'Searching for Amat Arasu' by Daniel Cimmermann @ Nick Whistler, Toronto & Sussex

The Affordable Art Fair was in London at Battersea Park last week, with no piece on display exceeding the cap of £4,000. We like the fair’s aim of making contemporary art accessible to everyone. Many others clearly appreciate the concept as well, since the AAF is now in its thirteenth year. It’s also become international: fairs were held in February in Milan and Brussels, and the next ones are scheduled for May in New York, Amsterdam and Bristol, with an affiliate event also taking place that month in Melbourne.

Going to any art fair is a bit of a flea market experience — you have to sift through a great deal before finding the rare gem. The AAF is no different, although with its focus on new and emerging artists, visitors seem to be more rapid, open and ruthless in their judgements. This can be great fun for the listener. With works by established artists at other fairs like Frieze and both Art Basel events, name or brand-recognition and higher financial values regrettably tend to have a distorting (often moderating and self-censoring) influence on the views of art lovers.

At gallery stands during the AAF opening on Wednesday, AM spotted the good, the bad and the ugly. We also saw the interesting, the gimmicky, the dull and the highly derivative. After the jump, see the selection of works that caught our eye, sometimes for the right reasons and other times not.

'Orange Marilyn - after Warhol' by Jane Perkins @ Will's Art Warehouse, London

'Orange Marilyn - after Warhol' (detail) by Jane Perkins @ Will's Art Warehouse, London

'Défense de fumer' by Fernando Costa @ The French Art Studio, London

'Starling Swarm Series 8610' by Eberhard Ross @ Four Square Fine Arts, Lewes

'Small' by Beth Richardson @ Greenstage Gallery, Herefordshire

'Red Shoe' by Stefan Gross @ Harlan Levey Projects, Brussels, Belgium

'Sharp Practices' by Gwen Fulton @ Portal Painters, London

'Gloria' (canvas on the left) by Angela Lizon @ Transistor

'Vertical' by Gottfried Honegger @ Brita Prinz Arte, Madrid, Spain

'Tonight for Sure' by Richard Scott @ Beyond the Sea, Cornwall — Recipe: Take 2 parts Julian Opie. Mix with 1 part Lucie Bennett / Natasha Law. Apply to a textured canvas. Presto!

'Lesson 1' by Ione Rucquoi @ Bo Lee Gallery, Bath — For the ballerina whose fingernails are too short to self-harm.

'Figures in a Landscape' by Roger Mavity @ Samuel Maenhoudt Gallery, Knokke, Belgium — Homage to Vanessa Beecroft?

'Your Dad's Got a Mullet' by Paul Bower @ Murphy Machin, London

Text and photographs by Patrick Nguyen.