INDIANAPOLIS — A growing art fair returns to Indianapolis this week — It’s called BUTTER and it’s known as America’s equitable fine art fair.
“That centers the care and the economic viability of black visual artists,” said GANGGANG Co-founder and Creative Director, Mali Bacon.
Each year the BUTTER Fine Art Fair gets bigger and bigger.
WRTV can’t give you a full look inside you’ll have to come see for yourself — but you’ll find artwork from 25 local artists and 25 from across the country.
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“It’s huge for the local artists. We reserve 50% for Indiana base artists very intentional and purposefully. We are lifting up the creative assets in this city, in this state. We know who we have here. We know the incredible creativity that we have here. And so BUTTER is our opportunity, our risk, our chance we are taking to lift up these artists.” said Bacon.”
BUTTER starts Thursday and lasts through Sunday in downtown Indy.
Each work of art, creatively put together, tells a story just like the building you can’t miss it as you travel down Capitol and 10th Street.
Co-founder of GANGGANG and creative director, Mali Bacon, is ready for the reveal.
“We’re here in the exhibition hall. We’re still putting on finishing touches looking at Butter Cafe. We are so excited about this year and to experience, you know, some of the best contemporary art of our time,” said Bacon.
“When people walk through these doors on Thursday, what do you want them to see and feel?” asked WRTV’s Rachael Wilkerson.
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“When people walk through the doors Thursday, I want them to see themselves. I want them to feel all of the intention and love that we have poured into this space for them,” said Bacon.
She said hundreds of artists, entrepreneurs, and others have worked to bring a new vibe to the fourth annual art fair.
“We work on this for the entire year and have created infrastructure for, you know, to create a fair that does the artwork justice,” said Bacon.
WATCH | Check out last year’s BUTTER experience
BUTTER Fine Art Fair returns for third year
As for this year?
“This year we are feeling very Saturday. We are feeling very chill, fun. We are welcoming laughter. We’re reminding ourselves of the 80’s and the 90’s, and so we might even see roller skating. We’re having a really innovative take on the car museum, in partnership with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. We’ll have a more, a greater emphasis on kids and students and really making a play area for them. Words are lifted up this year. So, poetry is coming to life. There’s a live poetry scheduled throughout the weekend at the BUTTER cafe. So, there are lots of twists and turns. The shop is bigger than it’s ever been, but it’s still BUTTER,” said Bacon.
100% of the proceeds from each sale goes to the artists and since this is a sneak peak, we can’t show this year’s art, but it’s something Bacon said the whole community can smile about.
“This is something to be proud of. Indianapolis is home to America’s equitable fine art fair and you can be proud of this,” she said.
The artists will get their first look at their work inside on Thursday and then of course the public is welcome to come check it out as well.
Tickets are $40 and one ticket will get you through the weekend.