The Last Art Fair

This time two months ago, I was at the Armory Art Fair in NYC. I can’t believe how much can change in just two months. Thinking back on my time there, it was strange. Realization had just hit that the virus was a real thing and we were all in trouble. My friends and professional colleagues and I didn’t know how to greet each other. Do we hug…shake hands or high five? Awkward. I have never seen NYC so quiet and empty. The art fairs did not have that frantic, pulsing energy that I am so used to experiencing. Sometimes you think back on certain moments and don’t realize at the time just how important they are. I wonder if art fairs will exist anymore or when they will return. Is that a bad thing or a good thing, I wonder? Due to Covid 19, the art world and its fairs are changing in a big way and that may not be a bad thing. Big business has gotten in the way of supporting artists, it was more about the spectacle and less about the work. I, for one, am intrigued how the art fairs will transform and hopeful an artist focus will be put first.

Image credit: Jeffrey Gibson, “Power Full, Because We Are Different,” 2020. Courtesy of the Artist and Roberts Projects, LA