Get a first look at ten must-see artworks heading to Affordable Art Fair NYC Spring 2023, as chosen by our amazing Fair Director, Erin Schuppert.
Waiting to hear about our Fair Director, Erin Schuppert’s, highlights for an upcoming Affordable Art Fair NYC edition is always an anticipated moment. As resident art expert and all-round culture curator, Erin’s picks are a must-see before our doors open on March 22.
Join Erin for a tour through the extraordinary artworks that have caught her eye, and get to know the artists behind them.
It’s been a pleasure to pull together my highlight artworks for the 33rd edition of Affordable Art Fair New York. I can’t wait to welcome you to what is set to be a hugely inpsiring fair!
Erin Schuppert, NYC Fair Director
Holly Miller is a Brooklyn-based artist inspired by mid-century abstraction. In her practice, she explores the dichotomies of absence and presence, masculine and feminine, visual and tactile. I’m especially drawn to ‘Tingle’, which manages to be bold and delicate. The negative space is just as impactful as the saturated color block.
Miller uses thread and acrylic here to give her artwork that extra textural edge and physicality. This is an essential aspect of her style, where inspiration is found in merging tactility with visual awareness. An artwork from Miller’s collection would make a really special addition to a home collection, where the size will make a big impact, whilst remaining minimalist, clean and restorative.
Michelle Marin’s embroidered still life is intimate and warm. I love the toy houses and tiny animal depicted on the dinner plate, giving the work a playful, innocent appeal. Marin developed her practice during her time in long term care homes, where she observed residents working in embroidery. Combining her everyday observations with more formal materials and arts training, she has worked to develop a contemporary style with traditional mediums – a balance that is difficult to achieve! Defining her practice as both fine art and craftwork, the multitudes of layers and influences only add to her work’s success.
Amanda Coelho is a graphic designer by trade, but since 2018, she has turned her attention towards painting. Her design experience shines through in the clear visual language of her ‘Bear Necessity’ artwork. In fact, all of her works tend to feature everyday items in bright close-ups, like this irresistible, characterful, yummy gummy bear.
Her attention to detail is unmatched, and it’s great to see some realist work take center stage for a quiet, complex moment amongst the buzz of the fair.
New England-based painter, Holly Grosvenor, focuses on capturing the way light changes her environment throughout the day. She bases her paintings on dozens of plein air watercolor sketches and photographs, obsessively studying the way the sunlight reflects off surrounding surfaces.
Agora Gallery will be bringing ‘Iridescent’ to our fair, which is a largescale example of an artwork with noteworthy color palette choices and big impact, whilst remaining cool calm and transportive. It’s this meditative quality to Grosvenor’s work that has really excited me on the run up for Affordable Art Fair NYC Spring 2023.
Having graduated from Sugino Fashion College and worked for an apparel maker, Japanese artist, Ken Yashiki, draws on these experiences to create artworks from second-hand clothing. He employs the traditional doll-making technique of ‘kimekomi’, in which a pattern is drawn on textile, then cut onto a soft surface. In the case of his ‘Glab’, Styrofoam has been used. I love the dynamic shapes, clean lines and bold patterns of this particular work. It’s a really impressive piece, and one that definitely deserves to be added to your must-see list this spring.
New work by Erika Stearly will be debuting at the fair this Spring! The interiors Stearly creates in her loosely rendered style are often titled with a specific address, indicating that these are particular and personal spaces. Inspired by vintage home remodelling magazines and friend’s houses, her paintings are documentary. They tell a story of everyday life. Her work has been featured in exhibitions in cities throughout the U.S. and has received numerous awards including artist grants from the Puffin Foundation, the Black Rock Arts Foundation, and Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
The fluidity between abstraction and representation creates a unique feeling of nostalgia. It’ll be great to see which artworks JJ Galloway Studios choose to bring alongside ‘3044 Pine Street’.
You can also read about Stearly’s practice in our International Women’s Day: Global Edit.
Sicilian-born Carla Sutera Sardo studied law at university, but became interested in photography and embarked on a self-taught practice as escapism into a more creative world. This image is full of light, movement and fun. It would brighten up any room, especially spaces seeking the calming effect that water can evoke. ArtStar are set to bring a trend-lead collection of fine art prints, and what guarantees Sardo’s work to stand out amongst the impressive showcase is its inherent sense of joy. It’s set to be a really popular booth.
Mara Magyarosi-Laytner is a Detroit-based artist who utilizes experimental photography methods in her practice to explore identity. This work is part of ‘The Siren Collection’, which is a series of camera-less darkroom images inspired by the Fall/Winter Pantone color story at New York Fashion Week in 2020.
‘Teal 10’ is a particular highlight, and its deliberate imperfections gives it a mysterious unpredictability. Her inclination towards abstraction chases a world without mundanity, which really embodies the Affordable Art Fair spirit of discovering the joy of collecting extraordinary art.
Italy-native, Madalena Negrone, has a keen interest in science. With a particular lean towards physics, her series ‘Entangled’ evidences her commitment to depicting movements through time and space. This particular oil painting impressed me with its detail, complexity and intricacy. Your eye is drawn right to the knotted center, which seems the perfect nod to her life experience that has weaved exchange, travel and art. It all comes down to the complicated nature of existence, which will add a depth of meaning to any collection seeking a bold, beautiful, quietly abstract twist.
Marie Danielle LeBlanc takes her inspiration for the mixed media works she creates from her travel diary. During her trips around the world, she takes notes and makes loose sketches. Once she returns home to her studio, she aims to capture the spirit of a place, working primarily with encaustic and dry pigments on wood. ‘Riviere Aux Cerise’ evokes the rich colors of the Quebec landscape from which it takes its title. Also featuring Pantone’s Color of the Year, it’s both a taste making piece and a real gem from an almost impossibly brilliant line up by local gallery, Elisa Contemporary Art.
In terms of top tens, it’s looking pretty good. A huge thank you to Erin for running us through her highlights – it can’t have been an easy feat to pick between the 1,000s of artworks we’ll be showcasing this March 22 – 26 at the Metropolitan Pavillion. Hopefully, this first look at our fair has sparked your inspiration. We can’t wait to welcome you to Chelsea.
Main image:Carla Sutera Sardo, ‘Light Up I’, 2022, photographic print, 26 x 40in, $900,ArtStar