Painter Lily-Rose Burgess has ditched the gallery system to sell directly to art lovers, and the 24-year-old has a message for other young artists.
"I'm not broke - it's very possible, just go for it," she told AAP.
Burgess is a featured artist at Melbourne's Affordable Art Fair, showing off her mouth-wateringly realistic still-life oils featuring macarons, Danish pastries, fried eggs and bacon.
Her previous gallery representation became "a situation that was really not good" when its staff started trying to tell her what to paint, and Burgess decided to go out on her own.
It's meant hanging her own works at the art fair - with the help of her dad - and, with her sizeable Instagram following, art has become a "really thriving business" for Burgess.
More than 60 galleries show at Melbourne's iteration of the Affordable Art Fair, but with galleries typically earning a commission of about half the sale price of an artwork, the event is also a showcase for artists operating outside the system.
The Ambedo collective, which painter Simone Read formed with artists Tricia Tinder and Lisa Taylor King, means all three can talk to their buyers directly.
"It's such a passion, I don't want it to be a commodity, I want to know where my art is going," Read said.
At the collective's stall, Read explained how she used a very fine brush to create her landscapes, building layers of ink before making impressions on her image using rocks.
The collective has also shown at the fair in Brisbane, and while it takes investment and travel to prepare for these events, sales have been solid.
"It is a risk obviously, but we feel like it's worth it," Read said.
Brisbane's Aspire Gallery markets itself as especially affordable with the cheapest artworks $100 and the most expensive $2600, and is showing at the Melbourne event for the first time.
"We are booming," Irene Mengel from Aspire told AAP.
"Things haven't slowed down for us, people want art for their homes, because they are not spending on holidays."
Standout works included wall-mounted bird sculptures by Melbourne artist Robyn Lees-West, made from reclaimed textiles and hand embroidered.
Other three-dimensional works of interest included faceted ceramic vessels with metallic embellishments by Juyeon Kim at Grant and Williams Gallery, and Melbourne sculptor Brad Gunn's cast resin sculptures in velveteen flocking at the Bluethumb Gallery stall.
It was too early to say how crowds, and sales, might go at the weekend, but stallholder Avi Efrat, who handles framing and shipping for many artists at the event, said the key was to wait for the evening crowd, who would have drinks in their hands.
"If you put me in a gallery after two drinks, it's dangerous," he joked.
Art buyer Kay De Jong appeared was very satisfied with her purchase of three paintings by Llael McDonald.
It was lovely to see new artists being showcased, De Jong said, revealing she was still after a fourth, larger work by the same artist.
"I am trying to talk my husband into it, but I'm confident we'll have it by the end of the weekend," she told AAP.
The Melbourne Affordable Art Fair is at the Royal Exhibition Building and runs until Sunday.
