Pick Me Up 2012 Humble Opinion With sh** loads of Pictures

I was stand­ing in a centre of the Somerset House exhib­i­tion hall pre­par­ing my mind and eyes to con­sume vast assort­ment of the biggest illus­tra­tion fair of the year. As I stood with my eyes shut this annoy­ing feel­ing of déjà vu at last began to fade and was fully dis­rup­ted by the smell of saus­age. Yes. This was my second time at Pick Me Up, and one imme­di­ate dif­fer­ence I noticed was smell… “Previews are funny” I though to myself, some smell of cheap vine or sweat or mould, some reek with over­power­ing per­fume. “Sausages are ori­ginal” I thought again and took one passing me on a plate. I real­ised I was hungry not only for some juicy art.

As a designer I was instantly pleased with beau­ti­fully designed brand­ing of this years fear. I skipped over­crowded bar full of net­work­ing skinny, col­our­ful indi­vidu­als, most of whom wore hats. “Don’t trust people with hats in a flat.” — per­sonal super­sti­tion. Could be a good set­ting for an illus­tra­tion. No?

Walls were full of art, I was skep­tical. Year before I was quite dis­ap­poin­ted with selec­tion, so was not so hyped about it this year as well. But strangely it was good, I would lie if I say I liked every peace, but that is not the point is it? I was impressed by vari­ety of tech­niques and styles, which did not have same “trendy” stamp on them as last years exhib­its. This years fair was actu­ally show­cas­ing some­thing fresh and delight­ful. Wall after wall, room after room I have enjoyed, dif­fer­ent nation­al­it­ies, styles and themes.

So it is time to wrap it up. Overal I loved the meat…by which I mean illus­tra­tions, and strongly advice you to visit this fair “pick some­thing up” and buy shit out of it. Support the artists and… you know the rest. I am serious.

P.S. “Pick Me Up” guys third year already eh? Maybe it is time to think about a kick ass web­site, that Somerset House one does not fit your size. Send us a note if you are interested.

iPad mad­ness

Not so pop­u­lar corner of the exhib­i­tion hall

Pure Evil gave a visit as well

Personal Fav

Still try­ing to fig­ure out secret pop­ular­ity potion

Days you can pick

You know where you are, you know what to do

Blockage

Beautiful grid

About author:

Aleksandr Pasevin
Aleksandr Pasevin is Art Pit’s strategist and designer, responsible for organization’s creative solutions. Aleksandr is also actively interested in new technologies, their connection with creativity and usage in cultural organizations. Aleksandr dislikes long discussions and considerations, and he mostly expresses his opinion quickly about whet... Read further >