The Affordable Art Fair will return to Battersea Park on 8-11 July.
After a difficult year for the art world and hospitality, there will be thousands of artworks of all types for all budgets and tastes from 73 galleries with prices going from £50 up to £6000 in the Evolution in Battersea Park.
South West Londoner spoke to UK Fair Director Elizabeth Dellert, who is very excited to bring back this must-see cultural event to kickstart the summer.
She said: “All of our expectations have been so managed over the last year but we finally have something to look forward to. It’s been this whole last year, it’s just been an exercise in grief forecasting and things like that but also in adapting, and from my perspective, I’m just dead chuffed to get it off the ground.
“We’re just really excited. We’re the first gallery-led fair to come back in London so we’re really proud of that. And our team has worked really hard to make sure that we can do it in a safe way.
“That’s my main goal: to make sure that everybody’s as safe as possible. But also, you know, I think we’re really pleased with the number of galleries that we’ve got and the ticket sales have been very quick. We’re feeling pretty tough.
““The Affordable Art Fair caters to all types of collectors. You have sort of entry level right up to really seasoned collectors, but the galleries themselves range.
“Some of them are very traditional galleries, a lot of which are from outside of London. We have a lot of Cornish galleries and galleries from Devon who have really beautiful seascapes and things like that so you can always sort of tell where they’re from.
“But then we’ve got quite a lot of street art galleries from London to Bristol. You’d have more sort of edgy graffiti artists and things like that so literally it is something for everyone.”
For anyone thinking of attending who has never been to an art fair before, Dellert advised to be prepared for a sensory overload, definitely take a coffee break halfway through and do not be intimidated to ask questions and chat to the galleries about the art on display.
She added: “It’s really going with your heart as opposed to your head or what somebody tells you is going to be a good investment. It depends on what you’re buying, and that is exactly what the Affordable Art Fair is about.
“Half the people there are shopping for a painting with green and so it goes up above their green couch so it’s all levels of appreciation and sophistication.”
Art enthusiasts and amateurs alike can enjoy a cultural summer evening with live music, food and drinks as well as emerging and contemporary affordable art from galleries mostly from London, the UK but also with six gallerists from abroad from amber-list countries from the US and Italy.
It will be a Covid-safe event with social distancing along wider aisles, controlled numbers and ticketed time slots, food and drink table service, temperature checks and NHS app check-in codes upon entry and sanitising stations and increased cleaning rotas throughout.
Complimentary G&Ts and Negronis will be provided from their sponsor Campari from Wednesday to Friday evening while bubbles, cocktails and tapas will be served on the mezzanine at the Will’s Bar, named after the Affordable Art Fair founder Will Ramsay.
And for those with a sweet tooth, Longboys will be serving doughnuts and soft drinks at the summer house deck.
On the music front, DJ Eddie Otchere will provide the soundtrack to the late-night events.
There will also be a wrapping and framing service on site for your new purchases and artist Lara Bowen will have a pop-up kiosk where you can commission a bespoke lockdown colour chart, from “Isolation” to “Bubble” to “Kitchen Disco”, in celebration of restrictions easing.
Individual artists will also be doing installations in the open space from Josh Gluckstein showing his designed life-size Galapagos turtle alongside various other furry and feathered friends to Andrea Love’s felt animation films and a bespoke mural being painted on site by Ellie Tate.
The Affordable Art Fair will run from Thursday July 8 to Saturday July 11 with late-night evenings until 9.30pm on Thursday and Friday. Their launch Charity Private view on Wednesday July 7 is sold out.
For tickets you must book in advance at affordableartfair.com
Photo Credit: Affordable Art Fair
