The event at Battersea Park attracts up to 22,000 people.
A black canopied ceiling dazzling with purple lights hangs above a buzzing room of enthused art fanatics at this year’s Affordable Art Fair in Battersea Park.
The flagship fair, which has been a regular fixture for 14 years, is alive with chatter, pleasant music, cafés and interactive workshops.
It is far removed from the awkward stilted art gallery stereotype that can put some novice art collectors off – and I immediately feel at ease.
The fair, which now attracts up to 22,000 people, was founded by Will Ramsay.
After opening Will’s Art Warehouse, in South West London, he decided to collaborate with other friendly galleries to set up the affordable art fair in the hopes of drawing in new people.
Pixie Andrew, curator at Will’s Art Warehouse, said: “We now attract people from all walks of life which is really great.”
And with prices ranging from £40-£4,000 it undoubtedly undercuts many rival art shows such as Frieze.
All art had visible price tags to avoid awkwardness for guests.
And if you have ever been in a situation where you’ve had to hide your shock after being told the price of something then I’m sure you’ll appreciate why this is a good idea.
The fair exhibits a variety of new and established artists and a wide range of styles and mediums including paint, sculpture and photography.
The front of the exhibition showcased graduate artists, my favourite of which was Kraggy.
His art combined hand drawn and digital elements to create work of a playful nature that is pleasing to the eye.
My favourite pieces however were in the main hall.
As a keen photographer I was particularly drawn to portraits by James Sparshatt.
The beautifully emotive photographs of tango dancers dramatically captured the vibrancy of life in Latin America.
And his portrait of an old Cuban lady smoking a cigar was beautifully raw and full of character.
James Sparshatt, 46, gallerist and photographer said: “We had one lady who, after the show, couldn’t stop thinking about a certain photograph of two tango dancers. It had touched her somehow, but she couldn’t afford it, so we let her pay for it over six months.”
James also gave me some advice on choosing a piece of art. He said: “If it hasn’t haunted you maybe it’s not for you.”
With that in mind I continued searching the art galleries in sight of something that did just that.
I found the work of photographer Jeff Robb which in my mind was undoubtedly one of the centre pieces of the fair.
His photographs of nude women underwater are beautifully eerie ghost-like images.
And using an underwater studio allowed him to test the limitations and flexibility of the human body in new ways.
The results were elegant sculpture-like forms.
Another visionary delight was the beautiful painted ‘pop art bottoms’ of Boyarde Messenger. Her stunning photographs showcase women’s bodies in an elegant and original way.
Boyarde Messenger, who studied at Wimbledon School of Art, said she enjoys bringing out the inner goddess in the women through her work.
She said: “It’s an empowering process, I get my empowerment from it and it’s liberating for the woman that is being painted and for the viewer.”
The unusual clay-mask creations of artist Johan Thunell, who trained at Croydon College of Art, were fun and original.
Years of closely observing human expressions have led to work which perfectly depicts an array of life-like emotions.
And Barbara Franc’s collection of 3D birds made of recycled tin cans demonstrated how you can make something beautiful out of something ordinary.
But my personal favourites of the whole show were John Kenny’s powerful black and white portraits of ornately embellished tribe’s people in the Capital Culture Gallery.
The bold emotive photographs gave a beautiful and rare insight into the lives of these remarkable people and one image of an old lady with gleaming eyes and wrinkled skin really ‘haunted’ me.
All in all my day was thoroughly enjoyable and while the term ‘affordable’ is hard to define, the fair is certainly helping make art more accessible to a wider audience.
Artist William Morris once said “I do not want Art for a few, any more than I want education for a few, or freedom for a few.”
And the fair certainly seems to be making this concept a reality.
The next Battersea fair is October 23-27 2013.
For more info see http://affordableartfair.com/battersea/
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