Stephen Charlton: Inside Battersea's Affordable Art Fair

Redefiner Stephen Charlton explores the work of three fellow artists at the Affordable Art Fair in Battersea this year.

As a winner of free VIP tickets and £100 vouchers towards an art purchase at the Affordable Art Fair in London's Battersea, I started off on a high. My purpose for this visit was to explore and absorb thousands of paintings and sculpture that I could then hone down to just three.

A tall order, I know! But I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and eventually came away with the three artworks that stood out head and shoulders above the rest. Catching my eye and captivating my heart - as it should be. Of the three paintings selected, I was able to speak directly to two of the artists who were present on the stand represented by their galleries.

Conversing with fellow artists is a real pleasure for me, and provides insight into their stories and processes that you would not gain from a gallery owner.

I will say, that the quality, standard, and variety of artwork was exceptional this year (it does vary!) and to select just three artworks was not as difficult as I first thought..

Massimo Danielis

Massimo Danielis is an Italian artist living in Germany and has a printmaking background but this spectacular hero piece was a clear winner for me. By painting layers of oil paint, Massimo scratches through the surface layer revealing colours and leaving a textured mosaic that I just couldn’t take my eyes off.

This is the one piece I would have bought on the day and now I have met with Massimo, I will follow him closely and maybe a purchase in the future is on the cards.

Antoinne Gaussin

My next conversation was with artist Antoinne Gaussin, who runs his own vibrant and successful art gallery Visus in Belgium and France.

This beautiful monumental photographic piece stopped me in my tracks and after speaking to Antoinne, I better understood the story behind the piece, adding to my experience of it. Images taken at a marble quarry were ‘stitched’ together to create the graphical lines on the right and the soft focussed mountains and sky on the left. It’s one of those pieces you can look at forever, another reason to love the piece and with its monochromatic hues, this is both subtle and powerful.

Tim Steward

My last encounter was with this large oil landscape painting by artist Tim Steward represented by Darl.e and the Bear gallery in Woodstock.

This piece resonated with me due to the subdued values of the paint, and the energy of the water cascading through a rocky ravine. To see the impasto paint allows us to see the textured brushwork and the confidence in which it is applied. This atmospheric painting delivers almost an audible experience as well as a visual one, and I feel that this is so rarely achieved, and one of the many reasons I love it!