The Affordable Art Fair’s eighth Autumn Edition will open to the public tomorrow for a three-day (17 to 19 November) event at the F1 Pit Building with an expansion of its multi-disciplinary art installations, new media works, and for the first time, a Virtual Reality (VR) experience to raise funds for charity.

Featuring 70 galleries and more than 500 artists from Singapore, Asia, and the rest of the world, the event showcases works from new and emerging artists together with recognised artists with an assorted selection of contemporary artworks, across an array of styles from abstract to figurative, and a range of art forms including paintings, sculpture, photography and new media.

With 75% of its works priced under S$7,500, the fair remains committed to showcasing quality contemporary art that suits every taste and budget. Constantly evolving and refreshing its programming, the fair introduces a brand new #Spotlight showcase of artists who have never shown at the fair before, to replace the Under $1000 Wall from previous editions of the event.

Multidiscipliary street artist Didier “Jaba” Matthieu, creator of the well-known graffiti mural seen on Haji Lane in the Kampong Glam neighbourhood, will present a wall mural installation within the fair’s new Creative Hub area as part of the Special Projects installations, titled ‘Time Travelers’. The piece is the result of his recent study of the ancient art of fresco to depict futuristic cities inspired by biomimicry, while at the same time practicing art through virtual reality.

Fresh offerings will also include new media art such as a video and sound installation titled ‘Taking a nap, feet planted, against a cool wall’ by artist Chloe Manasseh. The video and multi-media wall installation is a deconstruction and remix of reality and will incorporate two 30-minute live performances, with musicians responding directly to the video work through improvised, un-rehearsed sound. The performances are called ‘100 Sounds Singapore’, and will take place on Thursday night’s Private View and Friday night’s Arty-Licious Evening.

The fair’s chosen charity partner this year is on a mission to eradicate preventable blindness in the less fortunate people of Indonesia through the wonders of a virtual reality app which simulates cataract impairment using a smartphone and VR headset. The John Fawcett Foundation is launching its new initiative ‘CATARART’ at the fair by asking artists to give up their eyesight by creating artworks under the conditions of cataracts. The pieces they create will be sold at the fair, with the proceeds going to the Foundation.

Additionally, visitors to the fair will be able to try the VR app for themselves and create their own CATARART piece in return for a small donation to the Foundation. There will also be artists producing live CATARART pieces during the event, including Chinese painter Ong Lee Heng.

Art Wonderland will present the Children’s Art Studio for kids four to 12 years old. The complimentary workshop ‘Garden of Tomorrow’, explores the environment and reflects on the significance of Singapore as a garden city, while ‘Explorers At Work’ is a 75-min creative workshop at only $15, including art materials, which incorporates a learning tour around the fair and a tangible art making session. In this workshop children will learn about, and create, unusual mixed media artworks using tactile materials such as clay, aluminium foil, sequins, crepe paper and even unconventional mediums such as coffee powder.

Rounding off the new offerings, the fair’s Art Education Programme will offer various guest speakers for art talks such as ‘From Collector to Artist: A creative journey towards mixed media and photography’, ‘Graffiti vs. Street Art’, and Fair Director led tours, just to name a few.

The finalists of the immensely successful Young Talent Programme 2017/2018 will lead Artists Tours, sharing their ideas of how they used materials to work out their themes. From Jamela Law’s wearable art pieces, Bo Sung Yom’s erudite found object works, Faris Nakamura’s spatial constructions, and Xinwei Che’s sensitive ceramic, wax, and bronze works, the expressions are varied and also include an interactive history lesson by Liza Markus.

“As we open the fair this week, we are proud to announce that we have truly succeeded in the further evolution of the fair in keeping with global art trends and new approaches to creativity and expression. During the development phases of the programming we kept in our minds how the world is quickly shifting through technology and globalisation and as an art and lifestyle brand, we need to consistently progress. That means presenting content, artists, and educational activities that reflect our objectives including that of remaining an industry leader committed to shaping and contributing to the progression of the local art scene.” said Fair Director, Mr Alan Koh.

Special Event
16 November, Thursday, Private View (By-invitation only): 6pm – 10pm

Public Days
17 November, Friday: 12noon – 6pm
Arty-Licious Evening, Friday 6pm – 10pm
18 November, Saturday: 11am – 8pm
19 November, Sunday: 11am – 6pm

Ticket Prices (at the door):
General Admission (public days): $18
Special Evening (Friday Evening): $25
Students & Seniors: $10
Children under 16: free admission

Venue: F1 Pit Building (1 Republic Boulevard)