To experience an art fair is to encounter one of the more overwhelming arenas in which to view art. Having a roadmap to streamline the time spent meandering through seemingly never-ending rows of galleries is key to ensuring an experience that leans more pleasant than frenzied. This week, TEFAF concludes its latest rendition to grace New York City. When wondering what, among the opulent and significant pieces of art, jewellery, design, and other collectables you shouldn’t miss, who better to decide than some of the artists exhibiting themselves?
Below, we hear from four TEFAF exhibiting artists on their recommendations for the fair (apart from their own booths!).
Egeværk, exhibiting at Hostler Burrows
Fair highlight: DRIFT at Carpenters Workshop
“We have admired DRIFT’s Fragile Future pieces for a long time. Where we come from – not far from the Netherlands, where their studio is based – every adult has childhood memories of blowing fragile dandelion seeds. The image recalls moments of profound simplicity and beauty. DRIFT turns the perception of dandelions upside down in Fragile Future. The volatile nature of the dandelion is carefully preserved, encased in an industrial copper frame. Fragile Future is the perfect example of a work that can be appreciated for its beauty while opening the door to a train of thought that considers nature versus culture, fragility versus sturdiness, past versus future, and so on and on. Just observe the piece and let yourself go…
Fair highlight: Sakari Kannosto at Hostler Burrows
“We found a mesmerizing chance for escape in the sculpture Waiting by Sakari Kannosto at Hostler Burrows. In creating our own works, we depend on powerful escape routes to imagine scenarios outside of dominant societal norms. We love children’s books and all kinds of fantasy worlds, including art that helps us escape, dream and fantasize. Konnosto’s piece does exactly that. His mysterious sea and space creatures – part nature, part science fiction and part an oddity we cannot put into words – lure us into escaping our surroundings both in time and space. As an artist, Kannosto’s work is new to us and we have no idea where this new acquaintance will take us – and that is a huge recommendation in our book.”
— Mette Bentzen and Lasse Kristensen (Egeværk)
Maureen Dougherty, exhibiting at BLUM
Fair highlight: Martin Barre at Galerie Nathalie
“For me, a highlight at TEFAF New York 2024 is a Martin Barre ink drawing, dated 1958, at a gallery from Brussels. It is quintessential Barre—turning black and white mark-making into an energized radiant plane of colour. The square of paper is engaged with touch and feeling. It was made sixty-six years ago and looks as valid today as then.”
Yuan Fang, exhibiting at Skarstedt
Fair highlight: Cy Twombly at Van de Weghe
“I like how unusual the Twombly is. Somehow, this one contains two different kinds of force of motion, and they are intertwining with each other in the canvas, very intriguing.”
Aljoscha, exhibiting at Beck & Eggeling
Fair highlight: Tatsuo Ikeda at Fergus McCaffrey
“My’ not to miss artwork’ is from the One Hundred Masks series (1960-61) by Japanese artist Tatsuo Ikeda, found at the Fergus McCaffrey. This enigmatic drawing softly reflects the unspeakable essence of my inner galaxy’s black-hole, intertwining elements of chaos and known nature to mirror the paradoxical state of our neurobiology, where mystery and deviation occupy imaginative time-space. Through its complexity and inherent strangeness, the artwork magnetically draws me into deep contemplation of the conscious uniqueness against the backdrop of infinity, evolving an introspection into the interconnectedness of all I could imagine and compose.”
Written by Maria Vogel
