With record numbers visiting this weekend in Battersea and with its second residence opening in Hampstead this Wednesday, the Affordable Art Fair 2011 is London’s art exhibition of the moment.

We are very excited to see so many of our Art Store galleries exhibiting this year, including TAG Fine Arts, Cornwall Contemporary, Beside the Wave and DegreeArt, all of who offer Own Art Online exclusively through CultureLabel. The Own Art scheme is run by The Arts Council and makes buying art even more affordable offering the option to spread payments over 10 months interest-free (0% APR Representative).

If you’re not able to make it down to the fair this year, CultureLabel has curated a selection of our favourite pieces from the show and many more works from our Art Store under £600. Check out – It has to be this way 1 by Lindsay Seers , Up and Over by Diane Taylor and Fly Free by Rachel Cloyne.

You can view all the works in our Affordable Art section now live on CultureLabel here. With prices starting from just £40, now is the time to start your art collection and live with the art you love!

Introducing latest partner graphic designer Nick Patchitt and his new series of city prints capturing all the brilliant things that make up London, Brighton and New York.

We asked Nick to tell us more about his vibrant & graphic city montages:

Who and what inspires you?
Anything graphic and eye-catching – whether it be a logo, symbol, pictogram or lettering. I am naturally drawn towards anything that can be distilled into a simple graphic shape or silhouette. Saul Bass, famous for his film posters, is probably the one person who’s work I find particularly inspiring.

Your city prints are made up of hundreds of illustrations, how much time do you spend drawing before you have enough material for a work?
The whole process is very time consuming and challenging. I probably research visual reference for a city for 3-4 weeks and then spend another 4-6 weeks redrawing buildings and symbols in Adobe Illustrator or sourcing ready made font dingbats and Royalty Free vector files. Redrawing buildings is especially tortuous! Then piecing the bits together is another 3 weeks at least.

Are your city prints inspired from personal visits?
The city prints done so far are obvious choices. I’ve worked in graphic design and branding in London for 20 years, lived in Brighton for the past 10 years and visited New York many times. They each have a unique feel about them are very visual and have a distinct personality.

It just came to me one day to try when I was looking at some watercolours of Brighton Pier to try and do something very different and use my graphic eye to portray a city, its energy and vibrancy in graphic form.

Nickprints are £52.50 and you can find the full collection on CultureLabel here.

To celebrate Turner Prize winner Grayson Perry’s exhibition ‘Tomb of Unknown Craftsman’ currently on at the British Museum, we are offering an exclusive 10% discount on his collection on CultureLabel…

Grayson Perry approached the British Museum with the idea of exhibiting his work alongside that of the craftwork of unknown artists held by the museum, ranging from figures of the ancient Egyptian god Amon-Ra to badges from the 1980s.

Grayson’s work uses the seductive qualities of ceramics, tapestry, metalwork and other art forms to make stealthy comments about societal injustices and hypocrisies, and to explore a variety of historical and contemporary themes. In the process he has sealed his place in the long legacy of craftsmanship and re-asserted the importance of the crafts in a contemporary world of mass production.

One of our favourites from the collection is his beautiful British Museum Map Silk Scarf, of which Grayson says:
“When working with the British Museum for my exhibition, I became very aware of the huge scope and scale of the institution. This map scarf is perhaps a very personal guide to the spirit of the place. I have characterised the museum here as a slightly tyrannical monster not unlike my dear old Teddy Bear, Alan Measles. I think of the BM as a friendly giant. He can get grouchy and cynical at times as he is constantly being besieged by visitors wielding cameras but above all it is a place of wonder and beauty and learning.”

The collection also includes tees, mugs and tote bags featuring the drawing by Grayson of The Kenilworth AM1, a motorbike on which he travelled during a ten day pilgrimage across Bavaria and is on display at the exhibition.

See Grayson Perry’s exhibition at the British Museum from the 6^th of October 2011 to the 19^th of February 2012 and check out his collection from the comfort of your own home on CultureLabel here.