New York’s SPRING/BREAK Art Show has finally revealed the list of its 2017 curators responding to the theme “BLACK MIRROR,” based on the idea of identity and what artists chose to reveal to the world of their personal selves.
It’s an organizing principle that is drawn from the Claude glass, or black mirror, used by the Old Masters, but is all the more engaging given the demise of privacy thanks to modern technology.
The scrappy fair, known for transforming unusual historic buildings into temporary contemporary art venues, has a new home this year, trading the decommissioned 34th Street post office at Skylight at Moynihan Station for 4 Times Square, the former home of Condé Nast.
Radouan Zeghidour, Terrain Vague à l’âme (2017). Courtesy of Marie Salomé Peyronnel.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the new venue, owned by the Durst Organization, comes with a new creative partner: Anita Durst’s non-profit curatorial group chashama, which has held programming in the building before, will be the recipient of the proceeds of SPRING/BREAK’s annual benefit auction, in addition to presenting the work of five artists, curated by Janusz Jaworski.
“Re-thinking what ‘art space’ means and how to provide artists and art professionals with more has always been [chashama’s] vision, and that vision has changed the city we live in for the better,” said fair cofounder and co-director Andrew Gori in a statement.
Sean Fader, 365 Profile Pics 25/365 (Trump got me all like: Preparing to get the fuck out of here!). Courtesy of Denny Gallery.
Projects to look forward to next week include Sean Fader’s “365 Profile Pics,” presented in a special project booth via New York’s Denny Gallery.
The artist offered up 400 green-screened selfies to Photoshop pros around the world, hiring them to turn the images into profile pictures that “make me look amazing and my life look awesome.” The artist shared the results on his various social media channels every day for a year.
Michael Holman, Silver Cross (2009). Courtesy of the artist.
Michael Holman, who played in Jean-Michel Basquiat’s band GREY, will debut a new series of work at the fair. “I’m a Black man deconstructing the Confederate flag with ancestors who fought in the Civil War on the South side,” he told Art Slant, noting that it was the recent presidential election that prompted him to share these challenging pieces now. Gori and the fair’s other co-director/cofounder, Ambre Kelly, are curating.
The fair will also unveil a series of never-before-seen photographs of Basquiat, taken by his first girlfriend, Alexis Adler, who ran into some opposition from the artist’s family when she attempted to sell some of his effects at Christie’s in 2014.
Alexis Adler, Jean-Michel Basquiat. Courtesy of the artist.
“This was a time before Jean had canvases to work with, so he used whatever he could get his hands on, as he was constantly creating,” said Adler to the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, which currently has an exhibition, “Basquiat Before Basquiat,” of the photos she took in 1979 and 1980, when the two lived together. (Jane Kim of New York gallery 33 orchard is curating the Adler presentation at the fair.)
“Jean was able to make money for paint and his share of the rent, which was $80 a month, by selling sweatshirts on the street,” she said. “He knew that he was a great artist.”
Tamara Santibañez, Thinking About Everything, but Then Again, I Was Thinking About Nothing. Courtesy of the artist.
Justin de Demko, director of New York’s Castor Gallery, will bring a monochrome bedroom installation by Tamara Santibañez, a semi-autobiographical affair decorated entirely in ballpoint pen, featuring band posters and punk clothing accessories, among other personal effects. It’s titled Thinking About Everything, but Then Again, I Was Thinking About Nothing.
Scott Chasse of Brooklyn’s Calico Gallery will restage Amanda Browder’s In Search Of: Chromatic Hi-Five!, a box truck wrapped in a colorful quilt of donated fabrics that first appeared in Toronto in 2011. The artist will convert the former office space into an auto mechanic’s garage.
Rona Yefman, I Love My Life. Courtesy of the artist.
Other curators, like Marie Salomé Peyronnel, will present group shows. “Minus the Sun,” takes a dark reading of the “BLACK MIRROR” theme, exploring how we reveal ourselves under cover of night, through “nightmares and bedtime fears, faith and prayers, boredom, loneliness, love, even illicit exploration of the city…”
Maureen Sullivan will take a slightly more optimistic tack with her group presentation “Do You Feel Lucky, Punk,” inspired by the idea that “in these times, we need a whole lot of luck, a lot of strength, and inventive ways to give the finger and express our dissatisfaction, while keeping our sense of humor.”
See the full list of curators below:
Adam G. Mignanelli
Adam Lovitz
Adam Stennett
Alessandra De Benedetti
Alex Sewell, Marine Cornuet
Allison Zuckerman
Amani Olu
Ambre Kelly, Andrew Gori
Anastasia Voron
Anna Kustera, Lucia Love
Anna Maria Cuevas, Caroline Tilleard
Anna Nearburg
Anne Spalter
Annie Wischmeyer, Sarah Guittar, and Claire Bergeal
Blair Murphy, Alissa D. Polan
C. Finley
Carol Bove
Caroline Larsen
Catinca Tabacaru, Raphael Guilbert
Catinca Tabacaru
Chris Bors, Nicolas Touron
Ché Morales
Ché Morales
COCO DOLLE
Cynthia Sley
Dawne Langford
Debbi Kenote, Til Will
Dennis Dawson
Dustin Yellin
Dylan Kerr
Elektra KB, Nicolas Ulloa, Isaac Aden
Ella Marder
EMERALD GRUIN
Emie Diamond, Anne Huntington
Eric Sutphin
Fintan Boyle, Matt Freedman
Graham Waterston
Hein Koh
Howard Hurst
Ian Etter
Jac Lahav
Jacob Rhodes
Jane Kim / 33 Orchard
Janusz Jaworski
Jess Carroll, Emma Clough
Joyce Chan
Julia Speed
Justin de Demko
Kari Adelaide, Max Razdow
Karin Bravin
Kat JK Lee, Jarrett Key, Jonathan Key, Sharina Gordon
Katya Braxton
Katya k., Lino meoli
Katya Valevich
Ketta Ioannidou, Fanny Allié, Alva Cal y Mayor
Kristen Coburn
Kristen Racaniello
Kristin Sancken
Larry Walczak
Laura Dvorkin
Lynn Sullivan
Marc Azoulay
Mariah Kitner
Marie Salomé Peyronnel
Maureen Sullivan
Megan Liu Kincheloe, Kelly McCafferty
Melinda Wang
Michael Gaughran
Michelle Loh
Milo Perry, Otto Mike
Monika Fabijańska
Natasha Becker
Nicholas Cueva
Nicole Grammatico, Christina Papanicolaou
Parsley Steinweiss
Paul D’Agostino
Queenie Wong
Rachel Dengiz
Rachel Phillips
Rachel Rossin, Toniann Fernandez
Raphael Guilbert
Rebecca Morgan, Stephen Eakin
Rick Herron and Christopher Stout
Rob de Oude
Sara Driver
Sara Driver
Sarah Potter
Scott Chassé
Simon Lee, Eve Sussman
Special Project: ARTHA Project
Special Project: ArtSlant Editors Andrea Alessi and Joel Kuennen
Special Project: Cade Tompkins Projects
Special Project: Catinca Tabacaru Gallery
Special Project: Elizabeth Denny, Denny Gallery
Special Project: Douglas Kent Walla
Special Project: GRIN
Special Projects: Katharine Mulherin
Special Project: KLOWDEN MANN
Special Project: Massey Lyuben Gallery
Special Project: PRINT ALL OVER ME
Suzanne Kim
Teriha Yaegashi
Vanessa Albury, Jamie Diamond, Lauren Silberman, Elisabeth Smolarz
Vivian Chui
Will Hutnick, Mark Joshua Epstein
Ylia Topchiy
SPRING/BREAK Art Show will take place at 4 Times Square at West 43rd Street, 22nd and 23rd floors, February 28–March 6, 2017.