Independent 2026 in New York is in a category by itself. Its intentional size and constant evolution of participating galleries make every edition feel wholly unique. What’s even more exciting this year is seeing the art fair in its brand-new home at Pier 36 on the Lower East Side. Independent’s curatorial approach is highlighted and reinforced through the thoughtful exhibition design, implemented by research-based design studio D_P_S (Diogo Passarinho Studio), and site-specific installations that create a wonderful variety throughout the fairgrounds.
Discovery is an important throughline of this fair with each new edition. In addition to having new galleries participating each year, many of the exhibitors seem to make an effort to highlight artists who have never exhibited before in New York. It is this intentionality that contributes to Independent’s importance to the art world ecosystem by allowing for genuine connectivity between collectors, dealers, and artists with each carefully considered presentation.
Whitewall selected a few of their favorite solo artist presentations from a range of international galleries, showing a mix of established and emerging artists at Independent 2026.
Aaronel deRoy Gruber at april april and Romance, Pittsburgh
Courtesy of the Irving and Aaronel deRoy Gruber Foundation, april april, and Romance, Pittsburgh. Photo: JSP Art Photography.
Two Pittsburgh galleries, april april and Romance, have joined forces to exhibit a fascinating array of works by Aaronel deRoy Gruber (1918–2011). Working in collaboration with the Irving and Aaronel deRoy Gruber Foundation, the presentation brings together archival materials and works, including the geometric sculptures that gained her notoriety during her lifetime. Polychromatic and monochromatic, kinetic or static, Gruber was incredibly experimental and curious with the materials and methods utilized to create her works. Having spent much of her life in Pittsburgh, Gruber worked with industrial suppliers and specialty fabricators from the area throughout her career there. She also made smaller-scale sculptural works in the form of jewelry, calling to mind the Surrealist jewelry of Tanguy or Calder. The industrial forms and processes Gruber explored throughout her career seem to allude to the movement and inertia expressed by earlier modernist movements, such as Italian Futurism. There is much to be explored in Gruber’s work, and we hope this presentation at Independent 2026 prompts further discussion and renewed exploration of her profoundly significant practice.
Kyojun Lee at PIBI at Independent 2026
Kyojun Lee_Untitled, 1981, Black and white photograph, 50x60cm (each), courtesy of PIBI GALLERY.
South Korean gallery PIBI makes its Independent debut with a thoughtful presentation of works by Kyojun Lee, a key figure in Korean Geometric Abstract Painting. Created over many decades, the works on view in the booth provide an in-depth look into Lee’s many forms of artistic production. Bringing together works on paper, photographs, paintings, and prints, the comprehensive selection sheds light on Lee’s multifaceted and conceptually grounded practice that has expanded over time. The conceptual rigor that underpins Lee’s entire body of work demands careful attention and time from the viewer, and this installation allows for that one-to-one connection with his compositions. Combining a curiosity for specific geometric forms with an unwavering adherence to spatial restraint, Lee’s command of his mediums sings with this presentation.
Kentaro Okumura at Vardaxoglou
Kentaro Okumura, “Athens,” 2026. Oil on canvas, 101 x 121 cm (39 3/4 x 47 5/8 ins). © Kentaro Okumura. Courtesy the artist and Vardaxoglou Gallery, London.
Vardaxoglou’s arresting presentation of works by Kentaro Okumura is another highlight from this year’s edition. A recent graduate of Camberwell College of Arts, Okumura makes his New York debut with this fair. Having grown up between Japan and China, he later moved to London, where he currently lives and works. Through the transitory nature of his early life, travel and connection to place are recurring themes in his work, and are equally present in this new series of paintings. Not quite fully figurative or abstract, Okumura’s dense and textural vignettes of scenes, symbols, and moments in time are wonderful celebrations of his ongoing curiosity and exploration of the medium of paint itself. The tactility of each surface, paired with Okumura’s singular interpretation of the visual material that makes its way into his compositions, demands careful attention and time to fully absorb the complexity he depicts.
Dianna Settles at MARCH
Courtesy of Diana Settles at MARCH Gallery.
In its new Lower East Side location, the fair has a new neighbor in MARCH Gallery, which brings a remarkable collection of works by artist Dianna Settles. Depicting a range of spaces, people, and situations, Settles’ paintings need to be experienced in person to understand the complexity and technical agility she brings forth with each new composition. Expressing community is an essential ingredient in all of Settles’ works, and this series of paintings continues that legacy in powerful ways. This body of work at Independent 2026 depicts a variety of compelling scenes that appear to come from a rural environment, where people are foraging, farming, maintaining land, and relaxing at home. Drawing from Western artmaking traditions and her father’s native Vietnam, Settles expands upon this ongoing exploration of social, historical, and community-oriented themes that permeate her work with this series, and reinforces her prominent position amongst the most talented young painters working today.
Gretchen Bender at Sprüth Magers
Gretchen Bender, “TV Text & Image (NARCOTICS OF SURREALISM),” 1986,
live television broadcast on a monitor, vinyl lettering, dimensions variable. Courtesy of Sprüth Magers. © Gretchen Bender Estate.
Beyond the traditional booth configurations typical of most art fairs, Independent is also showing a series of sculptural activations across the space, including an alluring presentation of works by Gretchen Bender, whose estate is represented by the Sprüth Magers, from her iconic “TV Text & Image” series. Shown either as single-screen works or installed as larger groups, the works that comprise this expansive body of work were created as a poignant meditation on passive consumerism and manipulation through media and the press. Bender started this work in the late 1980s, but the work feels incredibly current and remains as relevant as it was decades ago. Phrases like “MILITARY RESEARCH,” “REVOLUTION,” and “WHERE TRUTH LIES” disrupt the viewing experience of seemingly passive visuals that pan across each screen, creating an opportunity to reconsider one’s relationship to what content you are actually being fed. Even though fairs are meant to be an opportunity for us to collectively take a break from looking at screens, this presentation at Independent 2026 is worth the added daily screen time.
