Volta New York returns downtown to SoHo in the solo – artist fair’s seventh edition in New York, from March 6 – 9, 2014.
Across widened aisles and within more spacious booths in the Mercer Street loft, over 90 galleries from 5 continents mount a dynamic survey of emerging and innovative contemporary art positions, spotlighting artists from 30 nations.
Young talent arrives with formidable force in this year’s edition, with highlights including: Paweł Śliwiński (Beers Contemporary, London), who echoes Neue Sachlichkeit/New Objectivity in his deeply psychological paintings; Hyon Gyon’s lush, melted-fabric compositions of traditional Korean shamanistic imagery (Shin Gallery, New York), following her participation in the Tokyo Wonder Wall 10thAnniversary at Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo; monumental photography by Mohau Modisakeng (Brundyn+, Cape Town), featured in the inaugural Biennale International d’Art Contemporain, Fort-de-France (Martinique); and a site-specific installation by New York-based Armenian painter Anna Navasardian (Galerie Andreas Binder, Munich).
Their presence is balanced by seasoned cultural purveyors, including Hungarian-Syrian artist Róza El- Hassan (Inda Gallery, Budapest), who represented Hungary in the 1997 Venice Biennale and enjoyed a major retrospective In-Between at Kunstmuseum Basel in 2012, in addition to her ongoing project Syrian Voices with activist Shadi Al Shhadeh; veteran color theorist Siri Berg (Hionas Gallery, New York), whose 1986 seminal show Black & White 1976-1981 at the American Swedish Historical Museum (Philadelphia) was recently restaged at the gallery; and “auto-portraitist” Hans Witschi (Galerie Römerapotheke, Zurich), whose three-decades-plus exhibition history includes Kunsthalle Palazzo (Liestal) and the Swiss Institute (New York), plus an exhaustive 2012 artist monograph.
A diverse array of artists this year incorporate printmaking and creative use of paper in their respective works, such as: renowned “urban archaeologist” Willie Cole (beta pictoris gallery/Maus Contemporary, Birmingham, AL), whose emotive upcycled assemblages and steam-iron printmaking are subject of his two-year nationally-touring career survey Complex Conversations: Willie Cole Sculptures and Wall Works; recent Columbia University MFA graduate Jin Joo Chae (Julie Meneret Contemporary Art, New York), whose politically charged printmaking was featured in News/Prints: Printmaking & the Newspaper at IPCNY; Ala Ebtekar (Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles), alumni of Tim Rollins and K.O.S., whose West Coast/Persian cultural mashup is in The Beginning of Thinking is Geometric at Maraya Art Centre (Sharjah) and part one of the three-part Proximities series at the Asian Art Museum (San Francisco); and Katsutoshi Yuasa (YUKI-SIS, Tokyo), who combines traditional ukiyo-e woodcut printing with digital photography and participated in the International Print Biennale 2011 (Newcastle Upon Tyne).
Over 50 returning exhibitors reaffirm Volta NY as a platform for salient contemporary art voices. Notable galleries for 2014 include: Kevin Kavanagh (Dublin), presenting a storytelling series by Sonia Shiel, current ISCP NY artist-in-residence and recipient of Ireland’s 2014 Arts Council Project Award; Laura Bulian Gallery (Milan), highlighting career Conceptualist Vyacheslav Akhunov, whose cultural investigations were featured in Documenta 13 and the 2013 Venice Biennale’s Central Asian Pavilion; contemporary Bahamanian art hub Popopstudios (Nassau), spotlighting “everyday” assemblages and mixed-media works by founder John Cox; Frederieke Taylor Gallery (New York), revealing environmental concerns of downtown stalwart Christy Rupp, whose seminal public art projects factored into the 2012 exhibition Come Closer: Art Around the Bowery, 1969-1989 at the New Museum; Galerie Heike Strelow (Frankfurt am Main), combining sociopolitical commentary and black humor via Florian Heinke, who curated System of Diplomatic Chaos at Kunstverein Wiesbaden last year; and Connersmith (Washington DC), featuring two new series in gouache and collage on contemporary social and racial politics by Zoë Charlton, who participated in The Bearden Project at the Studio Museum in Harlem, plus Wilmer Wilson IV’s durational performance From My Paper Bag Colored Heart and related works in photography and sculpture.
Volta New York is an invitational show of emerging solo artists’ projects and the American incarnation of the successful young fair founded in Basel in 2005. It was conceived in 2008 by Artistic Director Amanda Coulson as a tightly-focused, boutique event that is a place for discovery, a showcase for relevant art contemporary positions regardless of the artist’s or gallery’s age. Volta NY is a platform for challenging, often complimentary – and sometimes competing – ideas about contemporary art. The strict solo format gives the New York fair its unique character, which curators and collectors often compare favorably to experiencing a series of intense studio visits.
Preview, by invitation only:
Thursday, March 6
Guest of Honor | 11am – 2pm
VIP/Press | 2pm – 5pm
Press Preview: Thursday, March 6 | 2–5 pm
Public Vernissage: Thursday, March 6 | 6–9 pm
- Open:
Thursday, 06 March 2014 - Close:
Sunday, 09 March 2014 - Address:
Volta NY, 82 Mercer, between Spring & Broome Streets, SoHo, New York CIty - Mail:
info@voltashow.com - Web:
Volta NY - Opening hour:
Fri – Sat, March 7–8 | 10am – 8pm; Sun, March 9 | 10am – 5pm - Admission:
General $15; Students $10; Groups (10+) $10; VOLTA NY + The Armory Show Dual Pass $40; VIP attendees enjoy shared VIP access with VOLTA NY and The Armory Show. - Transport:
five subway lines provide easy access: six blocks east from Spring Street Station (C/E Trains); three blocks west from Spring Street Station (6 Train); or two blocks south from Prince Street Station (N/R Trains). Plus, a regular shuttle bus service will run to and from The Armory Show and VOLTA NY, from Thursday, March 6, through Sunday, March 9, during fair hours. - Photo credits:
Courtesy of Volta NY
