Future is another New York art fair trying to shake things up. The show, launched in 2020, draws a younger, hipper crowd than the city’s most high-profile shows, and Wednesday night’s VIP opening was decidedly more laid-back and cheaper than the fair’s other inaugural events. A total of 57 galleries from 20 countries made an appearance at this year’s iteration, including more established boutiques. The result is a spectacle that finally eliminates one of the worst aspects of art fairs – galleries showcasing their loudest works in an ever-escalating bidding war to get visitors into their booths. Instead, Future’s works are quieter and more reflective.
In a corner stand, Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, a 45-year-old gallery in Chelsea, is displaying series of soothing paintings by two artists. “She’s a very meditative and thoughtful person,” assistant director Abbie Knight said of artist Arielle Zamora. The paintings, which seem self-explanatory but reveal themselves on closer inspection, are made from joint compound (drywall mud), which Zamora sculpts and then paints.
Zamora’s works are paired with paintings by Maeve D’Arcy, whose approach is equally meticulous and bordering on obsessive in its application of thousands of tiny dots and lines. Larger objects bring the marks together – sun-shaped orbs, mountain-shaped ovals, and horizontal foregrounds.
Nearby, Kates-Ferri Projects, a gallery on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, features a series of paintings by Kevin Sabo titled Sabo House (2023).
“They’ve always been very ‘drag-y’ – playful and fun and paying homage to the big, wide world of gender expression,” said the artist, who was hanging out near the booth as the fair opened. . Hyperallergic. “And that seems more relevant than ever right now.”
Sabo lives in Richmond and has been making these paintings for three or four years. Virginia has recently seen an influx of anti-trans bills that have become all too familiar in legislatures across the country (the state was recently struck). Part of the Kates-Ferri Projects booth features a series of sculptural butterflies that Sabo made in collaboration with trans youth in Richmond. Proceeds from their sales will be donated to He she they and us nonprofit in Richmond. By 6:30 p.m. on opening night, the butterflies had all been sold out and six of Sabo’s paintings had also found their way.
“They’re almost like a militia of drag queens or an army of queens who shamelessly say, ‘We’re here, we’re immovable and whatever all these laws are trying to be imposed by transphobic governments and states,’ said Kates-Ferri Projects co-founder Natalie Kates. “It’s important for us to show representation and make sure we don’t backtrack: to make sure those voices aren’t drowned out, to make sure the queer community is there, to make sure the trans community is heard.”
Future’s booths are crammed into Chelsea Industrial’s mid-size event space, which is marketed as a rental for “galas, fashion shows, brand activations and corporate events”, according to its website. The walls jut out at odd angles, making the rooms feel like a maze. Sometimes only one gallery has work on disconnected walls and the attendant cannot be found. It’s not exactly easy to navigate, but it’s a welcome break from the awkwardness of the linear rows of booths typically found at art fairs.
Next to the crowded central space, Brooklyn’s Mama Projects presents Laura Berger’s 2023 series of desert paintings. The works are sometimes flooded with sunlight and other times plunged into nocturnal darkness. They all share a dreamlike quality.
Independent curator Dana Notine, who worked on the presentation, explained how the actions of the transparent characters relate to their isolated desert environment.
“It’s about what your brain does to deal with intense stress and how you get those intense moments of desire and pleasure,” Notine explained. “The bodily, emotional pleasure, the connections with others, the ideas that arise when you lack what you need.” She described their settings as something like a “Star Wars planet — recognizable, but also liminal space.”
Other cabins are smaller and more rambling. Brooklyn’s Rocket Science gallery has a small space towards the back of the exhibit that featured works by artist-owner Maria Petrovskaya and Horacio Quiroz, the latter of whom created a reflection on the Aztec god Ōmeteōtl, a two-part deity parties consisting of husband and wife Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl.
Future also includes a handful of special projects, one of which was a collaboration between Black women in the visual artsa counseling and professional development network for black women, and Dashboard, an Atlanta-based nonprofit organization that creates public and private exhibitions. The exhibition is delightfully titled AF clutch.
“It really highlights black joy and also black women doing their jobs with joy,” said Black Women in Visual Arts co-founder Daricia Mia Demarr. She pointed to Ashley Buttercup’s paintings of people in bedrooms and living rooms – kissing, holding each other and laughing.
“It’s the emotional parts of the work that we’re trying to show here,” Demmar said. “Just joy, happiness and joy, which we think are sometimes underrepresented when we talk about the black experience.” The centerpiece of the project is a tapestry titled “Black Madonna; Mother and child” (2016).
“A mother holding her child – what’s more ‘clutch’ than that?” says Demar.
Future Fair is on view in Chelsea until Saturday 13 May. Tickets are available at $45 for the general public and $32 for students and seniors.
