How It Works - in-person

What is the Incognito Art show? 

The Incognito Art Show is a not-for-profit organisation supporting Australian artists. We run Australia’s biggest and most inclusive art show. 

The Incognito Art Show isn’t an ordinary art sale. Every piece of artwork, regardless of artist, is sold for just $100.

The Twist?

The identity of an artwork’s artist will remain anonymous at all times. Only once an artwork is bought, will the artist’s name be revealed to the buyer on the back of the artwork.

All artworks are A5 sized and sold in-person, on a first-come-first-served basis. Buyers are limited to buying up to three artworks each. Profits raised will go towards funding programs at Studio A and Little Orange, both arts companies that provide professional development for artists with disabilities. 

The show’s unique model provides greater access to art-buying for those without the usual means to do so, as well as democratises art selection; buyers buy what they truly love, not a big name.

Got questions? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions page here. 

Why we started the Incognito Art Show back in 2021.

Because Art matters. 

When asked why he didn’t cut funding to the arts in order to support the war effort in World War II, Churchill responded,

 “Then what would we be fighting for?”

- (With proper research we now realise this quote has many times been misattributed to Winston Churchill, but we still like it.)

Incognito’s 3 key impact goals are:

  1. To financially support arts organisations with the donation of profits
  2. To provide emerging artists the opportunity to become professional artists
  3. To inspire and develop a new generation of art collectors and supporters

Why is the Incognito Art Show needed?

The arts is an under supported sector of the economy despite; 

  • 350,000 people are employed in the arts
  • 3 x as many as those in aviation and mining
  • The arts contributed $17b to the economy in FY18-19

Yet there’s been a 18.9% decline in federal spending since 2007.

COVID-19 exacerbated these problems;

  • In Feb ‘21, about 45% of all employees in the arts were in casual roles without access to basic entitlements including holiday, sick leave and superannuation.
  • Even with jobkeeper, wages in the sector declined by an average $1,525 a week in November 2019 to $1,464 in November 2020.
  • An Incognito survey in 2021 found that 1 in 3 artist’s ability to exhibit was reduced or lost causing financial loss due to the COVID crisis.