Putting the Metropolitan Museum of Art into a mixer can result in: Tefaf New York. One of two annual fairs organized by the European Art Foundation (the other being in Maastricht), Manhattan’s historic Park Avenue Armory will be filled with modern and contemporary art and design objects this week. , spilling out into the corridors and upstairs. Upstairs.
This allows for a delightful juxtaposition within the building of 1880 Gothic Revival architecture. this year, Friedman Benda gallery (Stand 101), One of about 100 exhibitors, In , several colorful Ettore Sottsass vases are displayed beneath a permanently installed portrait of New York National Guard Brigadier General Wade Hampton Hayes. Be prepared to see a plethora of furniture, jewelry, art and antiques spanning thousands of years, often in a single booth.
If you do decide to pay $55 for admission, I recommend taking a treasure hunt approach and thinking in terms of individual pieces. “A model with a model ship” by Philip Pearlsteinwill be screened alongside the strong work of Michael Ray Charles and Omar Burr. Templon (326), Like Fernand Léger, it is an object worth seeking out. Robilant + Voena (103) and a pair of stunning seascape murals from Wyeth, North Carolina (one additional work by his son Andrew). Bernard Goldberg Fine Arts LLC (357)) also showcases two monumental Winold Reese Art Deco murals rediscovered from the Empire State Building.
Powdery green bronze and copper mirror by Claude Lalanne. Gallery Lefebvre (209) You will be the star of any bedroom. Mid-century ‘crocodile cabinet’ Dansk Möbelkunst Gallery (320). Before you leave, be sure to compare the poster art found at: Edward Tyler Nahem by Italian artist Mimmo Rotella (321) A very similar work by Jacques Villegre, Galerie Georges Philippe & Natalie Valois (358) — And count how many times Mel Bochner wrote “blah blah blah” in a little ink on paper text. Peter Freeman Company (306).
On the one hand, some whole booths stood out in the crowd. Below are my top nine.
Pace (301) and David Zwerner (347)
you can always Expect mega galleries to show up Along with a powerful solo presentation. In this case, Pace kicks off the fair by exhibiting an abstract collage by Louise Nevelson from her ’50s to her ’80s. Right next to it is a minimal display of his 1940s-50s paintings from Josef Albers’ “Valiant/Adobe” series by Zwirner. Combining cardboard scraps with paper, metal tape, and wood, Nevelson’s collages have a captivating dissonance. Her almost elaborate arrangements cannot perfectly conform to the rough edges of the cardboard. Albers’ horizontal rectangles have an otherworldly serenity, but are enlivened by a dynamic pair of vertical dashes that are at times disconcerting like cartoon eyes. (and across the road, Gagosian (350), Jeff Koons stares intently at his ex-wife Cicciolina’s bare breasts in a contrasting 1990 piece. )
Karma (307) and Demish Danang (360)
These galleries transform any non-kitchen sink art fair booth into a coherent exhibition. Karma offers a deep bench of architecturally themed paintings. Giorgio de Chirico’s 1966 Tower, which seems to loom over a small figure, is a disturbing portrait of psychological ambivalence, but a tree hidden behind a bright orange fence is a metaphorical homage to parental self-abandonment. The design that separates her two aisles from her gallery Demish Danan is her strong Sheila Hicks wall textiles, Maria Perguei’s sexy red lacquer consoles, and Noe her Duchaufour her Laurence’s 2021 Burnt. Her Cork Her Chairs and Tasteful Home-like Booths.
W&K-Wiener Rotor & Kohlbacher (308)
This Viennese gallery frolics with naked people in Franz West collages from the 80s and 90s, but most of the interesting nudes are of German Expressionists and other bold names (Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Milo ) was composed at the beginning of this century. My favorite piece at the booth, if not the entire fair, was an Egon Schiele painting of a reclining woman. The Austrian genius wrapped thick thighs in stunning black lines, turning rough brown paper into immortal creamy flesh.
Hazlitt Holland Hibbert (311)
Dark gray walls and sisal carpets create the perfect setting for early 2000s work by British hard-edged painter Bridget Riley, all featuring her signature undulating, serif-like waves of distinct colors. is. Oily, glossy and striking, these waves look quite different in her seldom-seen 6-by-9-foot gouache cartoon. Get close enough to see the fascinating question Riley left for himself penciled on one side. “Should this shape be blue?”
Thadaeus Ropac (344)
83-year-old Viennese painter Martha Jungwirs Working out of a giant piece of kraft paper or used cardboard, she paints a few expressive muddy red strokes in each of the pale brown spaces. It is a dramatic metaphor for the human condition, a discordant blend of spiritual longing and an all-too-mortal body. Visually it’s even more impressive. Jungwirth’s paints bring out the elegance of wavy pinstripes and the casual delicacy of dirt and oil stains, but the everyday details of the same work would be hard to find on gessoed canvas. energizing her gestures.
Petzel (370)
Cuban-American artist Jorge Pardo pushes the boundaries of art and design, but never completely breaks them. Lattice bars made of router-cut wood and translucent red panels, relocated from Pardo’s Los Angeles studio building, anchor the booth along with his signature lighting fixtures. But the bumpy new abstract wall work made with acrylics and colored pencils is deceptive. Take your time and notice its strange complexity. They look like scientific samples taken from an extraterrestrial lizard hunt.
Mayor’s Gallery (375)
Verena Loewensberg (1912-1986) studied design, color theory, choreography, dance and textiles in Basel and was deeply influenced by a visit to Paris. But most of her artistic life took place in Zurich, where she painted five of her very unusual geometric compositions at this booth. In one of her untitled canvases from 1978, thin lines of purple and blue divide large blocks of green and gray, making you feel like you’re chasing a mirage in the moonlight.
