Occupying Offices: Independent vs. Spring/Break

  Udomsak Krisanamis at Gavin Brown's enterprise at Independent

By PAUL LASTER, Mar. 2017

Armory Arts Week brings the touring art circus to town—without the live animals.

The Armory Show, which focuses on contemporary art, looks better than ever under the leadership of new director Benjamin Genocchio this year; it’s sister fair VOLTA, which is celebrating its 10^th anniversary, shines a spotlight on new art; the ADAA Art Show offers a smart, blue-chip selection of galleries, which mix classic modernism with chic contemporary art; NADA returns to a March schedule with a new venue and a fresh supply of cutting-edge art, while Art on Paper continues to hold fort at its former digs further downtown and SCOPE hangs on at its new but smaller home, the Metropolitan Pavilion. 

Two fairs that always excite are Independent, which is tastefully back this year at Spring Studios, a onetime Verizon office building, and Spring/Break Art Show, which amusingly occupies two full floors of empty office space at 4 Times Square, the old Condé Nast Building, for the first time.

Standout solos at the eighth edition of Independent, which features 50 international exhibitors from 20 art capitals worldwide, are imaginary travel posters and an altered globe by Pictures Generation artist Barbara Bloom at David Lewis, Derrick Adams’s stylish collage portraits at Tilton Gallery and sculptures and paintings of ramshackle houses by Beverly Buchanan at Andrew Edlin Gallery. 

Up at Spring/Break Art Show, things get funkier as Noah Scalin constructs an anamorphic portrait of Helen Keller from an enormous pile of old clothes, Jude Tallichet floats a piano made from crumpled aluminum foil in a closet-size workspace, Sean Fader papers a foyer with professionally photoshopped social media profile pictures of himself as everything from an astronaut to a doctor and Eve Sussman and Simon Lee recreate an old fashioned barber shop—complete with a barber cutting hair.

Scroll through the images below to see more art from these favorite fairs. WM 

Anne Doran at Invisible-Exports at Independent

Tom Holmes and Lionel Maunz at Bureau at Independent

David Shrigley at Anton Kern Gallery at Independent

Magnus Andersen at Neue Alte Brucke at Independent

Neil Beloufa, Kelly Akashi and Kathleen Ryan at Francois Ghebaly at Independent

Despina Stokou and Nancy Shaver at Derek Eller Gallery at Independent

Boris Mikhailov, Art and Language, Francesca Arena, Pedro Cabrita Reis and Giorgio Andreotta Calo at Sprovieri at Independent

Beverly Buchanan at Andrew Edlin Gallery at Independent

Michel Journiac at Galerie Christophe Gaillard at Independent

Barbara Bloom at David Lewis at Independent

Cosima von Bonin, Hiemo Zobernig, Egan Frantz and Anna Fasshauer at Nagel Draxler at Independent

Lucie Stahl, Verena Dengler and Raymond Pettibon at Meyer Kainer at Independent

Nikki Maloof at Jack Hanley Gallery at Independent

Puppies Puppies and Will Benedict at Balice Hertling at Independent

Andy Edelstein and Ted Stamm at Karma at Independent

Derrick Adams at Tilton Gallery at Independent

 Landon Metz Ervin Loffler at VI, VII at Independent

Eamon Ore-Giron, James Castle and Eugene Von Bruenchenhein at Fleischer/Ollman at Independent

Cory Arcangel at Triple Canopy at Independent

Melike Kara at Peres Projects at Independent

Noah Scalin, curated by Dawne Langford, at Spring/Break Art Show

Sean Fader, curated by Denny Gallery, at Spring/Break Art Show

 Jude Tallichet, curated by Fintan Boyle and Matt Freedman, at Spring/Break Art Show

Museum of Who Let the Dogs Out, curated by Jac Lahav, at Spring/Break Art Show

Barbershop, curated by Eve Sussman + Simon Lee, at Spring/Break Art Show

Maripol: Disco Queens, curated by Katyak + Lino Meoli, at Spring/Break Art Show

 Cate Giordano: TV Guide, curated by Suzanne Kim, at Spring/Break Art Show

20 Eyes in My Head, curated by Chris Bors and Nicolas Touron, at Spring/Break Art Show.
Paintings by Noah Becker and Chris Bors and sculpture by Janice Sloane

Amie Cunat, curated by Nicholas Cueva, at Spring/Break Art Show

Anthony Haden Guest, curated by Emerald Gruin, at Spring/Break Art Show

 Amanda Browder, curated by Scott Chasse, at Spring/Break Art Show

Infinity Pool, curated by Stephen Eakin and Rebecca Morgan, at Spring/Break Art Show. Works by Erik Schoonebeek, Robin F. Williams and Heather Garland

Mirror Mirror, curated by Caroline Larsen and Adam Mignanelli, at Spring/Break Art Show. Paintings by Caroline Larsen

Psychic Dream Girls, curated by Rachel Phillips, at Spring/Break Art Show. Artists Roxanne Jackson, Janice Sloane, Ni Hao, Katie Cercone, Jennifer Sullivan, Steve Mykietyn and Chuck Tisa

The Self on the Shelf, curated by Rob de Oude,, at Spring/Break Art Show. Work by Kristen Schiele

 Tom Jarmusch: Flanuer, curated by Rachel Dengiz, at Spring/Break Art Show

Lisa Levy: Take Us Lying Down, curated by Paul D'Agostino, at Spring/Break Art Show

Karma Chameleon, curated by Ketta Ioannidou, Fanny Allie and Alva Cal Y Mayor, at Spring/Break Art Show. Work by Eun Young Choi and Ketta Ioannidou

Guy Richards Smit, curated by Carol Bove, at Spring/Break Art Show

Apartment 2L, curated by Joyce Chan. Paintings by Debra Zechowski, at Spring/Break Art Show

Greg Haberny, curated by Catinca Tabacaru and Ambre + Andrew, at Spring/Break Art Show

Photography © Paul Laster 2017