Courtesy Thierry Goldberg Projects

Khalif Kelly's "Kool-Aid Stand" (2008) will be part of his solo exhibition at Thierry Goldberg Projects's booth at Volta.

Photo by Marie Walz

Bridge Art Fair founder Michael Workman in London

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The free-admission fair, which debuted alongside Art Basel Miami Beach in 2007, is a companion to the sophomore fair Red Dot, which takes place just around the corner at the Park South Hotel on East 28th Street.

Organizer Nicole Hudson said that in addition to accessibility, Art Now emphasizes diversity. “We have 30 galleries representing eight different countries from the United States to Latvia to Germany, so it’s really exciting,” she said.

In comparison to Art Now’s first run in Miami, where it competed with an unprecedented number of other satellites, visitors can expect a more relaxed experience, given that there are only nine other fairs, Hudson added.

“It’s much more manageable,” she said. “People will feel like it’s a little more intimate, as opposed to Miami, which was a bit overwhelming.”

Volta Goes Solo
A third fair making its inaugural appearance in New York is Volta, which is owned by Armory Show parent Merchandise Mart and runs March 27 to 30 across from the Empire State Building at 7 West 34th Street.

Volta premiered at Art Basel in 2005, but the New York edition, VoltaNY, will have a new focus: solo projects. The invitational fair, themed “The Eye of the Beholder,” is curated and directed by art critics Amanda Coulson and Christian Viveros-Faune, and limits each booth to a single artist — 53 in all.

“The Eye of the Beholder” theme addresses little-talked-about issues surrounding beauty and art in a subtle way, Coulson said, asking whether art can be beautiful and good at the same time. 

Organizers opted for the solo platform to promote deeper exploration of both that issue and the participating artists’ work and to differentiate Volta from the other, more traditional New York fairs. Coulson said she also hopes the format generates a “young dynamic and more energy.”

“We approached it as inviting artists rather than inviting galleries,” she added. “It’s not another venue with endless corridors of different works by different artists on the walls.”