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“People often question the need for an art fair in New York, because every day here is like an art fair,” says Matthew Higgs. “For an art fair to be successful, it must create a context that does not exist elsewhere. That’s what we’ve always hoped with Independent, that it adds to the experience of looking at art in New York.
As founding advisor and curator of the Independent New York fair and director and chief curator of White Columns, the city’s oldest alternative art space, Higgs is well-positioned to think on the subject. He has been in the industry for decades, having worked at the Institute of Contemporary Arts and the Royal College of Art in London as well as the Wattis Institute in San Francisco before starting at White Columns 20 years ago. During his tenure there, Higgs curated exhibitions that amplified underserved voices, including more than two dozen featuring artists with intellectual disabilities.
Next May, Independent will have its 15th edition, a moment of reflection. “In 2010, when Independent opened, art fairs weren’t as dominant as they are today,” Higgs says. At that time, the Armory Show and ADAA’s Art Show were the major art fairs in New York. Frieze and NADA opened their salons in New York in 2012 and Tefaf New York launched in 2016.
“Independent was an opportunity to do something different,” Higgs says. From the beginning, he and co-founders Elizabeth Dee and Darren Flook wanted to create a fair that would function as an exhibition, where the hierarchies typical of other fairs, with blue-chip galleries occupying the most prominent positions, would be dissolved. Independent also prefers solo presentations or exhibitions that offer a more in-depth look at the work of a few artists. “Very few of our exhibitors present their entire program,” says Higgs. “At Art Basel, you could see the work of 25 artists at the same booth. We are interested in the individual.
Independent wanted to break away from the convention center model with a smaller selection of invited exhibitors in more spacious stands. “It was quite unusual to have a fair with only 50 or 60 galleries,” Higgs says. “We wanted a collegial atmosphere between the dealers and one in which the artists actively wanted to participate. We invite maverick dealers who may present unconventional works or present works in an unconventional way.” Surprisingly, however, Independent refused to disclose exhibitor costs or its booth fee schedule.
This smaller-scale model has been influential, for example with Future Fair and 1-54, a contemporary African art fair, both launched from Independent. Frieze has also downsized, presenting 68 exhibitors this year instead of the nearly 200 before moving to The Shed in 2021. With 88 exhibitors this year, Independent now finds itself among the biggest shows this season. “The May fairs complement each other and create a healthy conversation about contemporary art,” he says. “The majority of galleries in Frieze, for example, are more established and those in Nada are more emerging.”
In the years since its founding, Independent moved from Chelsea to Tribeca and in 2022 it opened Independent 20th Century to showcase the work of artists underappreciated then or now. The original fair has changed very little, but the exhibitors are constantly changing, as the fair invites new ones every year. Of this year’s 88, 38 are newcomers, including Charles Moffett, who presents new abstract paintings by Lily Stockman inspired by sketches made while listening to the LA Philharmonic play the complete Philip Glass works. Studies ($20,000 to $90,000).
Among the presentations Higgs is looking forward to is Creative Growth, the Oakland-based nonprofit that supports artists with intellectual disabilities. “I have worked with them for over 20 years and this year marks their 50th anniversary. So I’m particularly happy to welcome them to the show,” says Higgs. “It’s important that nonprofits have a presence and are seen alongside their peers in more established spaces. »
To celebrate its 15th anniversary, Independent presents a collective exhibition within the show entitled 15×15: Independent 2010-2024. “The idea was to invite 15 artists who have had a significant presence at the fair over the years to exhibit again in collaboration with their galleries, although the final number is 18 artists,” explains Higgs. This section includes a mixed media painting by McArthur Binion presented by Lehmann Maupin ($225,000-$300,000).
The New York art market has evolved dramatically during this period, persevering despite periods of economic uncertainty. “It just keeps growing,” says Higgs. “The art world, like the economy as a whole, is in a period of stagnation, but this does not seem to affect the industry. New galleries continue to open and new pockets of the city become artistic hubs, as Tribeca has done over the past five years. With this growth, more artists are receiving visibility, which helps accelerate the diversity of voices we see today.
As opportunities for artists have increased, fairs like Independent, which champion underrepresented voices, are no longer unique. “I see it as a validation of the continued importance of artists with unconventional stories, a curatorial narrative that we now see in virtually every major biennial,” says Higgs. “That said, there is still a lot of work to be done.”
May 9-12, independenthq.com
