In this second part of our two-part series on New York Art Fair Week, William Powhida and Paddy Johnson discuss the standout artworks from Independent, NADA, and Spring Break. Despite the thin crowds and economic challenges explored in Part 1, there were notable works worth celebrating. The conversation highlights vintage game boards at Independent, playful Nancy Drew-inspired paintings at Spring Break, and meticulously detailed highway landscapes at NADA.
Most significantly, we explore how the most politically relevant work happened outside the fairs, with an extended conversation of Mitchell Chan's "Insert Coins" – a deceptively simple video game installation that reveals itself as a devastating commentary on capitalism, cryptocurrency, and rigged systems. This piece, along with Open Collective's Ukrainian war karaoke installation, connected to the anxieties of the real world, in a way that seemed largely absent from the commercial fair venues.
Relevant Links:
Artists & Galleries Mentioned:

Lisa Sanditz at Alexandre Gallery
Ricco Maresca Gallery (vintage game boards)
Eleanor Aldrich at Field Projects
Eve Sussman and Simon Lee
William Pope.L at Mitchell-Innes & Nash
Namwon Choi at Pentimenti Gallery
Megan Dominescu at Anca Poterasu Gallery
Mitchell Chan's "Insert Coins" at Nguyen Wahed
Guy Richard Smith at A Hug From The Art World
Duke Riley & Jean Shin at In Praise of Shadows
Lucia Hierro at Swivel
David Molesky (banana paintings)
Sophia  Lapres at Towards Gallery
Ernesto Solana at NADA guadalajara90210
Julia Garcia at Hair + Nails
Lars Korff-Lofthus at Entree Gallery
Bill Abdale
Magda Sawon, Postmasters

Venues:

Independent Art Fair
NADA Fair (at Star-Lehigh Building)
Spring Break Art Show
601 Artist Space (Open Collective exhibition)
American Folk Art Museum

Ver todos los episodios