When I arrived at Chelsea’s Metropolitan Pavilion in Manhattan on Thursday, the opening day of the Affordable Art Fair (AAF), a long line flowed out of the venue’s entrance and wrapped around the corner of 18th Street and 6th Avenue. With 77 participating galleries representing works by more than 400 living artists, the fair, open through this Sunday, is known for offering works for sale from $100 all the way up to $12,000 — a modest comparison to the exorbitant prices at fairs such as the Armory Show and Fries.
Over the past year, AAF has attracted more fair visitors and sold more works. After generating $3.5 million in art sales last fall, the fair sold $5.1 million worth of artworks in the spring, a feat that the fair’s PR consultant, Veronica Petty, attributed to a sweet spot in prices ranging between $10,000 and $15,000.
As soon as I walked in, I was met by an exceptionally large soft sculpture of an elephant by professional doll maker and self-taught painter Manju Shandler, presented by the Brooklyn nonprofit Arts Gowanus. The work, an amalgam of recycled paintings and textured fabrics, is aptly titled “The Elephant In The Room” (2024) and was first exhibited this summer during Upstate Art Weekend at Shandler’s. shed location in Kerhonkson, New York.
Shandler told me this is her second time participating in AAF since her first exhibition at the now-defunct Gallery Ho eight years ago. When I inquired about the cost of the giant fabric sculpture, she said the price depends on the buyer and what they plan to do with the work. Shandler asked if I was interested in purchasing it, and I had to admit that unfortunately it would never fit in my small studio apartment and would probably also pose a conflict of interest.
“In New York, most people don’t really have a space for it, so this is something I created because – I don’t know, artists are weird and they have this impulse that they want to make things, right? Shandler said. “It would look great in a children’s museum or something like that.”
I made my way through the crowd of fairgoers with VooDoo Ranger and Fat Tire beer cans in hand, past hanging disco balls at the Fremin Gallery booth, a wall of several pigeon portraits, and a few glossy cherry sculptures presented by Palma Arte gallery that reminded me of I still hadn’t eaten.
At the Established Gallery booth, Brooklyn textile and sculpture artist Traci Johnson is exhibiting a new series of tufted rugs that grapple with self-perception amid feminine beauty standards. The work ‘Whispers of Silk’ (2024) depicts past, present and future versions of the artist ‘killing each other’ to reveal a contemplative spider-like creature at its centre. It takes the form of bamboo earrings – “a status of femininity” that Johnson said they felt they “could never acquire or wear” growing up.
“Now, at this point in my life, I realize that’s not necessary,” the artist told me. Johnson, a returning AAF participant, said they like the fair for its accessibility and unpretentious atmosphere, which welcomes both experienced and novice collectors.
“It’s not intimidating, unlike other fairs where it’s very much like, ‘Who are you?’ What other references do you have? Do you have $20,000?’” Johnson said.
As I made my way through the densely packed crowds on the first floor, past an abstract display of the Pink Panther and holographic mural works that made my head spin, I glimpsed gallerists and collectors parading recently sold works, freshly packaged in packaging paper and stretch film. wrap. At a booth at the Art Pantheon Gallery, based in Lagos, Nigeria, attendees pointed out two enormous paintings by artists Toromade Tosin and Toju Clarke that had sold before the fair even opened.
“We have announced our participation [in AAF] in Lagos, and a collector saw the two works and said she wanted them,” art consultant and facilitator Nana Asumah told me, adding that many visitors at the fair showed interest in “Bearer of Strength” (2024) – another painting by Tosin that struggles with heteronormative male expectations. This is the gallery’s first year participating in AAF and although it was only the first night, Asumah said she wants to return for future iterations.
Upstairs on the slightly less suffocating second floor, I met artist Natalie Koren Kropf at the Artios Gallery booth, where her swirling mixed-media paintings and sculptures in bronze and rockite are on display. “Over The Moon” (2024), one of her latest works in this series based on musical movements, cost $12,000 and sold earlier in the evening. As a second-time returning fair participant, she said her favorite part is the crowd the show draws.
“I love the people who come here, my fellow New Yorkers,” Kropf said. “The stock market is small. It’s not super overwhelming and quite affordable,” Kropf told me, adding that she prefers the “seclusion” of the second floor.
With 15 minutes to go until the fair, I scoured the crowd for a buyer and quickly found myself talking to Joanne and Lauren Scevola, a mother and daughter from New Jersey. As a “birthday treat” for herself, Lauren had purchased a $700 mixed-media work by Korean artist Bu-kang Lee, who was exhibiting with Mookji Art Contemporary. She said she was moved by the artist’s practice, in which he recreates buildings that have been demolished for new developments by repurposing the discarded plywood and materials.
“We will definitely come back,” they said.
