Let the Art Fair Coverage Sort of Begin

Image copyright Volta

ArtReview.com has a handy list of all the New York fairs this year, their preview times next week, and hours. A few observations on the list:

• Fountain still doesn’t have a venue, which suggests a struggling art fair. Mind you, they also bill themselves as a Guerrilla style fair, so maybe they are simply living up to this description.  Update: Bloggy directs us in the comments to the Fountain Fair’s updated  website.  They will not be running a fair this year.

• Last year’s LA Art isn’t on the list, which is a bit of a shame since it was one of the better fairs.

• DiVA discontinues the hotel portion of their fair, filling only their containers in West Chelsea. I’m not sure why a fair located in the art hot spot we all vacate during this time should be appealing to gallerists, but DiVA continues to solicit people willing to pay for that real estate, so I guess at least a few people think it’s valuable.

• Volta and Art Now Fair are the new fairs in town, situated only four blocks away from each other. Of course, the two ventures couldn’t be more different, Volta, an invitational fair that like the Armory is owned by Merchandise Mart Properties, and Art Now Fair which encourages the participation of younger galleries by offering “accessibility” to the fair. Having seen the results of the latter at Miami Basel, I can’t say I’m looking forward the its New York incarnation, though Volta has a few hurdles to clear as well. After all, Volta only announced its curatorial team and efforts January 17th of this year, so finding good galleries who hadn’t already signed up for the fairs would have been difficult. Their exhibitor list isn’t all bad mind you, SEVENTEEN, SUNDAY LES, and Thierry Goldberg Projects amongst them, but the fact that there are also so many galleries I’ve never heard of doesn’t seem like a great sign either.