Affordable Art Fair - Battersea Park

Last week we headed off to the Affordable Art Fair in Battersea Park. I've been going to the fair for years and it's always been really interesting and fun (there is free wine too!). 

This time was no exception. I love seeing what other artists are doing, themes that repeat themselves...mediums that are gaining in popularity. And it's huge, there is a great range of galleries and types of art. 

I stupidly forgot my camera so I had to ask James to take pictures of some of my favourite pieces while we juggled bags, coats and tried not to slosh wine over ourselves, other guests and nearby paintings. 

Below are a couple of the pieces that we especially liked, sorry in advance for the long post!




This landscape by Jonathan Purday was one of the first things that caught out attention. There was a few of his landscapes in the gallery and they were large and striking. Apparently he's influenced by David Lynch films. 

James said that he could see different animal faces in the rock - this was early in the wine drinking too! 









This next piece (right) had me scurrying across the room to check it out. You wouldn't know from a distance but this is mixed media but from what I could see, mainly a collage of paper and in the foreground as the darker bits of beach, dead leaves!  The photo doesn't really do it justice, it was so impressive. Even all the little houses in the background were build up from paper!

The artist is Kate Aggett. Apparently she has previously designed knitwear and textiles before moving into these landscapes and seascapes.

As someone who works in paper myself I love seeing how other artists use this medium. 


More paper! And so interesting. Again, hard to do justice to the piece in this photo, but this was a quite a large and the oblong shapes are slices of rolled up paper (this is what it looked like anyway). 

The artist is Amy E Genser, and piece is called 'Volcanic Tide'.

I think this approach is pretty great and really captures texture and the feeling of a volatile, bubbling lava flow. 






These ceramic pieces were in the same gallery stand and are by Michael Wisner. They were stunning. James really liked these, especially the grey one. The texture on them is incredible. 

I have to admit a massive ignorance of ceramics... these are apparently coil pots. Which I can only assume is the same sort of technique we all leaned in school with clay. I remember those pots were one of the first times in my life (aged 12 or so) when I truly felt frustrated in art class! 

Anyway, this was probably not the experience that Michael had given how awesome these turned out...



Sorry about this picture, the angle was awkward. 
This was very liked by both of us - I love this super simple stylistic approach. And I have been thinking about Arctic landscapes a lot recently (I have no idea if this is the Arctic, but it does smack of it).

It's by an art collective called 'Hey' from Barcelona. We um-ed and ah-ed about if we wanted to get this... its still a point of discussion...






Ugh. This photo comes nowhere close to doing this justice. The painting was prominently displayed on an outer wall in the walkway and it was super busy so James struggled to get a decent shot. 

It's by Benedict Doonan and its called 'Towards Pointe Trinita, Florence'

What you can't really see in the picture is the beautiful treatment of light on the riverside houses and the bridge over the water. I love how its almost like the subject is huddled at the bottom of the picture allowing this gaping sky above. 

I really loved this painting. 





This was super fun. It's entirely made up of matchbox cars. James and I had a lot of fun poring over this and finding the ones we had as kids. We totally forgot to take the name of the artist - sorry artist!










Finally, this massive painting (below) grabbed us as we were being ushered out of the Fair. The artist is Noemi Martin and I think she's based in Madrid. 

There were a few of here paintings of this magical bookshop. One other had a lovely tiled floor in it but it was this one and the sense of light pouring in from the door into this crowded, dusty space that really got me. 

It's so great that bookshops like this still exist and that artists are inspired to paint them. 

This sign was outside the Fair - and there was a bus, and a queue! I don't know where it was going but the passengers seemed pretty cheerful about it despite the depressing sounding destination! 

I guess it was the 'brouhaha bus'. 

Great night all in all with a wide range of different art - if you haven't been, you should.

Thanks AAF! We'll be back next year!