As an international gallery-led fair, we thought we’d tell you a little bit more about why we absolutely love, and choose to work, with galleries.
As an international gallery-led fair, it’s no surprise that galleries are at the heart of the Affordable Art Fair ethos. With this in mind, we thought we’d tell you a little bit more about why we absolutely love, and choose to work with, galleries and artist collectives. Working with our family of international galleries, from Sydney to Paris, Shanghai to Austin, is a wonderful way to support artists around the world whilst widening accessibility to art as well. We couldn’t be prouder to have built a network of passionate galleries who bring their expertise and skills to our fairs and online community.
Read on for more information about our relationship with this glorious group of galleries — and how their work directly boosts the careers of artist’s the world over.
Rather than exhibiting individual artists, working with galleries means that you have access to their full roster of creative talent, with 1,000’s of artists work available to view in the flesh at our fairs.
That equals a whole lot of art! From printmakers, photographers, painters and sculptors, there’s an incredible array to choose from, giving our visitors an expansive selection and a greater chance to find a suitable piece for their home.
We’re not saying that the roles of gallerist and artist don’t mingle at times, and in our experience, we’ve met many an artist who merges their creativity with running a gallery. But we’ve often heard the same lament — we wish we had more time to focus on our art!
Working with a gallerist who can take care of the marketing, sales and administration that goes hand-in-hand with running a business, means that our artists have the space and time they need to be creative. Galleries are an integral part of the art ecosystem, helping their artist’s reach clients and art-lovers in all sorts of ways, from press and advertising, to mailing lists and art fairs. A huge amount of work goes into running a gallery — and it’s usually because the gallerist is a passionate art lover themselves!
Galleries have an existing customer base of art-lovers, meaning that they develop real insight into tastes and trends. Plus, working with a roster of artists, often over a long period of time, you can be sure that our gallerists have developed an impressive amount of expertise on the art market and spotting the hottest new creative talent. Therefore they are the perfect people to connect art-lovers with the latest and greatest art to grow your collection.
Having a relationship with a gallerist means that you have a wealth of ideas and knowledge at your fingertip; there’s little a gallerist loves more than solving a tricky challenge – whether it’s a hanging problem, helping find that perfect wedding gift for a friend, or working towards a specific budget. Never underestimate how their assistance will help you make that all important decision when it comes to expanding your collection or buying art as a gift. So, whether you’re looking for an established artist or rising star, an unusual installation or a stunning photograph, chances are our gallerists will have plenty of ideas to help you make that choice.
Back in 1999, when fair founder Will Ramsay noticed a gap in the art market for affordable, original and accessible art work, he launched the very first edition of the Affordable Art Fair in London’s leafy Battersea Park. Drawing on his experience of running his own gallery, Will’s Art Warehouse, the Affordable Art Fair began with galleries at its core — and since then, we’ve helped hundreds of galleries connect with our visitors.
Over the past two decades, we have learnt a lot about the types of artworks and artists you love. As a result, we only select the cream-of-the-crop, then work closely with our gallerists to ensure they exhibit a beautiful, inspiring and intriguing selection of pieces. And the right artworks mean happy visitors, which of course means happy artists and galleries!
So, when you’re looking for your next perfect piece of affordable art, you can be confident that you are viewing a curated collection of artworks, hand-picked by an expert family of galleries, who in turn were selected by art experts with two decades of experience – us!
Now you know all there is to know about our wonderful gallerists, find out who will be exhibiting at your next closest fair!
Main Image:
Visitors at the Hampstead fair chats with a gallerist.