Features | FAIR, Presented by NADA

Carolyn Ramo on Her Favorite Artworks from Week 4 of FAIR

For the fourth and final week of FAIR, Carolyn Ramo, Executive Director of Artadia, shares a selection of her favorite artworks and gallery presentations.

"NADA fairs have always been an important place of discovery and support. I consistently encounter a compelling display of interesting work, reflective of a rigorous national and international discourse. NADA is not only a most valuable resource for small and mid size art galleries and spaces, its mission extends to the larger art community. I know when purchasing a work I love at the fair, I am also supporting a vital small business as well as the artist’s practice. Here are a few works that caught my attention that suggest the body, both literally and subtly, and elements of the natural world."
"What Pipeline as a space/conversation was selected as the NADA Artadia Awardee in 2014 and its program is an important part of the Detroit art community. This Nolan Simon piece is a surreal and beautiful depiction of a body part I dont usually gravitate towards."

Nolan Simon
"Samovar Maundy 3," 2019
Oil and dye sublimation on linen
25 x 20 inches

Presented by What Pipeline, Detroit
"This painting feels like an ideal representation of my current longing for a connection to nature and trees."

Akira Ikezoe

"Untitled 128," 2019
Oil on canvas
30 x 22 x 0.5 inches

Presented by Proyectos Ultravioleta, Guatemala City
"Shara is not only a master colorist, she creates vivid scenes in many forms, including this work on paper. She is also a generous support of her fellow artists and has contributed work to benefit an Artadia Award in her native Atlanta, to create a larger impact with her practice."

Shara Hughes
"Love In The Land," 2020
Mixed media on paper
15 x 11 inches

Presented by Rachel Uffner Gallery, New York
"As a fellow Hudson Valley resident, I have been lucky to do a studio visit with Laleh and to witness her collaborative and layered practice. This work is part sculpture/part garment."

Laleh Khorramian
"The Keeper (Guard of the Inner Sanctum)," 2017
Ink on silk, wood dowel, gold leaf
92 x 58 x 1.5 inches

Presented by SEPTEMBER, Hudson
"Lulu is a unique and smartly curated space that shows fresh artworks by artists consistently new to me in a somewhat domestic setting. I’ve been following Martin’s work for a while and love these works that use a simple material, tights and hosiery, to create dynamic yet soft tension."

Martin Soto Climent

"Gossips (Smoke Sun)," 2020
Tights, wood box, plexiglas mirror
8.2 x 12.2 x 3.9 inches

Presented by Lulu, Mexico City
"Everything I learned is from Nicole! She has the best eye in the business. Sheree’s work feels deeply personal to me, sometimes using her own body, to create somehow both lush and stark collaged pieces."

Sheree Hovsepian

"Sheltered," 2020
Silver gelatin photographs, wood, string, velvet, artist frame
13.5 x 10.5 x 3 inches

Presented by Nicole Klagsbrun, New York
"This work to me is immediately compelling, the two fetishized inflated forms capturing a vulnerable closeness and pronounced juxtaposition."

Cameron Clayborn
"coagulate," 2019
2 cushion container bags: vinyl, zipper, sand
31.5 x 14 x 11.5 inches

Presented by Simone Subal Gallery, New York
"I gravitate to almost any artwork with striking flowers and plants in a domestic setting. This feels like a unique memory and personal moment worth savoring."

Christine Frerichs

Blood Red Geranium and Letter Opener, 2020
Oil and wax on paper
22 x 15 inches

Presented by Klowden Mann, Los Angeles
"The color combinations are so rich and vivid and emotional. This is the kind of work you can catch in the corner of the room and it will affect you immediately."

Richard Tinkler

"Grass Like Uncut Hair," 2018
Oil on canvas
40 x 30 inches

Presented by 56 Henry, New York
"The title alone makes me gravitate to this plush and delicately clothed object, a source for good vibes."

Justin Chance

"Megazord MM (Power Quilt for Good Vibes & Ultra Posterity)," 2014-2017
Wet and needle felted wool, dye, cotton, and silk; quilted
40 x 30 inches

Presented by SMART OBJECTS, Los Angeles
"I have been into Mari’s work for some time-- and I love her whimsical jovial painting that captures what it must feel to be a satisfied artist at work."

Mari Eastman
"Blue Studio/Back Yard," 2018
Charcoal, color pencil, push pins. cardboard, tape, paint brush, flashe, 3-D print, paper, oil, and acrylic paint on bleached linen
84 x 74 x 2 inches

Presented by The Green Gallery, Milwaukee
"Matt’s strange sculptural work is an intriguing combination of natural and man-made materials that have been subtly and intelligently combined."

Matt Hoyt
Trellis and Seed, 2007–2019
Epoxy based putties, epoxy resin, plastic, metal, tempera and oil paint
5.5 × 2.25 × 3.5 inches

Presented by Bureau, New York
About Carolyn Ramo

Carolyn Ramo is the Executive Director of Artadia, a national non-profit organization that supports artists directly through its unrestricted Artadia Award grant program. Founded in 1999, Artadia has provided over 350 Awards and over $5 million in support of artists in Artadia’s programcities: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco. In spring 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Artadia worked with six fellow grant organizations to launch the nation’s first largest individual artist fund, Artist Relief, dedicated to providing emergency grants to artists working and living in the US, who experienced financial hardship. Carolyn joined Artadia in July of 2012; she is also a member of the Board of Directors of The People’s Portfolio, a non-profit organization that brings visibility to humanitarian crises. Prior to leading Artadia, Carolyn was a partner at Taxter & Spengemann, a contemporary art gallery that focused on emerging artists. From 2007-10, Carolyn was the Production Director at David Zwirner gallery. Carolyn has also worked at Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Sara VanDerBeek on Her Favorite Artworks from Week 3 of FAIR

For the third week of FAIR, artist Sara VanDerBeek shares a selection of her favorite artworks on view.

Sara VanDerBeek was born in Baltimore in 1976 and lives and works in New York. She has had one-person exhibitions at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota; Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Baltimore Museum of Art; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Fondazione Memmo, Rome; and Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland. Recent group exhibitions include New Visions, Photo Triennial 2020, at the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo, Norway and VanDerBeek + VanDerBeek, curated by Sara VanDerBeek and Chelsea Spengemann and featuring work by both Sara VanDerBeek and her father, pioneering film and video artist Stan VanDerBeek who studied at Black Mountain College at the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, Asheville, North Carolina.
Inspired by the work of Fatima Rodrigo presented by Livia Benavides 80m2 Lima, I have selected works that explore physical and emotional acts of interpretation and abstraction. Rodrigo’s Sentimental Geometry, 2020, powerfully embodies this in its compelling use of materials, pattern, and form. Significantly it is also the artist’s physical efforts to render and portray the continually shifting nature of our world that gives this work, and those of the other artists selected here their resonance.

For many of my chosen works, such as Jason Revok’s Kundalini Loop_B/Y/P_4/20, 2020 and Sanou Oumar’s 06/19/2019, 2019 at Gordon Robichaux I was inspired by the strength of the artist’s presence as expressed in the unique realizations of metamorphic surfaces and visual accumulations of imagery both representational and abstract.

For others I chose works that were powerful in their humor or seemed like pure pleasure to create, such as Nel Figueroa’s Subitamenta en una Mesa, 2020 and Adelina Ivan’s Two Points of One’s Own, 2019.

Lastly, I chose works with a mixing of bodies, and bodily forms with inventive spaces and species such as Lydia Maria Pfeffer’s Baby Dragon strapped to my belly, 2018 and Maryam Haseini’s Towards Yes Towards No, 2017, that spoke to the dreamlike realm of a shared subconscious flickering with images of light and loss.

As an artist and a former Vice President of NADA, I am deeply indebted to the founders of NADA, Heather Hubbs and NADA as a growing international community not only for the support it provided me starting in 2003 when I was simultaneously a young gallery co-owner and an emerging artist figuring out my practice, but also for the ongoing education it has provided me throughout my career and engagements as an artist and educator in NY since. The cooperative nature of FAIR is another testament to the innovation and civic nature of NADA. I have been moved and inspired by all of the work presented here and by the collective spirit of the entire endeavor. It is heartening and I hope that this model that formed out of a crisis can evolve and be implemented in the future to ensure the collective communities, in and around NADA will survive and thrive. I look forward to engaging with the next iterations and events NADA will present during this incredible moment of transition and transformation for the global art community, and our larger societies.
Mark Hughes on His Favorite Artworks from Week 2 of FAIR

For the second week of FAIR, art advisor Mark Hughes shares a selection of his favorite artworks on view.

Mark Hughes founded Mark Hughes Art Advisory in 2011 after working in commercial galleries in Sydney and New York for twenty years. Based in Sydney, Mark works with private clients in Australia, the UK and the USA. He has also completed corporate projects in Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, China and Australia. Prior to founding MHAA, Mark was director at Galerie Lelong in New York.
Liam Everett
"Untitled," 2013
Acrylic, ink, salt and alcohol on maple panel with artist-made frame
17 x 13.25 inches

Presented by Altman Siegel, San Francisco

"This earlier work by Liam Everett is imbued with a truly handmade physicality. The mysterious forms, all scratchy and blurry, hover and pulsate within its unpretentious simple wooden frame. An economy of materials produces an abundance of visual delight."
Gordon Cheung
"Tears of Paradise (study)," 2020
Financial Times stock listings, archival inkjet, sand and acrylic on canvas
31 1/2 x 39 3/8 inches

Presented by Edel Assanti, London

"This textured and alluring paradise by British-Chinese artist Gordon Cheung quietly explores China’s history, international relationships and power. Stock listings of the Financial Times literally underpin this magical sandy landscape. Nature takes a back seat as we are seduced by its gorgeous colours and imagery of winding roads, with the promise of a progressive future that has already arrived."
Dan Finsel
"Untitled," 2020
Acrylic watercolor on canvas
22 x 27 Inches

Presented by François Ghebaly, Los Angeles

"You could be forgiven for thinking this is a portrait of a Bourgeois spider emerging from isolation. Overweight and slightly lethargic, there is a sturdiness and resilience in the bodily form of this being or object as it hovers in an ice-blue cloud. It rightly confounds our expectations and desires to categorise and label, but one cannot deny its sharp, confident presence."
Danielle Orchard
"Girls with Cat and Martini," 2020
Oil on linen
34 x 26 inches

Presented by Jack Hanley Gallery, New York

"It’s 2am and the drinks have been drunk. The room is tilting, bodies dissolving and the cat is hungry. It is almost like the pause button has been pressed on this moment between revelry and sleep, where time is a triangle upended into a martini glass. No matter how strange it all is, a deep serenity pervades this scene of luscious color."
B. Ingrid Olson
Swan Crash Foil, 2020
Inkjet print and UV printed matboard in aluminum frame
16 7/8 x 26 inches

Presented by i8, Reykjavik

"A moment of intimacy, privacy and action is expressed in this photographic work by B. Ingrid Olson. The body in space and the body creating space are both explored in this moment in progress. Legs extend and lift into the air and off to the side; between them is a window through which we view an angled hand about to slide deep into a crevice. The work is both sensual and playful, with the artist inviting us to be both quiet viewers and imaginary participants."
Jeffrey Gibson
"Look How Far We’ve Come 053," 2017
Unique screenprint
22.5 x 30 inches

Presented by Participant Inc, New York

"There is little cause for celebration for even the most positive optimists, no matter how bright and joyous the design and colors announcing this declaration in Jeffrey Gibson’s unique screenprint. Given the current state of everything right now, it would be hard to read this without sarcasm and sadness at the decline of political standards, the ability of the human race to ruin the planet, and the careless treatment of First Nations peoples the world over. Gibson’s work is a window through which we can see things more clearly."
Tomory Dodge
"Trash and Champagne," 2012
Oil on canvas
17 x 15 inches

Presented by Philip Martin Gallery, Los Angeles

"This earlier work by Tomory Dodge reminds me of first discovering his luscious paintings as the art world awoke again to abstraction. Layers of luscious stripes in delicious thick oil are applied with obvious love for the medium, and scraped back with care to reveal what lies beneath. More champagne than trash for me."
Orkideh Torabi
"I'll find you a good one!," 2020
Fabric dye on stretched cotton
44 x 44 x 2 inches

Presented by Sean Horton (presents), Dallas

"Who can forget Orkideh Torabi’s installation at NADA NYC in 2018! Pattern and decoration continue to enliven Torabi’s dyed fabric paintings, with figures here engaged in conversation in the cosy environment of a men’s bathhouse. One can only guess at the role of a small-size sock in this conversation, and the artist raises more questions about tradition and relationships than she answers."
Jeff Gibson
Untitled (spectacles), 2020
Decoupage on wood panel
24 x 24 inches

Presented by The Suburban, Milwaukee

"With printed matter slowly disappearing from our lives and on its way to becoming future artefacts, thankfully we have Jeff Gibson to facilitate renewed appreciation of the medium. Combined through decoupage, Gibson brings to life an obscure selection of imagery from advertising, street scenes and Hollywood archives. These fragments are cut, arranged, fixed and delivered as a kind of ‘painting’ that mirrors our own image-laden environments. Gibson celebrates the visual and physical history of the printed form – and it’s all in the detail."
Matthew Harris
"Rich Pig," 2019
Acrylic on linen
35.8 x 24 inches

Presented by Neon Parc, Melbourne

"We could all do with some humor right now, and often the best humor is underpinned by uncomfortable truths. Harris is known for making art that pushes the boundaries of taste and this week he wins with this choice cut of pig’s nuts."
Nicholas Buffon
"Catherine Opie 420," 2019
Acrylic on pine panel
12 x 5.75 inches

Presented by Callicoon Fine Arts, New York

"What greater homage for your favorite artwork than to have it as your lock screen? For the painter-sculptor Nicholas Buffon, the choice to depict Opie’s powerful work “Self-Portrait/Cutting” on a 12-inch pine ‘phone’ is, for me, a touching display of respect. The process of reverence makes clear the importance of one artist to another, and the complexities of that exchange. The result is something true to Buffon’s practice and a new tale is being told."
Artworks
Jordan Marani
Big Fat Nobody, 2019
Jordan Marani
"Big Fat Nobody," 2019
Acrylic, graphite on polyester quilt cover, polyester wadding
83 x 55 x 14 inches

Presented by Daine Singer, Melbourne

In some respects, we are all the “Big Fat Nobody” in Jordan Marani’s large stuffed sculptural work. Made pre-Covid, this work could become a poster for these days of comfort eating and our realisation that there are much more powerful things out in the world than us – especially things we cannot see. The helplessness of our large lumpy friend brings forth a desire to protect and care for those around us. Every nobody is always a somebody to someone else."
Frank Heath
"Numbers Station for The Pony Express (Gill’s / Sand Hill Station)," 2018
Laser-etched slate, postage, archival inkjet print
24.5 x 37 inches
Edition of 3 plus I AP

Presented by Simone Subal Gallery, New York

"Instructions, communication, public service – all things that are very much on our minds right now – inform this work by Frank Heath made in 2018. I can’t really make out what is going on, but in 2020 this rather banal imagery from a US post office (places not known for high tech efficiency) brings forth uncomfortable truths about the movement of goods and systems that are either in decline or broken entirely. It might also be a love letter to correspondence and communication – the ambiguity of meaning now even more heightened in these pandemic days."
Daniel Rios Rodriguez
Hawks and Doves, 2020
Oil and mixed media on wood panel
14.5 x 16.5 inches

Presented by Nicelle Beauchene, New York

"Texture, colour and form lap right to the edges of this painting by Rodriguez, who is known for his vibrant sculptural paintings in homemade frames, where nothing seems immune to being painted or covered. I am not sure how something which has elements of painting, collage, texture and sculpture can also feel minimal, but maybe that lies in its supreme elegance and balance. For me this painting feels rooted in nature, and at the same time other-worldly."
Candace Worth on Her Favorite Artworks from Week 1 of FAIR

For the inaugural week of FAIR, Friends of NADA Member Candace Worth of Worth Art Advisory, shares her favorite artworks on view.
Magalie Comeau
"Chair de l’anti-carré," 2018
Oil on canvas
60 x 84 inches

Presented by Mitchell Algus Gallery, New York

"This special Canadian artist makes completely abstract, ethereal, atmospheric paintings. Her subjects seem to be air and light themselves."
Erica Baum
"Flattered," 2019
Archival pigment print
19 x 15.5 inches

Presented by Bureau, New York

"I love the work of this mid-career, conceptual, photo-based artist. Her imagery of the last few decades is based on vintage books, found poetry and old pattern-making pamphlets. Baum produces works in small editions and they are relatively inexpensive, so I like to buy the work in small groupings."
Ulrike Müller
"Stolz und Vorurteil," 2018
Monotype in artist's frame with chine collé and pochoir
29 x 22.25 inches

Presented by Callicoon Fine Arts, New York

"I like how Muller moves easily between painting, print-making and ceramics. This colorful monotype feels like a photographic still-life."
Dan Miller
"Untitled (DM 1263)," 2019
Acrylic on paper
30 x 44 inches

Presented by Creative Growth, Oakland

"Dan Miller comes from the Creative Growth Art center in Oakland, CA, a special place that supports artists with disabilities. His intense, repetitive abstractions of letters and words have great energy and color."
James Benjamin Franklin
DOLMA, 2019
Acrylic, sand, glitter, fabric, and apoxie sculpt on rigid wrap
22.5 x 16.5 x .75 inches

Presented by Reyes Finn, Detroit

"This Detroit-based painting makes great, three-dimensional paintings, built up with unusual materials like glitter and epoxy. They have a beautiful, rough surface and a ton of presence in person."
Artworks
Robin Cameron
Vayyyyyyyyse, 2015
Robin Cameron
"Vayyyyyyyyse," 2015
Ceramic
14 x 13 x 7 inches

Presented by Franz Kaka, Toronto

"I love this built-up ceramic work by Robin Cameron, an ancient form in a contemporary format….it can sit within a bookshelf or on its own pedestal (with a little museum glue underneath!)"
Ragnar Kjartansson
"Goddess," 2019
Plywood, wood, paint, hardware and sandbags
86 x 20 x 16 inches

Presented by i8, Reykjavik

"One of the most important voices of the last ten years (who could forget the major, multi-screen work ‘The Visitors’), Ragnar is also a wonderful draftsman and painter. These ‘Goddess’ sculptures combine his interest in figurative sculpture with painting and drawing."
Benjamin Degen
"Unity Gain/All Out," 2018
Oil on canvas
20 x 16 inches

Presented by Susan Inglett Gallery, New York

"This small, detailed seascape painting packs a lot of visual power onto a small canvas. Degen is renowned for his tight mark-making and beautiful palettes."
Michael Queenland
"Untitled (Good and Bad Intentions...)," 2006
Paper, tempera, ink, photocopy
33 x 25.5 inches (framed)

Presented by Kristina Kite, Los Angeles

"This LA-based, conceptual artist often works in sculpture and photography, looking at relationships between images, objects, and language. The candle image in this collage, a recurring motif in Queenland’s work, lies between two geometric diamond-shaped drawings."
Marisa Takal
"My Your Pattern in Your Head," 2020
Oil on canvas
65 x 50 inches

Takal is a wonderful, newer painter for me, and I am drawn to how she gives you a representational painting, but only gives you partial information to understand the narrative. Is this a rack of women’s clothes installed outdoors? For what purpose? The bottom half of the foreground is a landscape but what is the geometric background? Great price point for a large work by a strong, up-and-coming painter.
About Candace Worth

Capitalizing on her extensive knowledge and relationships in the gallery, auction house and artist communities, founder Candace Worth established Worth Art Advisory in 2001 to bridge the gap between new art collectors and the art world establishment. In the last nineteen years, Worth Art Advisory has developed into a leading, internationally-recognized contemporary art advisory service representing a diverse group of art collectors.

Prior to establishing Worth Art Advisory, Worth worked in the Contemporary Art Department at Christie's auction house, followed by positions at a blue-chip gallery in New York City and an internet-based art consultancy. She has participated in panel discussions and lectures related to the contemporary art market at the Rhode Island School of Design, the Drawing Center, Art Dealers Association of America and TEDxChelsea.

Worth is an executive member of the Association of Professional Art Advisors and served for ten years on the board of the Drawing Center in New York City. In 2010, she created an artist residency program in upstate New York, offering artists a unique opportunity to work for extended periods in a rural environment. Worth received her bachelor's degree in Art History from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992 and studied at the graduate school of Art History at Columbia University.

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