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Independent 20th Century Art Fair Reframes Contemporary Art History

New York Latin Culture Magazine

The inaugural Independent 20th Century contemporary art fair reframes Contemporary Art history from today’s inclusive perspective.

The social shocks of #MeToo, Black Lives Matter, the pandemic, inflation, environmental collapse, global hunger, and war are forcing everyone to see the world in a different way. The art world can be academic and backwards looking, but Contemporary artists see the future before everyone else does.

A Giant Cultural Shift

The art world began its own cultural reassessment before all these social shocks arrived.

One of the early hints was the Museum of Modern Art (New MoMA) reorganizing its exhibitions to be more broadly inclusive of time, place and gender in 2019. The curators realized that their focus on the White Male European stars of Modern Art blinded them to a lot of great work by artists who didn’t fit the mold, but influenced everyone who came after.

In April 2019, the Guggenheim named female Swedish painter Hilma af Klint as one of the very first abstract artists in 1906. guggenheim.org

In February 2020, the Whitney Museum of American Art’s “Vida Americana” (American Life) exhibition stated that the Europeans were not the biggest influence on American art, “it was the Mexican artists that had the most profound, pervasive influence on the art of this country.” We never expected to hear that from the Whitney.

The Independent 20th Century

Independent 20th Century 2022 art fair (Khorzhevska/Adobe)

That brings us to the Independent 20th Century in 2022. The Independent art fair has the strongest New York City focus of all the art fairs. It’s produced by NYC’s own art community, and we are the world’s most multicultural city. It’s an influential show.

Cultural trends don’t usually pop out of nowhere like some quantum effect. They may seem to arise suddenly, but are generally the climax of a long and winding cultural gestation.

The Independent 20th Century extends the time frame for Contemporary Art from after the 1970s to the entire 20th Century and makes it more inclusive of region and gender. About a third of the fair is devoted to previously unseen or unrecognized historical art. All this makes the Independent 20th Century one of the most important fairs of this Armory Week.

International Galleries

New York Galleries

The Independent 20th Century art fair is at Cipriani South Street in the Battery Maritime Building in Manhattan’s Financial District, Thursday-Sunday, September 8-11, 2022. From $66. independenthq.com

NYC Art
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