15 Years, 15 Fun Facts about Affordable Art Fair Singapore  

Ahead of Affordable Art Fair Singapore’s 15^th Anniversary, check out 15 fun facts about the longest-running international art fair in Singapore, coming back to the Lion City this 7-10 November.

1. Utterly Art, one of the fair’s longest-standing galleries, was also the very first gallery in Asia to sign up for Affordable Art Fair Singapore.

“Very early on, we recognized that the Affordable Art Fair had a philosophy and ethos very much up our gallery’s alley, making original art accessible to anyone. Being able to share our gallery’s tastes and artists with the wide spectrum of clients the fair would be able to draw was something we very much wanted to do. It was a no-brainer for us to sign on the dotted line quickly.” (Keng Hock Pwee, Utterly Art)

Utterly Art will be sharing one of the fair’s stars TR853-1 (TraseOne), who quickly sold out almost all 13 of his works in 2010. TR853-1 will be back again this November.

2. Johnny, one of our longest-standing UK galleries, once got arrested at customs.  

On his first visit to Singapore in 1972, Johnny was doing Jungle Warfare Training in Johor Bahru and was arrested at customs as he had forgotten his passport! However, this didn’t stop him from coming back to Singapore to exhibit at the first Affordable Art Fair.  

“It was a success right from the start……a cool, unique venue, great staff, responsive and acquisitive visitors to the fair.”  

– Johnny Gorman, Quantum Contemporary Art

In an era before Uber and Grab existed, Johnny and Tara from Quantum Contemporary Art had to travel in a van to bring their paintings to a client’s home for approval! Johnny recollects: “Tara was put in the passenger seat of the van, beside the driver. His two helpers had to travel with the painting in the dark, in the back of the van.” 

“…. when Tara emerged from the house with no painting but a cheque instead, there were high fives all around. The art collectors still contact us every year at the fair!” 

3. F1 Pit Building has been our home since the beginning, and has been our fair location since 2010. Can you spot the difference in the two images below?

4. We love to paint the city pink! Check out some of our creatives decorating the Lion City since 2010. 

5. We LOVE nurturing young talents in Singapore and around the world.

Lavender Chang, photographer and visual artist, was one of our first Young Talent programme winners when we first launched in 2012. Watch how her career has springboarded in our Global 25th Anniversary celebration. 

6. We love our big family.

With our Fair Director, Alan, having been here since day one, many of our fair members have also come back to support in many shapes and forms. Look at how our team has grown! Don’t forget to come and say hello when you see them at the fair.  

7. We welcomed our one-millionth visitor globally at our 2011 Singapore fair!

Now, we have welcomed 3.3 million visitors globally across our 17 fairs.

8. Not only has the team grown, we also love supporting our loyal partners.

We have been working with the same wrapping desk partner, Robin, since 2010. Don’t forget our fair offers complimentary wrapping service, do make sure you visit their booth after purchasing an artwork.

9. Did you know? We love educating young artists about art, and have always created a Children’s Arts studio to nurture talents of the future. 

10. Our fair uniqueness.  

As the fair has grown and evolved, not only do we feature local and international artworks around the world, we have also curated #SPOTLIGHT Special Exhibitions, art workshops, Special Projects and our delicious Gastro Park, allowing visitors to enjoy art via multiple perspectives. These educational and hands-on programmes help to bridge the gap for first-time visitors and art lovers, getting them closer to art. 

11. Art fairs without flair are just meetings – let’s add the cake!

Our team has worked hard to create our Gastro Park, a speciality at Affordable Art Fair Singapore. After working with Häagen-Dazs, Chimichanga and Group Therapy, who will be next in our foodie line-up? Stay tuned, or visit the fair yourself to find out.

12. Building an Art-Loving Community Since 2010!

Back in 2010, the fair was only hoping to receive 7,000 visitors. We were overwhelmed by the turnout of 9,500 art lovers and knew then that there is a gap in the market – people were looking to buy art but were not sure where to go or have the confidence to. Now, as the longest running art fair in Singapore, the fair has welcomed 16,000 in 2023, and looking forward to welcoming more! 

13. Art sales on the rise: watch creativity fly off the walls!

In 2010, 850 artworks were sold to art enthusiasts. By 2023, that number skyrocketed to 1,850 pieces, marking an impressive 220% growth in art sales!

14. We are always fostering art managers of the future.

Ever since the fair was established, we have worked with various art institutions such as Ngee Ann Poly and LaSalle College of the Arts to offer internship opportunities, with many of the students becoming long-term staff at the fair.

15. What is Alan most looking forward to for the next 15 years? 

“It is so heartening to see how the art industry has evolved over the past 15 years.  

It was fascinating to see how younger talents are inspired to create never-seen-before artworks. I am excited to see what the next generation has to offer, and how our fair will continue to excite the Singapore population, with our visitors embracing the art collecting journey.” (Alan Koh, Fair Director, Singapore)

Now we’ve looked back, it’s time to look forward! Head to our upcoming Affordable Art Fair Singapore, from 7-10 November 2024 at the F1 Pit Building. See you there soon!