Kambel Smith at Shrine, all images via Art Observed
This weekend marks a return of the New Art Dealers Alliance art fair to New York City, a longtime staple of the New York art fair calendar, and an event known for its range of exploratory and expressive new work from emerging artists, smaller galleries and new projects. For those looking for new insights and fresh perspectives on contemporary art practice, its hard to ignore the call of the fair, which reprises its role as a central tentpole of a weekend of fairs, even as the city’s string of fairs has split up between several weeks this May.
Tatiana Sky at Europa
This year, the fair touches down in Chelsea, spread across multiple floors at 548 22nd Street, a venue known to many as former home of Hauser & Wirth, and an early location for the Independent Art Fair. It’s a dense pathway through the landscape of new art, mixing playful performance pieces, studied painting and anything in between, making the fair one of the more expansive and freewheeling events of the week, and throughout, the range of concepts and presentations makes for an endlessly engaging series of booths. At New York Gallery Shrine, artist Kambel Smith was presenting a series of compositions showcasing a range of structural and pop cultural imagery rendered in cardboard, while Brussels gallery Sorry, We’re Closed was showcasing a range of complex compositions on canvas by artist Milo Mathieu. Meanwhile, at ILY2, artist Sidony O’Neal’s complex interpretations of tools and implements, bound together with subtle embellishments and details, created a strange yet compelling booth that blended minimalism and intricate detail. Meanwhile, at Timothy Hawkinson Gallery, a range of works by Adrian S. Bara blended together rich spatial structures with gentle brushwork and dynamic use of color and space.
Adrian S. Bara at Timothy Hawkinson
It’s no wonder why NADA continues to feel so vital and impactful in the crush of fairs taking place this year. Bringing forth a range of works that mix an independent spirit with an impressive exhibition plan and tight curation, it has once again emphasized its place as an authority and important advocate for new voices.
It closes May 21st.
Rod Jones II via Cue Art
Anne Low at Franz Kaka
Nick Doyle at Reyes Finn
Sidony O’Neal at ILY2
– D. Creahan
Read More:
NADA New York [Exhibition Site]
