'Important lessons absorbed from cultural upheavals have translated into a more thoughtful fair around issues of representation.'
By Martha Schwendener, May 11, 2023
A review of the Independent New York art fair highlights Abe Odedina's solo presentation of paintings for Diane Rosenstein Gallery's booth.
If you were holding your breath for another art fair filled to the steel-girder ceilings with contemporary painting, you can let go. The Independent, the local-brand fair that features art ranging from emerging to the radical old-guard, is not it. The current edition at Spring Studios in TriBeCa, which opens to the public Friday, includes 69 exhibitors from 11 countries, lots of photography and ephemera, idiosyncratic installations, and career resets - and yes, a healthy dose of painting.
You do feel a shift here, though. This fair feels more thoughtful, even reflective. Artists of color are celebrated and several presentations focus on older artists, trying to refine old narratives and biases. Here are some of the booths and tendencies that caught my eye.
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Self-Taught Artists
The universe of self-taught artists is a vast one. The common thread tends to be objects that ignore or shrug off conventions and academic strictures. Abe Odedina at Los Angeles's Diane Rosenstein (Booth S. 5) is a Nigerian-born, London-based artist who studied architecture before switching to a collage form of painting. One of his works, "Blow by Blow," draws inspiration from Nkisi power figures, which had nails pounded into them for protection. Odedina's assemblage includes all manner of hardware inside the outlines of a rough self-portrait.
