ART FOR ALL

Affordable Art Fair brings fine art priced as low as $100 to Austin

“Desert Matrix” an oil-on-canvas work by artist Brooks Anderson, will be featured through Washington Gallery at this year’s Affordable Art Fair Austin. The piece uses an aerial perspective and geometric forms to depict a sun-washed desert landscape.

Photo courtesy of Affordable Art Fair Austin

The Affordable Art Fair Austin will return to Palmer Events Center from May 14-17, showcasing 55 galleries and thousands of contemporary artworks. The annual event makes the art world more approachable for first-time collectors, young renters and homeowners looking for high-quality decor, and more, including the merely “art-curious."

Founded in London in 1999 by art entrepreneur Will Ramsay, the international fair is now in its second year in Austin. The fair is centered on accessibility, positioning itself as an entry point into contemporary art collecting for casual buyers, younger audiences, and longtime art fans alike. Works on display will range from contemporary paintings and sculpture to photography, ceramics, printmaking, and mixed-media pieces, with prices spanning roughly $100 to $12,000.

In addition to browsing artwork, visitors will be able to attend panel discussions, guided tours, workshops, and family programming intended to demystify the art-buying process and encourage conversation between artists, galleries, and attendees. The event will also include evening “Art After Hours” programming on Friday and Saturday evenings, as well as family hours over the weekend.

General admission tickets start at $24.22, with discounted admission for students, military members, veterans, and seniors costing $18.49. Family passes are priced at $42.55, and children 16 and under can attend for free with advance registration. The fair is also offering “Art After Hours” tickets ($35.68) for its evening programming and an all-access pass ($58.61) that includes entry to the private preview event.

Fair organizers are also highlighting several standout works and artists ahead of opening weekend. Fair director Cori Teague singled out pieces ranging from bold contemporary abstracts and layered mixed-media works to sculptural ceramics and figurative paintings, reflecting the fair’s wide mix of styles and price points. Her selections include works by artists such as Abbey Engrav, Laurie Carswell, Isabelle Menin, and Sara Huxley.

Affordable Art Fair Austin “Rome ou la Tentation du passé #1,” a large-scale fine art print by Isabelle Menin presented through Muriel Guépin Gallery, layers florals and painterly textures into a dreamlike composition that explores memory and the classical past.Photo courtesy of Affordable Art Fair Austin

The event also leans into Austin’s decades-long blend of music, culture, and visual art. Longtime Austin musician Bob Schneider will participate in the fair for the first time, showcasing visual artwork through Wexel Art Gallery. Schneider said Austin’s creative culture helped shape both his music and visual art practice after moving to Austin in 1989. He then with printmaking through Flatbed Center for Contemporary Printmaking.

Bob Schhneider art piece A visual artwork by Bob Schneider, who is participating in Affordable Art Fair Austin through Wexel Art Gallery.Photo courtesy of Affordable Art Fair

“What defines Austin, at its core, is that it gives you permission to create for art’s sake rather than for commerce,” Schneider said in a Q&A with Affordable Art Fair provided to media. “Austin has always offered something different — a genuine openness and freedom that I’ve never taken for granted.”

The fair will also feature a strong Texas gallery presence, including longtime Austin institutions such as Flatbed, Yard Dog, Wally Workman Gallery, and Davis Gallery & Framing, alongside regional and international exhibitors.

Affordable Art Fair Austin begins with a private preview on Thursday, May 14, from 6-10 pm. General admission opens Friday, May 15, at noon and continues through Sunday, May 17. Tickets and additional programming details are available through the fair’s official website.

fine art visual art galleries

May is for Mahjong

Austin mahjong event and market brings back game's cultural context

Photo by Ness fu on Unsplash

The Mahj wants to use mahjong as an experiment in getting people together authentically.

It's strange to call a game that's more than 100 years old "trendy," but that's just what mahjong is after a huge popularity surge in the mid-2020s. Many new players are in it for the love of the game, but the commodified craze has also divorced the game from its Asian cultural context in the Western public consciousness. One Austin-based group that's working to correct that erasure is giving locals a great chance to learn, play, and support Asian communities on Saturday, May 23.

This free community mahjong event by The Mahj will platform more than 50 Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) artists, small businesses, and community organizations. The event will combine gameplaying and immersive art to get guests engaged with their surroundings. If visitors don't know how to play the tile matching game, they can stop by the mahjong parlor during teaching hours.

The May 23 event is a prototype for The Mahj, a new "interactive experiment," as it calls itself in a mission statement, that aims to foster social and collective wellbeing. It also looks to explore "cultural reclamation in the face of erasure and the aesthetic repackaging of cultural practices through capitalism and orientalism."

For the prototype, this will include an indoor night market co-hosted by The Lucky Market Festival and Asian Season ATX, plus an outdoor food court, a pop-up sari-sari (like a corner store) for art, and an art gallery. There will also be a tea lounge, flash tattoos, and DJ sets by Jaz EJ, Carnotrocity, Spectre Moon, and Shelz.

“We have a stellar team working hard to create a welcoming space that honors and uplifts the power of community and the joyful spirit of mahjong,” said lead event coordinator and experience designer Tiffany Chan in a press release. “Our goal is to bring people together in celebration of the creativity, culture, and communities that continue to shape Austin’s spirit.”

The event runs from 6-11 pm at Distribution Hall, 1500 E. 4th St. Although it is free, The Mahj encourages guests to RSVP via Eventbrite so the team knows what to prepare for. Just earnestly engaging in experiment should be helpful; to help even more, volunteers can reach out to hello@themahjatx.com.

games tabletop games events asian culture aanhpi