by Michael Anthony Farley on February 9, 2017
Last year, I remarked that Zona MACO excels at being an “average” art fair.
I stand by that opinion this year, with the clarification that it feels a bit like the average of many art fairs: a bit of NADA, a big dollop of Design Miami, a dose of Basel, and flavors of Frieze. That makes sense, as it’s by far Latin America’s largest and most important art fair—many of the curated identities of fairs in hyper-saturated US markets come from necessity of branding when there’s competition.
And like I said last year, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Though this year, due to some floor plan rearrangements and somewhat less cohesive booths, the curated sections Zona MACO Sur and Nuevas Propuestas felt a bit underwhelming. That might also owe to (what seemed like) an increase in advertisers’ kiosks and design, publication, and food vendors, comparatively.
The good news: the quality of work in the General Section improved tremendously. Sure, there were many repeat, predictable artist, but the recent political turns in both Mexico and the United States haven’t gone unnoticed in the art world, thankfully. Scattered among the rows of polite abstraction, there was plenty of outright political work, particularly when compared to the December fairs in Miami.
Below, a sampling of the what’s on view, beginning with some of the more overtly political works.
Read the full article →
by Michael Anthony Farley and Corinna Kirsch on August 23, 2016
For years, people who make proclamations about “something being the new something” have said “Brooklyn is the new Manhattan.” Apparently that means it’s now also totally boring in August? New York’s two most over-exposed boroughs are having a slow week, with just a smattering of art events (but we are thrilled Vector Gallery is making a triumphant return to Manhattan Thursday night.) Brooklyn has a Wednesday night performance at The Park Church Co-op and a screening of the 1977 feminist classic Riddles of the Sphinx to look forward to Thursday, but really it’s the rest of Long Island that sees the most action.
LIC will be art-star-studded Thursday night for MoMA PS1’s Night At the Museum closing party. Then, the party moves out to Fire Island for BOFFO’s performance festival. All weekend, look forward to genre-bending work across the swirly disciplines of drag, dance, music, and fashion from artists such as FLUCT, SSION, M. Lamar, Pearl, and more. Seriously, we can’t recommend a trip to the beach more—there’s practically nothing to do in the city’s art scene this weekend and the Fire Island fest looks like it’s going to go be remembered as a total “had to be there”.
Read the full article →
Paddy Johnson, Editorial Director
