Day five of the Affordable Art Fair and Escape from New York

Sunday is always somewhat of a stressful day -- if sales have been slow, every possible bite becomes urgent.

On my way from The Jane Hotel to the Metropolitan Pavilion
I came across a Goya truck: Si es Goya, tiene que ser bueno

We get a visit from DMV are ubercollector Steve Krensky... Krensky, without a single doubt, has the largest collection of art by DMV artists on planet Earth! In fact, Krensky has more DMV artwork than all museums in the world combined.

Steve Krensky wearing one of his famous art outfits

Sunday crowds at the AAFNYC

Sunday sales are slow except for Seth Fairweather, whose work is on fire with multiple sales. When 5PM the fair ends and the furious process of repacking the art, breaking down and loading the van commences. With the whole crew busting ass, we escape from New York around 6:30PM - a new record!

Day four of the Affordable Art Fair NYC

Here's what unusual: the fair has been very well attended - lots of people, yet sales have been somewhat slow -- my drawings on Bisque have been flying off the wall - but they're a very low price point.  Today Seth Fairweather had a decent sale of three of his very cool wall sculptures, but also faced dealing with a nice lady who wanted a huge discount on several of his colored glass pieces - we eventually refused the offer, which essentially wanted a third off!

Art collectors admire Seth Fairweather's work at the AAFNYC Fall 2023

Christina Helowicz "eye" sculptures have also been selling well, but again they're very low priced at around $300 each or so.

Eye sculpture by Christina Helowicz at the 2023 Fall AAFNYC

The works of Dora Patin continue to get a lot of attention - this gifted painter is clearly a superbly talented painter, and her trompe l'oeils are amazing to say the least. So far one has sold.

Double Venus by Dora Patin

Susan Lamont's wonderful oils have made their debut in this fair - a lesson learned is that perhaps in the future the larger works may have more impact.

Pershing Square Crossing by Susan La Mont

Day three of the Affordable Art Fair NYC

Day three is a long one, with a lot of young collectors strolling through the aisles (2,100 visitors today!).

Press from today:

Hyperallergic 

La Voce Di New York

W42ST

Thrillist

Alida Anderson Art Projects booth crew
(left to right: Christina, me, Steve and Seth)

Seth Fairweather with admirer

Day two of the Affordable Art Fair New York

The VIP Preview opening last night was pretty packed - there was a snafu with the beer delivery (not the fault of the AAF staff), but...

The second day was also pretty well attended.

Some decent press so far:

• 6sqft 
• Artnet News 
• Hyperallergic
• TimeOut New York
• Made in Italy Press & News
• La Voce Di New York
• • New York Latin Culture Magazine 
  • Piercing Ken
  • Hyperallergic
  • The PR Net 
  • GothamToGo
  • 
    

Seth Fairweather at the Affordable Art Fair NY Fall

Jennifer Kahn Barlow at the Affordable Art Fair NY Fall

Dora Patin at the Affordable Art Fair NY Fall

Steve Wanna at the Affordable Art Fair NY Fall

Ally Morgan at the Affordable Art Fair NY Fall

Amanda Coehlo at the Affordable Art Fair NY Fall

Lian Sever at the Affordable Art Fair NY Fall

Pershing Square - One of Susan La Mont's paintings
at the Affordable Art Fair NY Fall

Three of Florencio Lennox Campello's works at the Affordable Art Fair NY Fall

Alida Anderson Art Projects' booth at the Affordable Art Fair New York

How to Spend $1,000 at NYC’s Affordable Art Fair

Rhea Nayyar from Hyperallergic went to the Affordable Art Fair in NYC with a thousand imaginary bucks...

I gave myself an imagined budget and set out to find everything from dorm-room art to a housewarming gift for that friend who loves crystals.

I was admittedly grumpy when I arrived at the Metropolitan Pavilion in Manhattan to see that the line for the Affordable Art Fair entry wrapped around three-quarters of the block. For what it’s worth, the line moved quickly and I got to daydream about organizational solutions while peering into the neighboring Container Store, but even then, I still couldn’t believe how many people were waiting to get in on the preview night alone. Thankfully, the fair runs through September 24.

And I appreciate that Nayyar picked my Bisque drawings as one of her recommendations! About 30 of them sold on VIP Preview Night!

Read the article here.

On the way to NYC & Day One of the AAFNYC

4:30 AM: The van has been packed the day before, and it's ready for Steve Wanna to add his work as we head out to pick up Christina Helowicz in Pasadena. 

5:30 AM: Arrive at Pasadena, pick up Christina and head to New York. 

10:00ish AM: Arrival in Chelsea and check in at the Metropolitan Pavilion.  We get Doris Day parking by the side door, and unload, as our booth is really close to that door. Seth Fairweather is already there and his work is already hung.  I depart to check in to the Jane Hotel and drop luggage before heading back, dropping the van at the parking garage, where it will be until Friday at 6PM and then go inside the Pavilion to help with the hanging and preparation of the booth for tonight's VIP Preview. 

Steve Wanna setting up booth C1 at the Affordable Art Fair NYC

3:30PMish: The booth is pretty much done and hung with the work of Seth Fairweather,  Steve Wanna, Christina Helowicz,  Dora Patin,  Amanda Coelho,  Ally Morgan,  Jennifer Kahn Barlow,  Susan La Mont and mine. We head out to our respective hotels to clean up, be back by 5ish and be ready for the opening reception. 

Line outside the Metropolitan Pavilion waiting for the VIP Preview opening
of the Affordable Art Fair in New York 

 Preview Night of the 2023 Affordable Art Fair

A few minutes into the opening, a DMV area collector emails me in response to me sending him Dora Patin's new spectacular trompe l'oeil paintings, as he has begun collecting Patin during the previous fair; he says "I want the Cheshire cat."

Sometimes a Fair opening is so crowded that it actually begins to interfere with the visitors ability to actually see the artwork... my Bisque Graphite drawings move briskly.

9:00PM: It's been a long day and we're all exhausted as we head to our various hotels... the first day of the Affordable Art Fair New York City is done.

Lian Sever at AAFNYC

Lian Sever makes her Affordable Art Fair debut at the Affordable Art Fair NYC starting tomorrow at 6PM in Chelsea! We're in booth C1!

Frida Kahlo: Resilience by Lian Sever