Have You Heard About the Affordable Artfair?
If you’ve always wanted to start collecting art and don’t want to be put off by the sense of elitism that often goes hand in hand with the art world, then put the London Affordable Artfair into your diary. It’s an annual event, and last year was from 22-25 October 2015 at Battersea park.
The organisers put in a lot of effort to give you that sense of accessibility by providing good tips and things to bear in mind when you visit the fair. There were also more generic tips on how to get started with an art collection.
Getting started in a career as an artist can be a tough one with visibility and recognition being hard to come by. The organisers had a section where they’d chosen 20 artists to display who fell into the category of Recent Graduates, to help these young artists.
According to the organisers, last time there were 110 galleries with over 1100 artists. This is a ticketed art fair, so click on this link that will take you straight to booking tickets for the next one.
The event was the brainchild of Will Ramsay, who set up Will’s Art Warehouse in the late 90’s in southwest London. The idea was to meet the increasing interest in contemporary art, but in a more accessible way than the traditional London gallery scene.
He paid more attention than most to relatively unknown artists, not least because they would be more affordable than more well-known names whose reputation added a premium to their prices.
The gallery aimed to offer pieces from £50 – £2,500, and covered over 150 artists. The response to the Art Warehouse was so strong, that it led to the idea of expanding the idea once a year, which is today’s Affordable Art Fair.
We think it’s well worth a visit every year – especially if your only prior experience has been the rather more traditional art fairs that take place in London.