Amsterdam Fair Director’s Top Picks

We’re back for the 15^th Anniversary of Affordable Art Fair Amsterdam. To help you get in the art-buying mood, our Fair Director Blythe Bolton has combed through the artworks on show to bring you her top picks and personal recommendations. Mark your diaries and get ready! Over to you Blythe…

In preparing for this year’s fair, there has been a word that’s been on my mind a lot. CELEBRATE. It’s a verb that runs like a ‘red thread’, (or, in our case, a ‘magenta thread’) through everything that we do when organising this event.

Whether it’s the 1st fair or the 15th, every time we open the doors on to the De Kromhouthal we want it to be celebration. Not only of art, and of the gathering of galleries and artworks from across the globe, but of YOU, our visitors, and the kaleidoscope of reasons you might be celebrating.  

Perhaps it’s a big life milestone; you want to mark your latest promotion with a cool artwork to hang behind you on video calls or maybe you’re looking for something special for the bedroom of a ‘lockdown baby’! 

But if the last year and a half have taught us anything, it’s that every day, no matter how rainy or admin-filled, is worth celebrating. We should surround ourselves with people and art that reminds us of that fact. 

This year, my picks have been chosen because in one way or another, they do that for me. I hope, that when you visit the fair, you find some inspiring artworks too! 

DERRICK OFOSU BOTENG

For some it’s glitter, for others it’s Gucci, but for me, it’s balloons. I love the purity of joy such a simple structure can bring and this is perfectly captured in this exuberant work by Ghanaian artist, Derrick Ofosu Boteng. 

This stunning photograph bursts with life’s potential sweetness and is the perfect antidote to Winter blues. If you aren’t one of the 60k+ following this creator of ‘feel good’ photography online already, I warmly recommend that you do so. 

SANDER M. JONKER

There was a very definite starting point in my journey into the world of art. I was 12 and I fell in love with with a turquoise blue ginger pot in two Piet Mondrian paintings.

This beautifully crafted 3D work from Dutch artist Sander M. Jonker, reminds me of what dazzled me then and what inspires me still today. The mysterious way in which some colours and forms pull us in like magnets, while others do nothing for us.

JEAN BARBATO PINCEL

The idea of Jean Barbato Pincel’s small, wiggly ceramic paintbrush making its way from Colombia to a new home in Amsterdam makes me smile. Full of energy, it looks like it might slither off the wall if we take our eyes off of it.

The translated title of this wonderfully surreal object is, ‘The Certainty of Uncertainty’ – a friendly reminder of one of the many lessons we’ve been collectively learning over the last 18 months. 

MASSIMO DANIELIS

Massimo Danielis’ work always puts me in mind of that strange musical sensation where songs ‘grow on us’ the more we listen to them.  

This Italian painting maestro’s works are full of patient mark-making, rich, layers of colour – I feel better every time I see them. Be sure to get right up close to these complex textures at the fair, the screen will never do them justice. 

LEONIE SCHNEIDER

Nominated in 2020 for the Royal Award for Modern Painting, I’m full of admiration for the maturity of artist Leonie’s quirky style, technical skill and ability to pull the viewer down the rabbit hole and into her world. 

Crooked Game, is a favourite of mine and full of the humour and narrative flair that Leonie is fast becoming famed for. An ‘organized riot’ of characters, pattern and symbols, it certainly makes me want to know more about the artist behind it! 

HASH

Every now and then I will encounter an artist at an art fair and their work strikes me like lightning. Brussels-based HasH, who joins the fair for the first time this year with Art Unity Gallery, is one of those artists whose work I can’t wait to see again.

If anyone is looking for me at the fair, you’ll probably find me staring at these works, wondering what lies ahead for this talented chap. 

For whatever inspiration you might be seeking, we hope you will come and join us at Affordable Art Fair Amsterdam at De Kromhouthal, 27-31 October. I look forward to seeing you there!