Blush By Greg Creason, $1650 at Creason’s Fine Art Galleries (All Photos By Gail)
A sure sign that the vaccine rollout is working — and Covid is finally on the wane — was the in-person return of the semi-annual Affordable Art Fair, which arrived at NYC’s Metropolitan Pavilion on May 20th for four fun days of art and socializing, at long last!
Art By Inkyeong Baek (Left, Center) and Ardan Ozmenoglu (Right) at Fremin Gallery, NYC
While the Fair has been restaged to allow for better traffic flow and social distancing –which means many of our favorite vendors were absent (Tag Fine Arts, you were missed) — there was still lots of cool art to see, familiar faces and new exhibitors whose artworks we are excited to bring you in this post. Let’s take a look at the triumphant return of the Affordable Art Fair!
Chiefs & Spirits (The Hague, Netherlands) was back to add to the international feel of the fair. African artist Toyin Loye created this sculpture, Stacked Heroes ($3,000) which is made of yellow glazed porcelain. The kids I saw really seemed to like this one, and I think you can see why.
You know how partial I am to pink, so I had to include this collection of small watercolors by Sharese Suriel at Phantom Brick Gallery of New Jersey.
The Crest ($425) by Matt Mele at Treat Gallery really captures a summer mood.
One By Cassandra Zampini ($500)
Social distancing guidelines in-place meant that many galleries enjoyed expanded real estate for their booths. This space belongs to Domingo Comms, a Brooklyn-based company that offers a range of interior design services, communications management for artists and organizations, as well as an online art gallery. The art in their booth is by Francisco Donoso.
I love this painting by Yelena Lezhen, Sunny Day in Central Park ($3,000) at Manifest Destiny Art. Check out a detail shot, below.
Amazing!
Artist Nicolas Leiva makes his Cabeza – Head sculptures ($4250) from underglazed ceramic. Find them at JCamejo Art, New York.
It’s always a pleasure to see our friends at NYC’s Lilac Gallery at the fair. They specialize in vibrant pop art — great for any decor!
Axiom Contemporary of Scottsdale represents artists whose work focuses on pop culture, music and media.
You can build a virtual media-library instantly with the work of Max-Steven Grossman, whose photo compilations, like Rock 60s & 70s BC are given a glossy lucite finish. This piece sells for $9,000.
This gorgeous portrait of David Bowie is by German artist Jakob Reh and was spotted in the booth for (also German) Galerie Makowski. That’s also where we were introduced to the work of Vaintsy, who created this collage of the Mona Lisa’s image juxtaposed with luxury brand logos set in a colorful, paint-splattered frame — very fun!
The above abstract paintings by an artist known as JAZZ remind me of the work of George Condo. These are priced at $550 for the one in the top left corner and $1250 for all others, at NY-based Gugsa Black Arts Collective.
Artist Loraine Lynn is interviewed about her very fun tufted yarn wall-hangings, found at River House Arts of Toledo.
Other yarn works at the fair include these hand rugs by Mary Finlayson. They sell for $4200.
One of my favorite artists whose work I was first introduced to at the Affordable Art Fair is Palm Springs-based sculptress, Betsy Enzensberger. Betsy is known for her mind-blowing sculptures of fantasy frozen pops like the ones seen in the above photo. These pieces are quite reasonably priced at $300 each. Betsy is currently being represented by Treat Gallery.
It was also in the Treat Gallery booth that we spotted this lovely lady who is absolutely rocking a Pink and Black Striped Dress which turned out to be a Christopher John Rogers for Target! She looks amazing.
JJ Galloway is an artist who paints photo-realistic portraits of animals, food, and animals with food. She also makes very cool wooden sculptures of pigeons, which you can see in the above photo. Her work is lots of fun and very affordable!
Visit her website at This Link!
Storytelling Blablala ($1950) By Nayla Kai Saroufim at Azart Gallery
Okay, that wraps up this recap and we are hoping to be attending another Affordable Art Fair in the fall!