Six Breakout Artists at Independent 20th C and Spring Break
Many galleries chose to play it safe at Frieze Seoul and The Armory Show this year, presenting works by established artists they knew they could sell. What great artists bubbled up at New York's Independent 20th Century and Spring Break?
Lenore Tawney, Floating Shapes (1958). Linen, silk, wool. 124.46 cm x 106.68 cm. Courtesy the artist and Alison Jacques.
At least five art fairs took place in New York City over the last week, including the storied Armory Show, which played second fiddle, on the global stage, to Frieze Seoul. While they're neither as big nor as lucrative, two other fairs—Independent 20th Century and Spring Break—are fantastic opportunities to scout out upcoming and less widely-discovered artists.
1. Lenore Tawney at Alison Jacques
Starting at Independent 20th Century, which presented 30 galleries from 5 to 8 September, London-based gallery Alison Jacques focused on a solo exhibition of the fibre artist Lenore Tawney. Tawney, who worked with some of contemporary arts biggest names of the last century including Agnes Martin, Ellsworth Kelly, and others, was a real stand out at this year's fair.
The booth features fabric sculptures as well as drawings and collages by the pathbreaking artist. The use of light features heavily in these works which can be seen in their display and the beautiful shadows and patterns that are created through Tawney's process. These works in particular look at a 12 year period from 1958 to 1970, which was a pivotal time in the artist's development.
2. Susana Wald at Galerie Michael Janssen X Marisa Newman Projects
Susana Wald's work was brought to Independent 20th Century by Galerie Michael Janssen X Marisa Newman Projects, which is tucked away in a booth off the main room, an exciting and unexpected find. The booth features 12 paintings, one sculpture, and a video work by Wald who works and lives in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Wald's paintings have strong Surrealist ties and use imagery featuring the female form to explore a wide range of topics. But Wald's version of Surrealism, which has historically seen women as the muse for male artists, seeks to turn that on its head in surprising and unexpected ways. This solo booth showcases 13 paintings done in the early 1980s that feel even more relevant and pressing in today's contemporary context.
3. Richard Bell at Osmos
Another impressive solo exhibition can be found at Osmos featuring the work of Aboriginal artist Richard Bell. The exhibition takes on a retrospective feel and charts the larger trajectory of Bell's work, which spans over 40 decades. Bell, who was born in 1953 in Charleville, Australia, tackles complex identity politics in his paintings that challenge ideas of both Western and Indigenous culture. Bell makes the personal political.
4. Will Kurtz at Spring Break
Heading to scrappy independent fair Spring Break, which this year features work by over 200 artists on the theme of interior and exterior, Frances Sinkowitsch curated a booth featuring the work of Will Kurtz, who explores tropes of the famed Coney Island Boardwalk.
Kurtz has crafted sculptures made of plaster, newsprint, and other materials that resemble life-sized people you can find on the beach, riding The Cyclone rollercoaster or simply walking around. Kurtz even crafted a life-sized Zoltar fortune reading machine. The booth rethinks a quintessential Brooklyn spot in a clever and unexpected way.
5. Danielle Klebes at Spring Break
Danielle Klebes' installation Just Passing Through, curated by Emily McElwreath, is incredibly inventive. Kleebes has made a bar and living room space complete with smaller paintings of beers and the classic red Solo cups. The installation is activated by other details such as cow skulls and lava lamps the artist has recreated as smaller free standing paintings—the type of decorations you would find in a dive bar or a living room. This is juxtaposed with several colourful paintings that depict bar and domestic spaces.
This work also functions as a book end to Kelebes' installation Queer Man Cave, which was made as part of the Wassaic Project in Upstate New York from last year. It is linked to A Dyke Cabin of One's Own, which is currently on view through 21 September at Mother in Law's House in Germantown, New York.
6. Stephen Morrison at Spring Break
Stephen Morrison's Dog Show #3: I Love Aging and Dying, curated by Marina Molarsky-Beck, takes on the theme of decay in an interesting and animal centric way. Morrision has used dogs in his installations and paintings over the last several years and for this version of Spring Break he returns to the subject matter again.
This time he is showcasing smaller trompe l'oeil paintings that, on first take, look like flowers. However, on closer inspection the works feature the faces of tiny dogs and showcase the flowers wilting and dropping petals at various stages of decay. —[O]
