Part 1: Affordable Art Fair Offers Fine Art at Relatively Accessible Prices

NEW YORK—A pair of hot pink cows stands out. For the interior design-minded, Vanessa Smith’s acrylic interiors are particularly appealing. Every year, the Affordable Art Fair offers art enthusiasts the opportunity to survey relatively reasonably priced fine art from dozens of U.S. and international galleries. “Affordable” means most of the paintings, drawings, prints, photography, sculpture and mixed-media works range from several hundred to several thousand dollars.


“Sunglasses,” (acrylic on panel) by Anja van Herle at JoAnne Artman Gallery.

The Joanne Artman Gallery is featuring bold “Sunglasses” portraits by Anja van Herle; paintings by America Martin, a Colombian-American whose work is characterized by a unique indigenous line-drawing style; as well as innovative mixed-media pieces by James Verbicky. The Visual Arts Gallery is showing work by students from the School of Visual Arts. And Spence Gallery in Toronto, Canada, is exhibiting work by artists of African, Caribbean and Latin American descent, including Zoya Taylor.

The fair feels more accessible to a wider audience than most fine art fairs. In addition to the moderate pricing, gallery owners are quite welcoming and conversational with almost all visitors.

View Part 2 coverage of the fair here.

The Affordable Art Fair New York runs from April 18 to April 22, 2012 at 7 West 34th Street, near Fifth Avenue.

All photos by Arts Observer


“Brick Stack Series,” 2012 (brick, concrete and mortar) by Brandon Davey at the Visual Arts Gallery/SVA.


Work by School of Visual Arts students, including the large canvas in the middle, “Tom,” 2011 (oil on canvas) by Steve Chapman at the Visual Arts Gallery/SVA.


“I was in a tram, it was about to rain in Milan,” 2012 (mixed media) by Fabio Coruzzi at Bicha Gallery in London.


Detail of “Ethel and Edna,” (acrylic on board) by Cornelia Burless at Retrospect Galleries of Gold Coast, Australia.


From top, “Three Cows in Forest,” (acrylic on board) and “Ethel and Edna” both by Cornelia Burless at Retrospect Galleries of Gold Coast, Australia.


“Dao Girl,” 2008 (oil on canvas) by Nguyen Quang Huy at Vietnamese Contemporary Fine Art in New York.


“Delusions of Miniscule,” by Natalie Waldburger at Blunt of Toronto, Canada.


From left, “Upper East Side Blues,” 2012 (mixed media on canvas) by Corinne Dall Ore and “Pacific Plane” 2011 (mixed media on board) by Alban, both at Envie D’Art.


“Haute Couture No. 12 Porn Sculpture,” 2012 (“Great Expectations 1984”-re-used 35 mm film, chrome stand, plastic mannequin, lights, thread, tape and zipper) by Raymond Waters at Engine Gallery.


From left, “Red Girl” and “Miss Queenie,” (both oil on canvas) by Zoya Taylor at Spence Gallery in Toronto, Canada.


“Daybreak,” (acrylic on canvas) by Vanessa Smith at Mark Jason Gallery.


“Flood,” (acrylic on canvas) by Vanessa Smith at Mark Jason Gallery.

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