The most charming and unexpected of the art fairs in the New York City springtime is TEFAF.
Originating in Maastricht, Netherlands as a statement in veracity and positive energy around Very Good Art, TEFAF Spring 2018 is a celebration of modern and contemporary art- one that takes interest in politics-free art and brilliant color.
It only took a few moments to realize color was the informing theme of TEFAF Spring 2018. And what an absolute joy it was to discover this. The galleries that chose to bring color chose to bring life and chose to bring pleasure. These are the galleries that love art as much as they love the people looking at the art. These galleries understood the demands of the community: silent shouts that reinforced the point that, as much as art should comment and critique, art should also be a refuge and escape.
The blast of color here was refreshing and deeply necessary, pulling the world out of a deep and tragic winter as well as assisting people out of a general sense of global malaise as dire news continues to eek out at a steady pulse.
The galleries that chose to ignore color ignored the very soul of the community. These tone-deaf galleries look to indulge in name alone and have done their innocent artists a severe disservice. In any other setting, I would say you should ignore these tactless galleries. But we are dealing with the artists, and we can only advise the artists to get better representation. It not that galleries don’t know how to read the room, they just choose not to.
In text, it sounds like a slap of the hand and nothing meaningful, but in the physical manifestation, the white-walled galleries have become suddenly very yesterday- very past, very irrelevant and meaningless. The clinical character suits no one and we have been blind to this abuse because we thought it was the only option.
At TEFAF, no one wanted to be in the white boxes. The majority of the exhibitions had everything from dynamic wall colors to exciting carpets and rugs and of course colored art. Even the most risk-averse galleries that wished to stay in their mild-mannered middle lane dropped in a dose of color. Who could resist? Who dares?