Artists on the Threshold
Liminal Art at Independent Art Fair 2020
Early March feels like the new year for art in New York City. It is a time for reflection, to consider one’s appetite for art and the onslaught of art viewing opportunities that will be presented at fairs like Independent Art Fair. As one comes to terms with the challenge of visiting these fairs, located in opposing corners of the city, the virtues of each one comes to light. If you travel to Tribeca for Independent Art Fair, you will be immersed in the beauty of its liminality, with artworks that occupy a position at or on both sides of a boundary or threshold. The selection of works below highlights the liminal thresholds of contemporary art that are rarely seen in such a compelling fashion in an art fair setting.
Matthew Higgs, the founding curatorial advisor of Independent, echoes this juxtaposition: “The idea was to really create something of a hybrid—something that wasn’t exactly a fair, although there was a commercial aspect, and wasn’t exactly an exhibition, though it perhaps resembled one.”
Barthélémy Toguo Homo Planta C, 2018 Ink and wash on canvas, 18.1 x 24 inches. © Barthélémy Toguo. Courtesy of Galerie Lelong & Co. and Bandjoun Station
We see not only the threshold between gallery exhibition and art fair but also of installation and traditional painting, new art and older art, and other such boundaries in a format that is digestible to the viewer.
Barthélémy Toguo, Urban Requiem, 2015. Ladders, wooden stamps, stamp imprints. Installation view: All the World's Futures, 56th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy, 2015 © Barthélémy Toguo. Courtesy of Galerie Lelong & Co. and Bandjoun Station
If one has an appetite for installations that are rarely accomplished at art fairs, and especially not in a manner that evokes the institutional backing of a larger gallery or museum, the strongest example would be Galerie Lelong & Co.’s presentation of a solo booth of recent work by Barthélémy Toguo. Works included in the booth are Urban Requiem, which was in the 56th Venice Biennale, and Homo Planta C.
Jeremy Anderson, Toys of a Prince (After D. de Chirico, 1914), Masonite, cardboard, wood, paper, wire and enamel paint. Photo Courtesy of Jeremy Anderson, the Landing and Independent Art Fair
Along the blurred lines of installation, we find work by the deceased Northern Californian sculptor Jeremy Anderson (1921-82) shown by The Landing, based out of Los Angeles. The 1965 piece, Toys of a Prince (After D. de Chirico, 1914), presents some of the most intriguing uses of space at the fair.
Ghada Amer, The Black Knot, 2014, Ceramic, 10.5 x 12.5 x 10 inches. Courtesy of Marianne Boesky Gallery.
Marianne Boesky Gallery’s exhibition of Ghada Amer’s ceramic works offers a fascinating glimpse into the potential of contemporary sculpture. Her ceramics fluctuate between the wide boundaries of the amorphous and monotone to the colorful and figurative.
Marlon Mullen, Untitled, 2016, Acrylic on Canvas, 36 x 36 inches, Photo courtesy of Marlon Mullen and Adams and Ollman Gallery.
Portland gallery Adams and Ollman presents works by artist Marlon Mullen, who transforms the covers of magazines such as Artforum into paintings that reorganize the landscape of the original surface, highlighting certain aspects of the source material while obscuring others.
While there are other great examples of the liminal boundaries between experimental installation works and traditional forms at Independent Art Fair, these works are certainly strong. One hopes that fairs continue to push the boundaries of the art fair model to better incorporate such works in the future.
Independent Art Fair
50 Varick Street
New York, NY 10013
March 5th to 8th, 2020
