ArtCan visits the Affordable Art Fair 2019
Catherine Sweet, March 2019
Butterflies, birds and circles (and occasionally even butterflies or birds in circles) are all the rage in contemporary art it would seem, at least if the collections presented at the Affordable Art Fair spring edition in Battersea Park is anything to go by!

The Affordable Art Fair is an approachable fair that doesn’t take itself too seriously, but is still a great place to see some seriously skilful, thought provoking and beautiful works.


Standouts this time around include Sally-Ann Johns’ mixed media circular bird paintings for Wychwood Art, which are set in deep frames and almost seem to glow from within, hand cut and laser sculpted paper compositions inspired by the Carribbean sea from Dionne Cole (she has a showcase at the start of the show as well as works with BEARSPACE London), and pretty much all of the works showing with Emotions of the World – a new gallery hailing from Milan that’s got some showstoppers up it’s sleeve.
Ranieri Fornario presents cut and stitched canvases that are simple and yet simply mesmerising. ‘Interstellar’ from Lucie Svoboda creates a dramatic vortex you can’t help but be drawn to, and acid bright mixed media pieces on linen canvas from Sondra Segala.

Retrospect Galleries bring a distinctly punchy collection, including a ‘unicorn’ skull with a neon horn and a fun collection of Betsy Enzenburger’s resin and ink melting popsicle sculptures, and Surface ICA has brought along bright circular abstracts from new artist Jane Wachman.


Continuing the natural world theme, there were also a lot of badgers and bees on show – not only Harry Bunce’s creations and Louisa Crispin’s delicate graphite and gold dust pieces, but brought together in Hazel Mountford’s work (that piece already has a little red dot, sorry).
Also worth a look is the IRIS Project from Olivier Colin and Felix Mayrl – one of the platform projects where you can even have your own iris photographed in great detail!

And don’t worry if you miss this installation – the Affordable Art Fair will be at Hampstead in May as well as returning to Battersea in the autumn, stopping off in NYC along the way as well.