Thanks to Jasmine for inviting me to this Art Fair. It was my first time visiting this art fair. Heard about it before, but never had a chance to visit it. I really love art. Anything that tickles my artistic senses will be welcoming.
Seriously, this art fair is an eye opening. Do you visit art fair with a stick of ice-cream in your hand while you browses through the various paintings from all over the world. I believe most Art Fair organizer will be screaming if they see you eating something in their fair.
Why is it called Affordable Art Fair, simply because it does not have the expensive price tags in several hundred thousand or even in millions. The price ranges from $100 to $10,000. I only get to knew this information when I met our famous local artist, affectionately know as "Tung Tung", who was at the fair. His art pieces are also available for sales. I met Tung a few times while photographing backstage at our local street Chinese opera performances. I was asking why his large paintings were not there. He told me that the price ceiling for this fair is at fixed at $10,000. Obviously, his large paintings were priced above $10,000.
At the fair, you get to see very inspiring and very interesting techniques and ideas. Simplicity, Originality and even Complexity are words that describe the works of the artists. At this fair, we also need to add the word, Affordability. Appreciating art is one thing. Investing in art is another thing. Art can only be fully appreciated if someone is there to explain to you.
I came across a booth which a friendly young lady spend time to explain to me about the painting in her booth. The paintings are done by a Belgium artist who is currently based in Thailand. His painting of lines drawn on a female face has a story behind. He spend 3 years waiting for permit to visit a tribe known as Chin which is located between the border of China and Myanmar.
The tradition of this tribe is to have the ladies ( after puberty ), tattoo on their face. Only female are allow to have the tattoo. It is different from the Maori from New Zealand where the man wear the tattoo on their faces. The tattoo on these Chin tribe ladies identify where they came from. For example, this type of line tattoo pattern come from Toa Payoh while another line tattoo pattern come from Tampines.
With these information, the artist created his painting beautifully. Therefore, his paintings are a result of his inspiration received from the Chin tribe. Incidentally, the word "Chin" is my home lady boss name. Hmmm....
Another interesting booth, we came across four performing artists. They are not suppose to talk but instead uses their body and expression to convey something to the visitors. The artists acted well and also responded well with the crowd. I have never seen an art fair with live performers. Definitely something unique and refreshing. It is only when I revisited the booths again, I realized that there is an apps to install so that information such as those expressed by the artists can be understood through the apps. As some of these artist were wearing or covered with masks, our revisit of the booths help us to see the beautiful faces of these young artists who are resting well for the next performance time slot.
Showcasing a plethora of new local and international talents from over 40 galleries,the articles of Gnani Arts includes A.Viswam, Pon Raghunathan, Dhiraj Choudhary, Praveen Upadhye, G. Raman, Laxman Aelay, Ravi Chandra, M. Jayakumar, Sheikh Hizful, Manoj Aggarwal, P. Gnana.
There are also food from Bistro 1855 to cater to your hunger needs.
Overall, the art fair is fun and inspiring. Hope to visit again next year for more inspirations.
The fair for public will be from 22 April to 24 April 2016 at the F1 Pit Building.
More information can be found at
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