this, or indeed because of it, Toby’s A Room for London drawing subtly sheens, aluminium and soft pastel, with hopefully a sense of utopia.

Kenny Inglis Hearing With My Eyes

Kenny is a composer and producer. His photography practice comes as something of an escape, or a visual aside, to the music industry. These small test prints come from his ongoing series Hearing With My Eyes; a series started as something of a excisis in mindfulness a series has developed into something ‘mad’, to quote Kenny. I wouldn’t call the images mad per se; they are dramatically moody, visionings that highlight the subconscious complexity of everyday life.

Jacqueline Donachie, Speedwork

This one is something of a golden opportunity: to acquire one of the artist’s test prints for the edition she made as part of her solo exhibition, Right Here Among Them, at The Fruitmarket Gallery (Edinburgh, 2017-18). I was drawn to this edition because it seems to marry subject and style in a wonderfully harmonious manner, depicting what I see as a hodge-podge hand handrail in ‘dumb’ grey ink. Flecked with gold leaf the etching riffs on the convoluted structures used to mediate our being in the world.