Founded in 2000, the non-profit organization Art Production Fund (APF) has grown to become a beacon of transcendent thinking in the contemporary art landscape, commissioning and generating courageous and purposeful endeavors by trailblazing creatives. This week, Casey Fremont, Executive Director, and Kathleen Lynch, shared with Whitewall their must-do list during the New York’s spring art fairs in May, from embarking on Sharif Farrag’s experiential show at Rockefeller Center, to indulging in seasonal delights at the spirited Jupiter restaurant.
Photo by Daniel Greer. Courtesy of Art Production Fund.
WHITEWALL: Within your role at Art Production Fund, what are you looking forward to in New York in May during the fairs?
CASEY FREMONT & KATHLEEN LYNCH: We can’t wait to bring Sharif Farrag’s interactive performance “Gotham Grinders: Hamster Wheel” to The Rink at Rockefeller Center in partnership with Frieze.
We first presented Sharif’s project during Frieze LA 2024, and the work takes on a new life placed in the context of midtown Manhattan. This iconic location, a center for business, attracts an incredibly diverse audience and we’re excited for the public (of all ages!) to participate and race Farrag’s modified RC car sculptures in NYC on May 3rd and 4th. Link to sign up.
WW: What do you have your eye on at the fairs?
CF & KL: We always love the Focus section of Frieze, and this year it is overseen by the incredible curator Lumi Tan. It’s such a great place to discover new galleries and interesting artists.
Also, we’ll definitely be looking out for the KDR booth at NADA. Katia Rosenthal has such a brilliant eye, and for this year’s fair she is presenting work by Sergio Suarez, Sam Stewart and Ana Won.
“We always love the Focus section of Frieze, and this year it is overseen by the incredible curator Lumi Tan,” — Kathleen Lynch & Casey Fremont
Casey Fremont & Kathleen Lynch; photo by BFA, courtesy of Art Production Fund.
WW: What are the exhibitions on your must-see list?
APF: Everyone should make sure to visit Melissa Joseph’s first-ever public art exhibition at Rockefeller Center, which was just extended, and is part of Art Production Fund’s ongoing program Art in Focus.
We’re also looking forward to seeing Diedrick Brackens’s monumental shows at Jack Shainman, Christopher Wool’s “See Stop Run” on Greenwich Street, Jen Catron and Paul Outlaw‘s public sculpture in Times Square: Hot Dog in the City, Petrit Halilaj on the roof of The Met and so much more. We’re going to be busy!
WW: Where are you go-to places to grab a bite or drink after the fairs/opening?
APF: During this busy week, we’re powered by Ralph’s coffee, pasta from Jupiter at Rockefeller Center, and the perfect day ends with cocktails and spring rolls from L’Avenue at Saks. Oh, and we never say no to a hot dog on the steps of The Met!
Casey Fremont and Kathleen Lynch’s New York Top 5
1. Sharif Farrag’s “Gotham Grinders: Hamster Wheel” at The Rink at Rockefeller Center
Sharif Farrag’s “Gotham Grinders, Hamster Wheel” at The Rink at Rockefeller Center; published by Rockefeller Center.
Following its debut as part of Frieze Projects: Set Seen during Frieze Los Angeles 2024, curated by Art Production Fund, Sharif Farrag brings his playful interactive public art project to New York City for its east coast debut. Participants will race customized remote control cars by Farrag on a coned track, cheer, and win artist-designed trophies. Free and open to the public, all ages are welcome to participate in Gotham Grinders at The Rink at Rockefeller Center on Friday, May 3rd and Saturday, May 4th. — Source
2. “Diedrick Brackens: Blood Compass” at Jack Shainman
Installation view of “diedrick brackens: blood compass” at Jack Shainman in New York. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman.
Jack Shainman Gallery is pleased to present “blood compass,” a solo exhibition of new work by Diedrick Brackens. In these weavings, the artist maps an imagined place —visualizing the internal mechanisms and symbols that animate his work while removing the anchor of direct narrative. The scenes depicted in each weaving exist out of time, suspended between a distant past and a world to come. The works in this series are set at dusk, twilight, and deep night—hours that become vehicles for ritual and interiority. The silhouetted inhabitants of this in-between realm are archetypes that Brackens once described as ciphers, or “needles through which I slip the threads of biography and myth, and pass through a mesh of history and context.” — Source
3. Visit Christopher Wool’s “See Stop Run” in the Financial District
Courtesy of Christopher Wool.
“See Stop Run,” a survey of Christopher Wool’s works of the past decade, opens in March 2024. The exhibition takes place on the entire 19th floor of an unoccupied space in the heart of the financial district. The artist has chosen an independent venue in order to escape the presumed neutrality of the “white cube” as an idealized context. The city permeates the exhibition through windows that wrap around the full 18,000 square foot installation.
Curated with Anne Pontégnie, the exhibition situates Wool’s work within a specific context, where the art and its environment interact. The exhibition emphasizes Wool’s complex image- making process and the interconnectivity between mediums: painting, sculpture, photography, and mosaic. This is the artist’s largest exhibition since 2014 and will run for a minimum of 4 months. — Source
4. Discover The Met’s Roof Garden Commission: Petrit Halilaj, Abetare
Petrit Halilaj, “Abetare (detail),” 2024; published by The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Kosovar artist Petrit Halilaj (born 1986, Kostërc, former Yugoslavia) has been commissioned to create a site-specific installation for the Museum’s Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden. For the artist’s first major project in the United States, Halilaj has transformed The Met Roof with a sprawling sculptural installation.
Halilaj’s work is deeply connected to the recent history of his native country, Kosovo, and the consequences of cultural and political tensions in the region. After a formative period in Italy, where he studied art at the Accademia di Brera in Milan, he moved to Berlin in 2008, where he still lives and works. His projects encompass a variety of media, including sculpture, drawing, poetry, and performance. — Source
5. Dine at Jupiter Restaurant, Tucked within Rockefeller Center
Published by Jupiter Restaurant, Rockefeller Center.
Jupiter is the second restaurant from Clare de Boer, Annie Shi and Jess Shadbolt, the team behind King. Jupiter brings handmade pastas, New Italian wines, seasonal vegetables, grilled meats, and a boisterous spirit to an iconic Manhattan locale. — Source
