Ahead of Affordable Art Fair Battersea Autumn, 16 - 20 October 2024, we caught up with Fair Director Hugo Barclay to find out his must-see artists and galleries!
“There’s so much to look forward to at our autumn fair this year, not least because we’re celebrating a quarter of a century of making buying art accessible.”
Fair Director, Hugo Barclay
There’s so much to look forward to at our autumn fair this year, not least because we’re celebrating a quarter of a century of making buying art accessible. The brilliant line up of galleries and artists ranges from neo-pop portraits to dystopian AI photography, striking social commentaries to peaceful landscapes.
Plus, don’t miss the show-stopping installation from Helen Brough, who’s stunning laser-cut Dahlia welcomes you as you step inside the fair. We’re also bringing back Art After Dark Lates, our adults-only after party on Thursday and Friday, complete with DJ and cocktails, plus Ink & Drink workshops for a unique date night.
With 1,000s of works from over 100 galleries, it’d be impossible to mention them all, but here’s a few I’m looking out for…
Columbian artist Alejandra Aristizabal’s work uses the Fique plant – Furcraea Andina – a species native of south American Andean region, and one of the Colombian national fibres. Alejandra’s work directly supports the indigenous communities within this region who assist her in harvesting and drying this unique natural fibre. For me, these works are about connection – interconnection between people and nature, culture and the appreciation for the finite resources that bind them.
A visual artist specialising in figurative portraits, Ronald Mugabe has an expressive and bold style that will draw you in. His work explores social struggles, justice, community and belonging, inviting us to confront hard truths. From spending most of his childhood as a homeless orphan in the slums of Kampala to being offered a scholarship to join Uganda’s most prestigious art school, his incredible story further brings consciousness to such realities.
I have a growing love for ceramics, and Verity’s artworks create such intrigue, taking inspiration from landscape, exploring mystery and triggering memories. They bring to my mind a version of Ailsa Craig – a tiny island off the coast of Aran – a beautifully asymmetric crown of granite rock that sticks out among the horizon in the Firth of Clyde in my native Scotland.
Valerie uses long forgotten imagery from films of photos and reimagines them to build her own composition and narrative. Looking at her artwork The Diving Board, I feel swept up in memories of long summers in a worry-free world!
These fantastic, highly rendered artworks make plasticity attractive. For me, Kiseok Kim has an original take of neo-pop style, while pointing at deeper questions of perfection, and the idealized look.
A photographer by trade, Philip usually specialises in reality-based documentary work. On show at the fair, however, will be his realistic-looking dystopian visions of new worlds. Using AI to reimagine dystopian scenes in his latest body of work titled ‘Another America’, these striking, often uncomfortable images evoke the past while representing visions of the future, and are certainly not to be missed.
Specificised in printmaking, Shivangi’s work looks at identity and her engagement with social, ecological and political spaces, and the idea of the collective voice of a crowd. I think a lot about crowds – about the art fair and about bringing people together. The underlying concepts of how she thinks of crowds is different. But the notion of collective opinion and identity in itself in fascinating to me, how the power of crowds having a variant identity to one of its individual parts is powerful.
These gorgeous original landscapes are like finding an opening to a new-found land. Deeply connected inspirations from Chile come through in Mariano’s pallet and his use of colour and light make you want to stop and stare at them forever.
I’m so thrilled to spotlight Helen’s latest body of work, her beautiful glass sculptures, plus her small, inspired paintings and watercolours. Pushing the boundaries of technology, her practice really captures colour and light in a magnificent way. It’s also been fantastic to work with Helen on her commissioned installation Dahlia Cuore at the entrance of the fair to celebrate 25 years of Affordable Art Fair.
Thanks so much to Fair Director Hugo Barclay for sharing his highlights! All of these artworks and many more will be available to see and purchase at Affordable Art Fair, Battersea Autumn, 16 – 20 October 2024.
Book online today to secure your visit!