LYNN STERN’s Luminous Abstraction a Standout at AIPAD

 
 Installation view, Obscura Gallery at AIPAD

By KATIE CERCONE April 24th, 2026

Something unexpected graces this year’s AIPAD, an art fair focused exclusively on photo-based work. Ironically, the same day I visited Park Avenue Armory’s premier, long-running trade show for fine art photography, a younger artist friend in Queens had a show titled “Requiem for the Camera,” for obvious reasons. Must a classic medium call it quits because new forms demand to be heard? At AIPAD [The Association of International Photography Art Dealers], a program seeded by the coming together of an international group of art dealers over forty years ago, now in its 45th year, photography isn’t dead, but merely morphing again. 

While smartphone technology can transform snapshots taken by novices into seemingly professional images, it concurrently amplifies the demand for high-value, experimental niche art photography. Even artificial intelligence falls short in replicating emotionally raw, human-directed moments, which remain a pivotal element in photography's ongoing evolution from a primarily utilitarian and objective medium to a highly specialized, experience-driven craft. The proliferation of contemporary artists striving to counteract the flood of mediocre slop, coupled with a resurgence of interest in analog photography among the youth, suggests a preference for a more tactile and less immediately gratifying creative experience. Ultimately, what is fading is the outdated notion that photography ever served as a reliable form of ‘truth-telling’ or objective evidence of life.

 Passage #85-33a, 1985-2011, pigment print 46 x 33 inches, edition of 6 plus 2 artist's proofs
 

Which is precisely why, when traversing the halls of work at AIPAD this year, four images from different bodies of work by Lynn Stern, cut the wheat from the chaff. As an artist trained extensively in traditional wet room photography, Lynn Stern has long been known for her work with still life, translucent cloth, large-format cameras and film in the 80’s, an exquisitely productive period after which many would come to know the artist officially as an ‘abstract’ photographer. For the art world luminary, now in her 80’s, photography is her tool, not her medium. The subject isn’t the object Stern paints, but rather, the lilting play of light and shadow.

 Veiled Still Life #46b, 2002, gelatin silver print 24 x 20 inches, edition of 5; pigment print 2010, 42 x 34 inches, edition of 6 & 2 APs

Raised by the late art collector and former president of the Whitney Museum, David M. Solinger, Lynn's artistic education commenced at an early age, surrounded by her father's extensive collection of Abstract Expressionist paintings and sculptures. Patriarchy’s heavyweights aside, it was probably much later in life that Stern distilled her singular vision into a fluid outpouring of quiet, somber revelations, drawn from her long-standing exploration of the visually feminine, sensual, and subtle qualities of light. 

 Apparition #23-59, 2023, archival inkjet pigment print, 39 x 34 inches, edition of 4 plus 2 artist's proofs
 

Traipsing through AIPAD with eyes wide, my encounter with Lynne’s four luminous abstractions, displayed in chromatic pairs like a fading checkerboard, brought me to a halt. Stern’s delicate gradations cut through the cacophony of visual stimuli, serving as a testament to the enduring impact of her convention-defying and boundary-pushing approach to making art—one that remains strikingly relevant even today.

 Passage #02-30, 2002-2011, pigment print 46 x 28.5 inches, edition of 6 plus 2 APS 

In continuation of her ongoing exploration of figure and ground, Stern's suite of works, displayed at the Obscura Gallery booth, will be on view through Sunday only. While these pieces have primarily been presented within the framework of distinct thematic series, the AIPAD curation provides a rare opportunity to appreciate the nuanced interplay between what we might term the artist's studies of darkness and light.

To learn more, check out the Artist’s booth talk this Sunday, 4/26 1pm at THE PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW PRESENTED BY AIPAD [The Association of International Photography Art Dealers] April 22 - 26, 2026.

Park Avenue Armory
643 Park Avenue
New York, NY
10065

www.aipad.com
info@aipad.com

About the Artist 

Lynn Stern's work is represented by Obscura Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her work can be seen at AIPAD The Photography Show in New York City each spring. Stern has also exhibited throughout the United States and Europe, and her photographs are included in numerous public and private collections, including the Brooklyn Museum of Art; the Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Cornell University (Ithaca); the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Portland Art Museum; the Victoria and Albert Museum (London); the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York); and the Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, CT), among others. The Lynn Stern archive is located at the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, AZ. Follow the artist on Instagram @lynnsternphotographs