A renowned gallery is swapping food for art

A prestigious London gallery is accepting food donations for art. 

For the past year, the Jealous galleries in Crouch End and Shoreditch have acted as registered food donation points for the Tottenham and Hornsey food banks. Today, (Monday, 12th September) both galleries are launching the ‘Jealous x Food Bank Swap Shop’, accepting food and monetary donations, with no minimum amount, in exchange for art.

90 artists have donated work to the Swap Shop. The father-son duo Grow Up, for example, has created an exclusive artwork titled Same Old Bullshit. Made up of Mark and Jack Blamire (otherwise known as Blam and Jack Blam), their piece is a satire of supermarket style food cans with the words “no values” printed on the front. Mark’s work has been displayed at the London Design Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. 

An installation from the London-based street art duo Miss Bugs will also be available to swap. Titled Do No Harm – The Dispensary, the installation features a vending machine that expels 6000 supersized pills . Their artwork is held in a number of significant private collections around the world and has been exhibited in New York, San Francisco, LA, Paris and London. 

A statement from Jealous reads: “We continue to be humbled by the generosity of the public and the artists we have collaborated with on events to raise donations and awareness for the cause. 

”We wanted to carry on this amazing support during a time of increasing crisis for many families around London.”

“Since the pandemic in 2020, things have only gotten worse, so we want to try and make it better. We’re encouraging people to come in and swap food and cash donations for art.”

Artwork by Charming Baker, Ben Eine and Jealous Inc will also be available at the Swap Shop. 

Based in Tottenham Town Hall, Tottenham Food Bank is a grassroots organisation which provides emergency food parcels containing at least three days worth of food for those in need. Hornsey Food Bank started as a temporary measure in July 2020, and currently supports around 750 people in the area per week. 

Anne O’Daly, a founder and chair of Hornsey food bank said: “Everyone needs help at some point in their lives. Our goal is to work for a future where food banks are no longer needed.” 

Jealous is an internationally-recognised fine art print studio, contemporary gallery and print publisher. The company was founded in Crouch End as a gallery and has since expanded to Shoreditch and Tottenham. Known for producing high quality, limited edition prints with leading artists, it has previously worked with the Saatchi Gallery, The British Museum, the Imperial War Museum and The Victoria and Albert Museum. 

The Jealous x Food Bank Swap Shop will run from 12th– 25th September at Jealous East, 53 Curtain Road, London, EC2A 3PT and Jealous North, 27 Park Rd, London, N8 8TE.