The Provincetown, Massachusetts–based Rice/Polak Gallery also brought consistent performers, including Seattle artist Larry Calkins, who creates quirky clothing out of paper, cloth, wax, pigments, and soot. The clothing is hung from handmade iron hangers, and the works are priced at $1,600 to $3,200. Director Marla Rice had no sales to report as of yet, but she said Calkins's sculptures sold out at Bridge during Art Basel Miami Beach in December, and she expected them to go quickly this week, too. Rice said this is her first time at Red Dot: “I visited last year, and I thought the quality was good, so I wanted to be a part of it.”

As with most new fairs, though, the quality at both Red Dot and Art Now varies wildly from room to room, and visitors will have to sift through their share of duds to get to the most desirable works. But finding those affordable gems is the main thrill of attending smaller fairs, and there are plenty to be found between these two. San Francisco–based Buenas Artes gallery has several lower-priced works that ARTINFO admired, including Mexican-born artist Caleb Duarte’s charcoal-and-acrylic paintings on drywall over wood, priced around $800 to $2,000. “He has these very subtle, very tender characters living in this super-rough world, which is very realistic,” gallery director Paula Blacona said.

Hollywood-based Tinlark Gallery also boasts high-quality, affordable pieces, with perhaps the lowest-priced works at the fair: a set of playful, hand-painted coasters by emerging artist Katherine Siy, which cost just $15. Tinlark had already sold some of the coasters, as well as several of Brooks Salzwedel’s graphite, tape, and resin landscapes, priced between $275 and $1,600. “It’s all affordable,” gallery director Cris McCall said. “Carefully curated, affordable art—that’s what I do.”