What’s in the box? See whatcha got!

Although it may not look like it, my life is not one constant rotation of jive dancing and bonding with nature. No, sometimes I also manage to do other stuff and last Sunday that meant joining the East London hipsters at the 4th Art Car Boot Sale in a car park off Brick Lane.

I wasn’t convinced by the Rich Tea biscuits bitten and signed by Gavin Turk and the badges/T-shirts involving Ken Livingstone, the congestion charge logo and an extreme swear word weren’t convincing me to open my wallet either.

One thing did grab me though: Truck Art

This was a truck full of outwardly identical boxes. You pay £30 and pick a box. Inside is a piece of artwork. Simple. I’m not usually the adventurous kind but sod it, nothing ventured and all that. So into the truck I went, hoping that I’d pick something brilliant.

Here’s my box:

I must have been the first to have a go, because a photographer started snapping away as I unwrapped my box, and a small crowd soon gathered to see what I had got. And here it is:

The accompanying certificate tells me that my work is by Hackerman Ines Virginia*. Here’s what else is on the certificate:

“A colourful tablecloth is the main subject of the series given to me by a boy from Sri Lanka. He was blind in one eye. He could only see strong colours on the other.”

Title of the work: “Mainland”, May 2006.

Born in Dover in 1985. Studied BA Fine Arts at Goldsmith’s College but never completed the degree due to health problems. Lives and works in Dover.

A list of exhibitions shows that Hackerman’s work has been shown in London, Prague, Bologne and Berlin.

* Subsequent google searching suggests that her name is actually Virginia Hackerman. I have only managed to find one link to her (which refers to the Prague work). If anyone can do any better, let me know.