There is a lot to be excited about at this year’s edition of Independent at Spring Studios. A consistently exceptional fair with a distinctive vibe, the mix of galleries presenting and artists included provides a truly enjoyable viewing experience.
This year, Independent celebrates its 15th anniversary, which makes for a particularly jovial and energetic preview day: busy, but with enough space to actually spend time looking at art, which we sometimes forget about in an art fair context.
We picked a few of our favorite booths at Independent that give a sense of the variety of offerings at the fair: from stand-out solo presentations to thoughtfully organized group shows, there is much to be discovered.
Andrew Brischler at Gavlak
Courtesy Andrew Brischler and Gavlak Gallery.
Andrew Brischler’s presentation at Gavlak consists of six works from the artist’s recently debuted series of “self portraits,” which he first showed at the gallery’s Palm Beach location at the end of 2023. An astonishing shift for the artist, who has distinguished himself over the last few years with a body of work primarily focused on geometric or typographic forms, these works present a new domain: figuration and bodily entities. Employing a visual language consistent with past series’, each composition portrays a vignette of a portrait of a culturally relevant figure.
Brischler, who is deeply inspired by popular culture and cinema, imbues these abstracted bodies with a palpable connectivity to the artist and his singular vision. Described as film stills, each composition carries a distinctive presence. Look up close and stand far back from each surface to have a transformatively different experience as you observe these layered and conceptually driven works.
Ficus Interfaith at Deli Gallery
Courtesy of Ficus Interfaith and Deli Gallery, New York, Mexico City.
The artist duo, Ficus Interfaith, has a particularly engaging presentation at Deli Gallery’s booth. Known for their inventive, exploratory, and contemporary use of terrazzo, they have distinguished themselves with a fascinating oeuvre that continues to push the limits of what can be done with this singular medium, mainly consisting of marble, glass, and other recognizable forms of waste and even food (shells, deer bones, walnuts).
In this presentation, they are presenting an examination of various forms of dress: denim overalls, gloves for fine dining or battle, and a chef’s shirt adorn their hanging wall works. All of Ficus Interfaith’s work is incredibly researched and thoughtfully installed, and this sampling demonstrates the breadth of their niche interests that continue to evolve with every new project embarked on. Alongside the sartorial smattering are a small table and a terrazzoed version of the book, Infinite Jest, much heavier than the actual volume.
Jessie Henson at Broadway
Jessie Henson, “Falling on Water (the lavender one),” 2024, courtesy of the artist and Broadway.
Over the last few years, Jessie Henson’s ascent in the art world has been swift and decisive: a testament to her remarkably distinctive body of work. On view at Broadway are a series of new works on paper that continue upon the artist’s incisive exploration of painterly abstraction through abstract modalities that reference craft and industrial production. Using an industrial sewing machine and gold leaf on paper to make these inventive and complex compositions, each work is imbued with a series of delicate tensions. Gesturally suggestive and technically mesmerizing, each work on view demands a unique presence and is fascinating to examine up close.
Maureen Paley at Independent
PAUL P., “Untitled,” 2023, oil on linen, 13 x 8 5/8 inches, courtesy of Maurene Paley, London.
This might be a polarizing opinion, but it is nearly impossible for a group show to look meaningfully assembled at an art fair. Maureen Paley’s presentation at the fair rebuts this hypothesis with an astonishingly powerful installation of gallery artists. The thread that ties the group together is an exploration of “the liminal and poetic boundaries between figuration and abstraction through collage, painting, and photography,” and the impact is immediate and agreeable. The works on view also highlight the strength of the gallery’s program, with artists including Felipe Baeza, Behrang Karimi, Paul P., Seb Patane, Dirk Stewen, Studio K.O.S., Kaye Donachie, Chioma Ebinama, Merlin James, Wolfgang Tillmans, and Peter Hujar present.
Susan Te Kahurangi King at MARCH
Susan Te Kahurangi, “Untitled,” 1969, courtesy of MARCH and The Susan Te Kahurangi King Trust.
The top level of the fair has some wonderful booths to see, including MARCH’s installation of works by artist Susan Te Kahurangi King (b. 1951). Every work on view expands upon the visual elements that come from a large multimedia work she made in 2017, so the entirety of the presentation gives the sense of how the artist is able to transform well-known visual iconography into malleable, abstracted forms. The New Zealand-born artist’s career as an artist is incredibly inspiring: at age five, King’s speech began to decline and stopped speaking just two years later.
Drawing was the primary source of communicating with the people and world around her. Often drawing inspiration from iconic cartoon figures like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny, Cruella de Vil, and Jiminy Cricket, King depicts these figures with sharp precision, or dissects elements of their features or garb or bodies into unrecognizable shapes and motifs. The installation offers an engaging space to examine each work as a means of better understanding the connections between compositions while celebrating her artistic ingenuity.
Jane Lombard Gallery
Jane Lombard Gallery, photo by Adam Reich.
One of the more fun booths at the fair is Jane Lombard Gallery, which is showing a group presentation of new and recent works by Howard Smith and the artist duo Richard Ibghy & Marilou Lemmens. Smith’s paintings are shown alongside works on paper and ceramic sculptures by Ibghy and Lemmens, and are tied together through each artist’s aptitude for encouraging experimentation and collaboration. Particularly striking is Smith’s work, Universe #31 (1991 – present), consisting of countless tiny paintings hung salon-style.
The project, which manifests in various configurations with a different number of paintings in each install based on the presenting wall, demonstrates Smith’s intense and earnest curiosity to expand the ways we understand the medium of painting and abstraction. Another sweet anecdote: all the artists were present in the booth on preview day, eager to answer questions, further emphasizing the overall concept behind the booth.
