Affordable Art Fair of London

The art of buying cheap art

Sometimes original pieces of a well-known artist can cost thousands of pounds, so how can you start your own private collection with a low budget.

Mariana L. Arrieta

Nowadays everything seems to be art, so the most important thing is whatever you buy is because you like it; even if you paid £4,000 for a ceramic vase for your coffee table. But not everyone can afford that much money for a simple piece of pottery, so the Affordable Art Fair (AAF) coming to Battersea sounds like a good alternative for those who are interested in buying a piece of art.

Promoted twice a years in London, this art fair will be held from the 13th to the 16th of March in Battersea Park, and will offer the opportunity to buy original pieces from $40. The showcase will welcome more than 100 galleries worldwide and this year is expecting at least 22,000 visitors. With such popularity it’s easy to assume that AAF is a great way to get affordable art, but they need to fulfill what they are promising, original pieces from less than 50 quid.

Ryan Mitchell just got a canvas print of Oscar Sancho, a Spanish artist. He bought it through Saatchi gallery, the biggest art dealer in UK. "I paid £70 for and authentic copy of a Chihuahua dog that cost more than £400 original. Sure you could find copies for £40, but an original would be difficult". He added that original pieces are normally less expensive when they are small size (around 8x11 inch).

Doing some research in the AAF website it's possible to find some of the examples that are going to be exhibited this weekend. However the promising idea of getting a unique an original piece of art from $40 seams to vanish when you click in the link pointed as "Under £500" and find out that nothing cost less that £120. Would this be a way to make people go to the fair? Something is for sure, whatever you paid for your new piece of art; you have to add it to the £15 of the entrance ticket.

Will Ramsey, founder of Affordable Art Fair, said that its intention is to expose relatively unknown artist and offer affordable prices to those who visit. AAF has sold £203 million worth in art around the world since it started in 1999, and had at least 1.4 million visitors.

This fair take place once a year in Hampstead, Hong Kong, Mexico, Amsterdam, Bristol, Seattle, Rome, Milan, Singapore, and four more other European countries; and Twice a year in London and New York, this because the busy these two cities. So even if you are not interested in buying a piece of art, it would be a good idea for the weekend.