We had great fun hanging out at BAC for the One-on-One festival over the last week. There was a fantastic atmosphere in the building and we were happy to contribute. I invented the One Pound Portrait a few years ago in Marbella on a research trip with The Other People (Ant Hampton, Gemma Brockis and me) after seeing this grubby sketch artist try to get customers for an €8 portrait. I thought it would be interesting to try it for one euro in one minute, those constraints meaning a complete failure to make a ‘beautiful’ drawing or to provide enough money for the artist to survive.
There is a moment of great drama (totally worth a pound) when the portrait is revealed to the subject. The pound / euro stays in view for the duration to remind the sitter of the transaction, and at the end they are thanked for their patronage.
The artists were Sara Lehn and I, with guest scribbles from Neil Bennun, Andy Field and Gregor Henderson-Begg. Over 3 days we made about 140 portraits. On the night all four of us were working we made enough money to have a few drinks and purchase tickets for a Dan Deacon gig later on. (click on the thumbnail to see full image).
