Black Friday: Canvases left in Oxfordshire by artist for 'antithesis' project

The first letter from the five Oxfordshire towns where the canvases have been left spell out the word black

An artist has left a collection of artworks on black canvases for people to find and take for free as an "antithesis" to Black Friday.

Athirty4 has left the 36 pieces in five towns around Oxfordshire in a campaign he is calling Black Thursday 21.

He said: "Why not give something away this Black Friday, instead of buying something you don't need."

The canvases have been left in Banbury, Littlemore, Abingdon, Cowley and Kidlington to spell out the word black.

Athirty4 said the canvases have "playful messages.... I'm trying to engage people."

Athirty4 said: "It's a form of giving - the antithesis of Black Friday.

"I think it's another cheap trick to artificially stimulate people to mass consume and buy products that retailers have failed to flog in the first place.

"It smacks of desperation and feels a bit grubby to me. But if they feel like they are getting a bargain good on them."

He added he hoped it would engage people and encourage other artists to giveaway a piece of their art.

Each canvas has a different humorous message on it in label maker material. They have been placed in various places in the five towns including bus stops, parking meters, bins and benches.

Although a US tradition, Black Friday as a shopping phenomenon came to the UK in 2013 and is remembered for fights breaking out in some stores.

But since its inception, customers have increasingly turned to online shopping - a trend only bolstered by the pandemic.

In a normal year, retailers would expect the week in which Black Friday falls to be the most profitable of the year.

But last year, customers started shopping for Black Friday deals even earlier, with the number of parcels being delivered increasing sharply from the end of October.