See Inside Spring/Break, the Indie Fair That Took Over Ralph Lauren’s Offices With Edgy, Outrageous, and Surprisingly Affordable Art
The 2022 edition of the scrappy New York fair includes a critique of bachelorette-party culture and tiny ceramics.
There was glitter, there was nudity, and yes, there was plenty of art at the 10th annual Spring/Break Art Show, which opened yesterday as the unofficial kickoff to Armory Week 2022.
The sprawling fair, which invited curators to present projects on the Renaissance-inspired theme “Naked Lunch,” presented all manner of painting, sculpture, and immersive installations inside cubicles and corner offices across the tenth and 11th floors of the former Ralph Lauren offices on Madison Avenue.
“The theme is fun—we’re like, ‘Let’s get some skin out there!'” Ambre Kelly, who cofounded and directs the fair with husband Andrew Gori, told Artnet News.
Over the past decade, the two have made an art form out of staging large-scale art events in unconventional venues, starting with the old St. Patrick’s School in Soho and since taking over sites including the Farley Post Office, Condé Nast building, and U.N. Plaza building.
“This is our 11th [New York] show in ten years. It feels like yesterday we were in the school and we were just a bunch of kids,” Kelly said. “But so many of the people who worked with us in the beginning are still here!”
Indeed, there’s a healthy mix of new faces and repeat artists and curators, including some who are pulling double—or triple—duty. Returning artist and curator Kat Ryals, for instance, teamed up with Cara Sheffler to curate “Power Lunch,” with futuristic architectural renderings by Johannah Herr displayed in a retro-style office harkening back to Madison Avenue’s advertising agency heyday. Ryals was also showing her own large-scale photographs, printed on velvety tapestries, in “For Your Pleasure,” curated by Lauren Hirshfield.
And Kathleen Vance of New York’s Front Room Gallery curated not one but two projects with gallery founder Daniel Aycock, while also showing her own dreamy sculptures of tiny landscapes—complete with running water—packed away inside vintage suitcases, curated by Michele Jaslow. (The pieces start at $2,400, but can be purchased as a full installation for $81,500.)
On the curatorial side, Vance and Aycock are presenting portraits by Amy Hill, which borrow the visual language of 15th century Flemish paintings, as well as a mirrored cyclorama titled Wild Wander from Spencer Tunick and Phil Buehler.
The exterior reflects the black and white checked floor, and contains a massive photo of one of Tunick’s nude gatherings, documented in the forest by Buehler.
Agnieszka Pilat and Boston Dynamic robot dog Spot at “Data Rex Machina” curated by Filo Sofi Arts at New York’s SPRING/BREAK Art Show 2022. Photo by Sarah Cascone.
Tunick was one of the only more well-known names in a sea of emerging artists that even included a robotic dog—Spot, of Boston Dynamic fame, was reenacting her artistic process with artist Agnieszka Pilat in a booth curated by New York’s Filo Sofi Arts.
“All this work is created by her. She’s very versatile—she uses both her hands and feet to paint,” Pilat, who also works with Agility Robotics and SpaceX, told Artnet News, pulling up an augmented-reality app to show Spot using an oil stick to make markings on one of the $30,000 canvases on offer.
The amount of work on view is, as always, overwhelming, with walls, floors, and even ceilings decorated to add to the display.
“I’d never really thought about it, but now I love murals,” Jessica Wee, who painted colorful surroundings for her paintings in “The Shape of Self” curated by Lingfei Ren, told Artnet News. For the artist, who grew up in France, the works are inspired by getting in touch with her Korean identity as an adult thanks to her roommate
The delightfully chaotic SPRING/BREAK aesthetic can make it possible to overlook quieter gems like the work of Chambliss Giobbi, who recreates art-historical masterpieces in miniature using melted crayon wax, priced between $900 and $8,000.
Despite the diminutive scale, his presentation “Breaking News,” curated by Laine Valentino, had already made a sale to New York collector Sue Stoffel on day one.
And some of the fair’s most coveted works were the small, Seussian ceramics from Megan Bogonovich shown by Kishka Gallery and Library of White River Junction, Vermont. Curator Ben Finer brought 100 pieces, each priced at $700 to $1,200, and sold 33 during opening day.
Meanwhile, curator Katrina Majkut is selling tickets for a photo op with Pearl Renken‘s fluffy, rainbow-colored, mustache sculpture Ass, Grass or Gas…—although she let burgeoning art influencer Odette the Pom snap a shot for free while Artnet News visited the booth, which is both a critique and celebration of bachelorette party culture.
Eschewing the traditional white cube display can lead to some unexpected moments at the fair.
“Do you think I need more confetti?” curator Daniela Mercuri, whose display recreated the confetti-strewn interiors photographed by Flavia Junqueira, wondered as opening day drew to a close. “People keep taking the balloons!”
