[nggallery id= 16121]
Braving the cold, but enjoying a spell of sunshine after a heavy snowstorm, hundreds of people visited Volta NY, a young fair born in 2005 in Basel, Switzerland. In its new location in downtown Manhattan, on Mercer Street in the heart of SoHo, the show features a heady selection of works and experimentations which are overlooked by the large art galleries.
“The new location has been galvanizing—for us as well as the exhibitors and visitors—and the energy of being in SoHo has really given a positive jolt to the fair,” said Amanda Coulson, VOLTA’s Artistic Director.
She refers to the space in which the exhibition is mounted, a renovated traditional New York building which itself creates a different reference for those passing through the exhibition.
[nggallery id= 16117]
Wooden floors, peeling walls, and huge windows which admit light and views of the neighborhood create a cozy climate.
Besides the expographic concept, another difference of the fair is its proposal to show individual projects from artists and galleries that are just making their mark in the art world, regardless of age. The event is organized as a sort of boutique of art, a place of discovery, a showcase for relevant contemporary art positions. Two large installations are priced at US$250,000, but most of the works range between US$6,000 and US$40,000.
[nggallery id= 16122]
Going up the stairs and entering one of the rooms, we were surprised by an electrifying video projection on the floor, which is nothing less than the image of a river in motion, with swimming fish .
A structure of bags, stones, and sand marks the limit of the projection and gives the feeling of being on the riverbank. In another context, this installation—authored by Anita Glesta and called “Watershed”—would not command so much attention. What creates the strangeness is that it makes the viewer change “scenario” very quickly.
According to Glesta, who mainly works with public art, this is one of her ways of expressing outrage at the degradation of the environment, prompting reflection on the spaces where we live, and ultimately, about man and memory.
She is a third generation New Yorker, descendant of Russian and Polish immigrants. She began to insert politics into her artistic expression at age twelve, winning a prize from the New York Times for her poster “Earth Day of the World”. She belongs to the American generation of the 70s, parents and children who fought against the war in Vietnam.
Her works have been exhibited in Copenhagen, Mexico City, and Krakow, and she worked on a vast public project with the Federal Census Bureau Building in Washington.
[nggallery id= 16119]
A much talked-about work which found sales success is by the Congolese artist Aimé Mpane, presented by Walter de Weerdt of the NOMAD Gallery in Brussels. The work, called “La Nature est Morte”, was sold for approximately US$40,000 to a collector from Kansas City, Missouri, and others were bought by a Belgian collector. He works primarily with wood, cotton yarn, and paint, but the paintings themselves are objects separated from the walls, which create shadows and another projected image. Walter is interested in the Brazilian market and is preparing to come and learn about it in 2014.
The fair presented 95 international galleries from six continents, showing artists from 38 nations.
Another cultural reference point has established itself.
Deixe um comentário