Announcing Featured Artists for the 15th Anniversary Edition

Independent New York is pleased to announce further details of the participating artists for its 15th anniversary edition this May. Taking place from May 9 – 12 at Spring Studios in Tribeca, New York, the 2024 edition of the fair will feature works by more than 130 artists presented by 88 galleries and nonprofits, nominated by Independent’s founding curatorial advisor Matthew Higgs. This year’s edition will introduce 39 new artists to New York, marking their debut. 

Solo, duo and group exhibitions commissioned especially for Independent will showcase artists from multiple generations and diverse cultural backgrounds across four floors. As a special anniversary initiative, Independent founder Elizabeth Dee and Matthew Higgs are co-curating the focused presentation 15 x15: Independent 2010-2024, featuring artists and galleries who have made a significant impact on Independent’s history. 

Since Independent’s inception in 2010, the invitation-only fair has focused on inspiring relevant encounters with contemporary art for a well-informed audience. This year’s commissioned presentations will spotlight a wide range of emerging artists making their exhibition debuts in New York City, established figures whose careers are due for critical and market reassessment, and multidisciplinary practices engaging with timely political and social themes.

 

Politically and Socially Engaged Practices
Galerie Lelong & Co. will present works created by Ficre Ghebreyesus (1962-2012, Asmara, Eritrea) in anticipation of the 2004 presidential election in the United States and in response to concurrent global headlines, expressing the artist’s tense yet hopeful vision of democracy. Niru Ratnam will feature the work of Kutluğ Ataman (b.1961, Istanbul, Turkey) and Sutapa Biswas (b.1962, Santinekethan, India) in a two-person exhibition. Throughout their decades-long institutional careers, both artists have traced personal narratives of cultural identity within larger historical trajectories of globalization from the 1990s onwards. Fridman Gallery will present paintings by Fidelis Joseph (b.1989, Adamawa, Nigeria), whose practice blends his life experiences in the US and Nigeria, including his brother’s military service against the Boko Haram insurgency, together with sculptures by Terrence Musekiwa (b.1990, Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe), whose hybrid assemblages are informed by the religion, history, customs, and everyday conflicts of contemporary Zimbabwe. Musekiwa represented Zimbabwe at the 2022 Venice Biennale.

David Nolan Gallery will exhibit a new series of paintings by Vian Sora (b.1976, Baghdad, Iraq) that reimagines humanity’s collective journey towards growth and transcendence, an urgent prospect at a time of violent divisions, extremism, and the destruction of the natural environment. A joint presentation by Fraenkel Gallery and RYAN LEE will feature light-boxes, works on paper, and animations based on found imagery from contemporary culture by Kota Ezawa (b.1969, Cologne, Germany). These include the debut of Grand Princess, depicting the arrival of a cruise ship into the San Francisco Bay in March 2020, carrying some of the first known cases of Covid-19. Distilling these images into their most elemental forms, Ezawa’s work evokes the feelings of dissonance and fear that marked the coming of a global pandemic.

New York Debuts
Continuing Independent’s respected track record of launching artists to a new level of recognition, this year’s fair will include a selection of artists exhibiting work in New York City for the first time. Ciaccia Levi will mark the US debut of the Swiss artist Romane de Watteville (b.1993, Lausanne, Switzerland) with new paintings created specifically for the fair, in which patterns and images construct an impression of the home as the setting for narratives of desire. Ivan Gallery and Voloshyn Gallery’s two-person show will include paintings by the Ukrainian artist Sana Shahmuradova-Tanska (b.1996, Odesa, Ukraine) in which the proximity of life and death is a recurring theme. Shahmuradova-Tanska produced her recent works against the background of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

VITRINE presents a body of work by the UK-based artist Rudy Loewe (b.1987, London, UK) reimagining Anansi, a part spider-part man character from West African and Caribbean folklore, as a gender nonconforming shapeshifter. Presented by Gallery Vacancy, a solo project by Michael Ho (b.1991, Arnhem, Netherlands) explores notions of the Chinese diaspora and the historical phenomenon of yellowface, inspired by the stage persona of Chung Ling Soo, created by a white American magician in the early 1900s. Clima Gallery will show new paintings by Valerio Nicolai (b.1988, Gorizia, Italy) that question the limits of pictorial composition with irony and a surreal sensibility. Luke Agada (b. 1992, Lagos, Nigeria), a recent graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, will make his New York exhibition debut with moniquemeloche. Agada’s surrealistic paintings depict disembodied figures and dream-like landscapes that reflect on the ambiguity of identity. MARCH will present a chronological selection of drawings and paintings by the New Zealand-based self-taught artist Susan Te Kahurangi King (b.1951, Te Aroha, New Zealand). Franklin Parrasch Gallery will present works by the assemblage artist Teresa Tolliver (b.1945, Los Angeles, USA), whose process of “creative recycling” transforms found materials into sculptural representations of her personal experiences and identity.

Sans titre will show large-format oil paintings by Sequoia Scavullo (b.1995, Baltimore, USA) which refer to dreams, emotional states, and non-verbal communication. A recent graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Scavullo is inspired by traditional Caribbean Taino techniques of dream analysis and the culture’s holistic approach to the world at large. Ginny on Frederick will present Moment 2, a video installation by Deborah Joyce Holman (b.1991, Basel, Switzerland). The nine-hour film stars artist Rebecca Bellantoni reciting excerpts from Portrait of Jason, Shirley Clarke’s 1967 documentary interview with the gay Black performer and sex worker Jason Holliday. Holman’s reinterpretation offers a meditation on queer Black representation and the politics of refusal. Charlie James Gallery will exhibit Danie Cansino’s (b.1986, Los Angeles, USA) chiaroscuro paintings and ballpoint drawings, a magical realist love letter to her Chicanx culture and community in Los Angeles. Her subjects are drawn from her family and close friends and their shared geography around Calvary Cemetery in east LA. Presented by Jupiter, the artist Milo Matthieu (b.1990, Los Angeles, USA) draws on the rich cultural legacy of his family’s Haitian heritage. Matthieu’s bold, textured portraits, abstracted scenes, and new sculptural works in wood and bronze embrace a dialogue with the unconscious mind. LINSEED will show Asami Shoji’s (b.1988, Fukushima, Japan) latest gestural paintings, part of a continuous sequence capturing moments of the artist’s daily life, her physical state, and environment. Cob will present British painter Alfie Caine (b.1996, London, UK) who constructs intricate domestic dreamscapes drawing on his background in architecture. Lévy Gorvy Dayan will present works by Alison Watt  (b.1965, Greenock, Scotland). Harnessing art historical references and deft figurative realism, her still-lifes of draped fabric convey focus, consideration, and quietude.

 

Reassessments and Rediscoveries
Several presentations will feature artistic rediscoveries, ranging from new works by mid-career figures to posthumous exhibitions. Corbett vs. Dempsey will show three Chicago-based artists, with recent drawings by Robert Lostutter (b.1939, Emporia, USA), 1980s abstract gouaches by Rebecca Shore (b.1956, Brattleboro, USA), and 1990s hanging sculptures by Richard Wetzel (b.1943, USA). A two-person photographic exhibition by Ricco/Maresca Gallery and christian berst art brut will present works by Tomasz Machciński (1942-2022, Poland), who created 22,000 self-portraits performing a variety of fictitious or appropriated identities, and Tom Wilkins (1951-2007, USA), whose My TV Girls series of Polaroid television captures from 1978-1982 was discovered after his death. James Barron Art will show color-saturated abstract paintings on wood made in the late 1980s and early 90s by Moira Dryer (1957-1992, Toronto, Canada). Alexandre Gallery will feature the mystical woodland scenes of the American landscape painter Tom Uttech (b.1942, Merrill, USA). Jay Gorney will focus on recent drawings by the interdisciplinary artist Clifford Owens (b.1971, Baltimore, USA), who created a living archive of Black performance art in his critically acclaimed 2011 MoMA PS1 exhibition. The body remains a key reference for his mark-making on paper.

 

M. LeBlanc presents new work by Arnold J Kemp (b.1968, Boston, USA), a Chicago-based artist who interrogates the politics of “othering” in a variety of forms and media. Galerie Hervé Bize will show new paintings of female subjects by the Los Angeles-based artist Delia Brown (b.1969, Berkeley, USA), especially conceived for Independent New York. The series is titled Jai Ma, a Sanskrit mantra meaning victory or praise to the divine mother. A dual exhibition by Magenta Plains will pay homage to the painterly conversations of the downtown New York scene in the late 20th century, featuring recent works by Jane Swavely (b.1959, USA) and historical works by Alan Uglow (1941-2011, Luton, UK). Ivan Gallery and Voloshyn Gallery will feature a selection of paintings of invented interior spaces by the late Romanian neo-avant-garde artist Simona Runcan (1942-2007, Bucharest, Romania).

 

Other notable exhibitions include:
The Approach x Chris Sharp presenting Glenn Goldberg
Allouche Benias presenting Kim Westfall
James Baron Art presenting Laura de Santillana and Beverly Pepper
Blank Forms presenting Candace Hill Montgomery, Tori Kudo, and Áine O'Dwyer
Broadway presenting Jessie Henson
Bureau presenting Kate Spencer Stewart
Hostler Burrows presenting Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl and Jasmin Anoschkin
Charles Moffett presenting Lily Stockman
Cob. presenting James Shaw
Copperfield presenting Larry Achiampong, Ada M. Patterson, and Oscar Santillán
Creative Growth presenting Zina Hall and Ron Veasey
CURRO presenting Melanie McLain and Franciso Ugarte
Deli Gallery x Public presenting Amanda Baldwin and Ficus Interfaith
Tara Downs presenting Tsai Yun-Ju
Derek Eller Gallery presenting Austin Martin White
F presenting blvxmth, Jen Fisher, and Doug Welsh
Galería Agustina Ferreyra x Pequod Co. presenting Paloma Contreras Lomas, Tobías Dirty and Cristóbal Gracia
GAVLAK presenting Andrew Brischler
Franklin Parrasch presenting Joan Snyder
Fredericks & Freiser presenting Caroline Absher
GRIMM presenting Matthias Franz and Lucy Skaer
Harlesden High Street presenting Arthur Peña
i8 Gallery presenting Ryan Mrozowski
Nina Johnson presenting Katie Stout, Madeline Donahue, Ruby Sky Stiler, Bari Ziperstein, Brianne Garcia, Yasue Maetake, Nicola L., Martine Barrat
King’s Leap presenting Magnus Maxine
Jane Lombard Gallery presenting Howard Smith, Richard Ibghy, and Marilou Lemmens
Long Story Short presenting Yanjun Li and Dustin Emory
Lubov presenting Shannon Cartier Lucy and Xingzi Gu
Management presenting Anastasia Komar
Halsey McKay Gallery presenting Janis Provisor and Miranda Fengyuan Zhang
moniquemeloche presenting Maia Cruz Palileo
Mrs. presenting Elizabeth Atterbury
Off Paradise presenting Maximilian Schubert
Maureen Paley presenting Felipe Baeza, Kaye Donachie, Paul P., Seb Patane, Maaike Schoorel, Dirk Stewen, and Wolfgang Tillmans
Peres Projects presenting Anton Munar
REGULARNORMAL presenting Aria Almanzar
Diane Rosenstein Gallery presenting Marty Schnapf and Vanessa Prager
Margot Samel presenting Olivia Jia
Sargent’s Daughters presenting Yevgeniya Baras, Brandi Twilley, and Lauren Dare
The Sunday Painter presenting Ernesto Burgos, Emily Kraus, and Kate Newby
Tilton Gallery presenting Anna Tsouhlarakis
Nicola Vassell Gallery presenting Adebunmi Gbadebo
White Columns presenting Anne Collier, Shio Kusaka, Nate Lowman, Jonas Wood
Maximilian William presenting Reginald Sylvester II

 

Images from top: Kota Ezawa, Grand Princess, 2023, transparency in lightbox, 40 x 60 inches (overall), courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and RYAN LEE, New York. Vian Sora, Ecotone I, 2023, oil on canvas with mixed media, 67 x 72 x 2 in, 170.2 x 182.9 x 5.1 cm, courtesy David Nolan Gallery, 2023. Romane de Watteville, Alpha Romeo, 2023, acrylic on canvas, 190 × 240 cm (74 3/4" × 94 1/2") Each: 190 × 80 cm (74 3/4" × 31 1/2"), courtesy the Artist and Ciaccia Levi, Paris - Milan. Rudy Loewe, Anansi #2, 2020, acrylic on canvas, wood, 70 x 170 cm, photography by Eleni Parousi, courtesy of the artist and VITRINE London/Basel. Sequoia Scavullo, I love him in heaven, 2023, oil on canvas, 162 x 130 x 2.5 cm, unique, courtesy Sans Titre, Paris. Valerio Nicolai, Cotone Contrario 3, 2023, oilon canvas, 135 x 160 cm, photography by Pierluigi Giorgi, courtesy the Artist and Clima, Milan. Delia Brown, Bar at the Caribou Club, 2007, oil on board, 15.3 x 23 cm. Private Collection, Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Hervé Bize, Nancy. Arnold J. Kemp, '1984', 2022, at M. LeBlanc Chicago, image courtesy of Arnold J. Kemp and M. LeBlanc, Chicago. Cristóbal Gracia, Perla barroca, bidimensional con fondo naranja y 30% de vacío. Etapa 5, 2023, Screen print and collage, 200 x 125 cm, Copyright of the artist, courtesy of Pequod Co.