The moveable feast that is the Vauxhall Art Car Boot Fair came home last Sunday (9 July) to Vauxhall, south London—very close to where the first Vauxhall motors chugged out of the Vauxhall Ironworks company at the beginning of the 20th century.
This year’s theme was “The Original” and there was no shortage of originality amidst the plethora of artistic goodies on sale from the boots of cars old and new. Queues of punters snapped up Gavin Turk’s plinth-only Invisible Sculptures and his signed empty coat hangers titled Emperor’s New Clothes (with changing rooms provided). And there was also brisk business in vinyl and prints from Bob and Roberta Smith; ceramic sandcastles, bovver boot and football sculptures from Marcus Harvey; and Polly Morgan’s taxidermy snake sculptures.
However, perhaps appropriately to the historic vibe of the boot fair’s south London homecoming, it was the more mature participants who stole the show. Ever vibrant octogenarian Sir Peter Blake was conspicuously in attendance, selling a special floral print he had made for the occasion. He was also obligingly signing many punter’s Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band LP covers with all proceeds going to Graeae Theatre, which works with able and disabled actors.
Then literally taking centre stage was the performance art pioneer and self-styled “Godfather of Pose” Bruce McLean, who was making his Art Car Boot debut with the popular participatory Polaroid Pose Piece. This stage-set installation attracted hordes of fairgoers to be snapped posing with the artist and a collection of specially made McLean-esque props, ranging from a repro-Giacometti and a giant wrist watch, to a pineapple and a quiche. The resulting signed polaroid was then theirs for £100.
Also on offer were limited edition McLean prints titled Trying to Make a Name for Myself or, for those on a more restricted budget, a Godfather of Pose t-shirt. All in all, a most successful reboot that yet again confirmed that true originality has no age limit.