Zero Art Fair Wants You to Own an Original Art Piece
Their “store-to-own” model allows guests to take home artworks without needing to make an upfront purchase.
Bo Bartlett, ‘Tender,’ 1993.
For its second year, the Zero Art Fair will exhibit over 100 artists and over 200 artworks at the FLAG Art Foundation in Chelsea. Co-founded by artists Jennifer Dalton and William Powhida, the fair seeks to transcend the notion that art is solely a commodity. Instead, their mission is to propose an egalitarian, experimental alternative that increases the longevity of both the artists’ careers and their artworks.
Zero Art Fair’s “store-to-own” model allows guests to take home artworks without needing to make an upfront purchase. This process works by ownership vesting after a five-year period, during which artists retain the right to borrow or sell the work. If the piece is later sold, the artist receives 50% of the sale price and a 10% royalty on all future resales. This way, both the artistic labor and the work itself will have a longer, higher value.
This method addresses today’s contemporary art market, where an artist’s unsold work often sits in studios and storage units when it could be in people’s homes and spaces, where it would be valued and appreciated, especially by those who may not have the means to own and collect original art pieces.
Image Courtesy of ALMA Communications
To prioritize those who are not frequent art collectors, Zero Art Fair will ask art collectors to self-identify their economic status. One piece of artwork is permitted per household. If you’re interested in collecting a piece of art from an artist exhibiting at Zero Art Fair, you can visit the website for more information on availability.
“This year’s edition of Zero Art Fair will address questions of equity by prioritizing access to those who need help to live with art, aiming to enlarge the community of people who can experience art in this way,” Dalton and Powhida say. “It’s one thing to visit a gallery to look at artwork—it’s another thing entirely to live with it in your home.”
The fair’s artworks and artists were selected by a curatorial committee comprising artists and arts professionals, including Folasade Ologundudu, Seph Rodney, Jonathan Rider, Sara Reisman, and the fair's co-founders. The fair is open to the public from July 8th to July 10th. On July 11th and 12th, visitors will need to have registered for a free timed ticket for fair entry.
