It’s rare to get up in the face of artists. See their work. Hear first hand what their work is all about.

When you’re at exhibition openings in galleries, it’s sometimes hard to know who the artist is, let alone get a chance to speak with them and dive into their mind.

Yet this is exactly what happen at The Other Art Fair (TOAF). When it was quiet, I ducked off from my stand to talk to other artists, see their work, hear their stories and revel in their creations.

It was great meeting artists like Hugh Ramage, Brendan Larkin, Shannon Johnson and Stacey Rees, Tyrone Layne. And catching up again with the wonderful Jo White and Shane Drinkwater who I met in Sydney.

It’s such a tiring experience, standing, talking for three days straight to strangers. It’s really something artists shouldn’t have to do – they should be laying down the upchucking of the dark imagination, yet the truth of the art world today is that you have to back yourself, you have to get amongst it. How else are you going to live off your art and give away your day-job that gnaws away at your soul?