The art world is not traditionally friendly to newcomers. That’s why, for its inaugural edition, the art fair Esther put out a welcome mat. Literally.
The newest addition to Frieze Week is taking over the New York Estonian House, a Beaux-Arts townhouse at 243 East 34th Street, through May 4. In a nod to what visitors can expect from the congenial event, the artist August Krogan-Roley, the husband of the fair’s co-founder Margot Samel, assembled a colorful doormat with the fair’s name and installed it out front.
Esther is part of a growing contingent of alternative art fairs, including Basel Social Club in Switzerland and Supper Club in Hong Kong, born out of a desire among dealers to collaborate rather than compete. While galleries participating in corporate events like Frieze or Art Basel shell out tens of thousands of dollars to rent a space the size of a small New York bedroom, exhibitors at Esther paid just $1,500 each — and there is nary a booth in sight.
Instead, 26 dealers, many with Northern and Eastern European roots, from Oslo to Latvia to Tbilisi to Estonia, have installed art in every corner of the space. Maximalist porcelain vessels by the American-Latvian artist duo Skuja Braden sit, perky as sunflowers, on top of the pool table; upstairs, a video of young people spitting paint and rolling in dirt by the Brooklyn-based artist Oliver Herring screens on a monitor above a piano. The wood-paneled foyer hosts a rocking-chair sculpture with a ceramic tongue by the Estonian artist Kris Lemsalu. (On Tuesday, the fair’s opening day, Lemsalu sat motionless in the chair for an hour. “The tongue will be in my lap — a little Hugh Hefner at Estonia House,” the artist said ahead of the performance.)
Source link : https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/02/arts/design/esther-art-fair-estonia-new-york.html
Author :
Publish date : 2024-05-02 07:00:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.