Condo Complex format originated in London in 2016. The event gives the opportunity to small and medium size galleries from around the world to exhibit in a different city for a fraction of the cost compared to participating at an art fair. Local galleries host international ones in their gallery space for one moth. Therefore, sharing a business environment for a limited period of time, gaining new contacts and the opportunity to show work to a different audience. These is the event for those who want to be in the ‘in’ circe of the up-and-coming artists.
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In its second edition in Manhattan, this is my first Condo New York. I was excited to trod the city to explore New York galleries hosting their international peers. There are twenty-one galleries to navigate so I divided my itinerary in two parts. First, the Lower East Side and nearby spaces and then Chelsea and uptown. The second part will follow shortly.
There are two group exhibitions that stand out for me. Both of them super specific in their subject matter. In fact, the most specific I have ever encountered and worlds apart from each other. Then, I highlight an individual artwork that is moving and installed with superb care and sensitivity.
According to the press release, Tears then holes is a communal mourning for the current social and political state of affairs. I am not one to dwell in sadness or negativity but the exhibition proved that, if you put together great artists, a show will succeed; even when the exhibition is the sheer accumulation of many tears.
In the middle of the buzzy Chinatown, I encounter the work of Philip-Lorca diCorcia. Hustlers is a photographic series by diCorcia where fiction and documentary cross in a painful manner. In the early 1990s, the photographer travelled to LA to pick up male prostitutes and make them a proposition. He would pay them the ongoing rate if they would pose for him in a set location.
Like other photographers around this time, Cindy Sherman, Gregory Crewdson and Jeff Wall, staged photography served to dig into sensitive matters. It is not so much to talk about a specific narrative but to give a glimpse into an uncomfortable reality. The eerie atmosphere of this boy perched on a rail, looking down onto a parking lot, speaks of a quiet drama. The muddy colours and the nightlife’s cold bluish lights have a cinematic quality but there is more subtle subtext than melodrama.
Finally, going out on a high, the absolute va-va-voom is at the exhibition Cheeky: Summer Butts. That is right, it’s all about the booty here. In all it’s shapes. In all it’s glory. My top five selection…
If you would like to discuss how IñigoArt can assist you in your art acquisitions or to understand the art market further, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Marina Ribera Iñigo