Superfine is a mélange of amateur and professional artists hawking their wares in an environment more akin to an arts and crafts fair than anything resembling Frieze. One artist whose work stands out is Yanjun Cheng: In her haunting four-foot square painting, A Child (2018), a partial head emerges from the darkness to stare through visitors behind mismatched opalescent eyes that fail to return the viewer’s gaze.
Superfine: 459 West 14th Street, east of 10th Avenue, May 2-6, superfine.world
Art New York, on Pier 94, is packed with blue chip art, much of it bought by mega-collectors before the public was even allowed in. Aside from these predictable offerings, there were booths showing selections of less conventional art fair fare. Large blurred paintings by the Miaz Brothers (born Milan, living and working in Valencia) stand out in Miami’s Fabien Castanier Gallery’s booth: While these works resemble out-of-focus Gainsborough or Ingres portraits, the compositions are apparently original and, unexpectedly, not lifted from art history.
Art New York at Pier 94 through May 6
