The past weekend of April 1 – 3 2016 was a busy one. There was MoCCA Fest 2016, in which I was sharing a table with two others. Before that, I decided to check out the annual Affordable Art Fair.
Basically I had free tickets by basically signing up for their email list, but hey. Inspired by last month’s VIOLA and The Armory Show fairs, I figured it was worth a shot checking this event as well.
According to the official website: “The concept is simple, yet unique: an inspiring and friendly atmosphere in which you can find thousands of original paintings, prints, sculptures and photographs all under one roof, ranging from $100-$10,000, with more than half priced under $5,000!” Well no, $10, 000 is really not affordable. Hell, $1000 isn’t even affordable but…
Still, there was some pieces that caught my eye.
One of my favorite pieces was by Mr. Revrac. According to one art dealer, supposedly the artist looks like a serial killer, but is the sweetest guy on earth. Sounds like something you would use on your Tinder profile. Anyway, I really enjoyed his work, as you can see here.
My other favorite was by artist Lucy Sparrow. She re-created old food packages by constructing them out of felt, cotton and acrylic paint. Each individual item was on sale for $100 a piece.
One difference between the VIOLA show, The Armory Show, and The Affordable Art Fair. With VIOLA and Armory, the works shown was showcased as more museum items. With the Affordable Art Fair, some of the dealers seemed to be a bit more pushy. As soon as you walked into their booth, a dealer immediately approached you. It wasn’t the case with VIOLA and Armory. Also, Pop Art and culture seemed to be more the focus with the Affordable Art Fair, compared to last month’s events. Where with VIOLA and Armory, certain underground subcultures seemed to almost have a bit of respect, as if you were looking at historic artifacts rather than something to hang in your office space.
I kept on thinking on what Damien Echols said recently during his talk at the Rubin Museum of Art, which was just the week prior. This is not an exact quote, but he said something along the lines that art shouldn’t be something just so it can match whatever is in your living room, for example. Echols thought art was more along the lines of expressing how you feel. In regards to art, I agree with Echols. Art isn’t necessarily pretty, nor should it be. Art should confrontational. Art should be make people think. Art should make people react. Art shouldn’t be afraid of controversy. Art should challenge. Otherwise, what’s the point? Art is a lot more than something that looks good in a lobby.
Back to the Affordable Art Fair. Below are more photos from that event.
In all, I didn’t stay all day inside this event. It was time to pick up my MoCCA Fest exhibitor badge. Before I left, I stumbled across a section which encouraged people to draw whatever they liked in small boxes, markers provided. So I drew a Bowie/Aladdin Sane lighting bolt, and my main cartoon character Psycho Bunny before heading out.
WitchesBrewPress's Blog 