Cover Affordable Art Fair Hong Kong 2019. Image courtesy of Rupert Harding-Newman.

The eighth Affordable Art Fair returns with a strong line-up of Hong Kong and international galleries. Here are five not to be missed.

Taking place from August 26-29 in Hong Kong, this year’s Affordable Art Fair presents a wide variety of genres and periods from 40 galleries, 34 of which are Hong Kong-based, making this year’s line-up a celebration of homegrown talent. International galleries from Asia, Europe and Australia will also exhibit works in two ways: at dedicated stands manned by local staff, or curated by the fair and on display in one space alongside pieces from other overseas galleries.

See also: Tatler’s Guide To Affordable Art Fair Hong Kong 2021

1. Young Soy Gallery

Tatler Asia
Above Bite Your Tongue by Tyler Jackson Pritchard. Courtesy of Young Soy Gallery and the artist.
Tatler Asia
Above By Benson Koo. Courtesy of Young Soy Gallery and the artist.

“Young Soy” means “looking terrible” in Cantonese, but there’s nothing unappealing about this online gallery’s offerings. It brings together a group of artists—doodle illustrators, multimedia artists, abstract acrylic painters and so on—who portray all manner of things related to Hong Kong, be it the city’s landscape, people, historic images or iconic local drinks.

For this fair, the gallery presents Fragrant Harbour, a group show by Riya Chandiramani, Ling Muki, Mizuki Nishiyama, Tyler Jackson Pritchard, Ross Turpin, Louise Soloway Chan, Rain Chan, Benson Koo, and Hong Kong’s resident street artist Obsrvr. Inspired by their personal experiences in the show’s titular harbour, each artist expresses what this city means to them, whether as their birthplace or adopted home.

See also: Artist Stephen Wong Chun-hei On His Love For Hong Kong’s Landscapes

2. Marine House at Beer

Tatler Asia
Above Home Time by David Farrant. Courtesy of Rupert Harding-Newman.

This gallery, established in the fishing village of Beer in Devon, on the UK’s southwest coast, focuses on original paintings, ceramics and studio glass, and has been a regular at the Affordable Art Fair in London (Battersea and Hampstead), Hong Kong and Singapore for the past seven years. This year, it will present landscapes and streetscapes in acrylic, acrylic ink and oil by nine artists including David Farrant, who is considered one of the finest figurative painters in the UK.

3. Utterly Art

Having organised nearly 400 exhibitions for artists, sculptors, ceramists and photographers in its Singapore Chinatown showroom and at art fairs in Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia, Utterly Art is Singapore’s most active art space. For the last 20 years, it has been presenting Singaporean and Southeast Asian art.

At this year’s Affordable Art Fair, the gallery will feature six creatives, including pop artist Andre Tan and ceramic sculptor Zestro Leow who uses the traditional medium to create contemporary art.

See also: Hong Kong Through The Lens Of The City's Street Photographers

4. 13A New Street Gallery

The community-focused establishment brings together young artists and designers from Hong Kong and abroad who are passionate about narrowing the gap between artists and the public. They include Tommy Fung, best known for his SurrealHK digital artworks inspired by the likes of Choi Hung Estate, the pandemic and, most recently, Hong Kong’s Olympians. The gallery will also feature ten more artists, including Mr Likey, Mizuki Nishiyama, Distort Monsters and Alfred Cheng.

5. Art Supermarket

This year, Art Supermarket will present French pop artist JM Robert, known for his bold graphic style that references the deterioration of urban walls. Robert is one of the gallery’s most popular artists; one of his paintings was projected onto Paris’s Arc de Triomphe to celebrate New Year in 2016. The works featured in Hong Kong explore his ruins-inspired aesthetic, and speak a contemporary language that reflects the history of cities he is inspired by.

See also: How Asian Artists Are Leading The Internet Art Movement In New Directions

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