Mar 13, 2020

Clio Art Fair is still on

Despite the fear of the contagion from the new COVID19, many of the fairs scheduled for Armory Week in March have opened and been presented to the public. Presenting this many artworks and artists during this difficult time makes each fair a historical moment.

The opening crowd of visitors and artists. Photo by: Vincent Roazzi Jr/@vincehashtagvince

The Clio Art Fair (tenth edition) held from March 5-8 was, as expected, less populated than previous years. There were works from 52 artists spanning 4 continents.

Photos by Vincent Roazzi Jr/@vincehashtagvince

Clio Art Fair was held in the same venue as 2019 on the ground floor of a contemporary luxury building at 550W 29th Street, Chelsea. A special section of the exhibit named "A nest watching an avalanche" was dedicated to the issue of environmental care, curated by Misha Capnist.

The selected artists were Thirza Cuthand (Whitney biennial, 2019), Walter Brown, Tricia Healy, Minjin Kang in collaboration with Mijoo Kim, Jong Yong Yang, Niq Nanu Daah and Giorgio Guidi; Melissa Godoy Nieto, a young performer artist was a special guest, also, and she reported a performance concerning the coral reef.

We loved the surreal works by Jong Yong Yang, with the precise brush stroke and the empty spaces where the object fluctuates, the scenic panels by Tony Sasso, an emerging artist from Cocoa Beach, California; the parisian-inspired, very dense watercolors by Katherine Dolgy Ludwig; the stained glass installation by Giorgio Guidi; the futurist paintings by Marco Domeniconi; the contemporary, soviet style oil on canvas by Ilya Fedorov; Frédéric Lère and his paintings showing his french birth by proposing the Vessel in each of his 9 inspired, square tableaux; Niq Nanu Daah, an explosive lady, exhibited large paintings, all referencing the care of planet Earth.

Keeping the risk of CoVid-19 in mind, Clio Art Fair offered hand sanitizer to its guests during the opening and the entire duration of the fair.

Opening Night by Nicole L. Cicogna, Gratitude Photos

“For our tenth edition, we had a little loss in terms of visitors," says Alessandro Berni, the founder of Clio Art Fair, "because of the virus people started to be scared, and they stayed home. Nevertheless, we had some interesting sells, and we confirm that 25% of the artists sold at least one piece and – they keep saying – most of them made good connections for the future. Usually participating at art fairs (especially fairs like ours, which is for independent artists) is important to meet collectors and gallerists to have the possibility to be in communication with other artists as well."

We can say that despite the fear of the virus, the overwhelming majority of insiders attended the NY art week. The tourists of the fairs, the curious, the art lovers, many of them preferred to stay at home.

For this tenth edition, Clio presented a special section dedicated to the environment: "A Nest Watching An Avalanche", curated by Misha Capnist with selected artists Thirza Cuthand (Whitney Biennial 2019), Walter Brown, Tricia Healy, Minjin Kang, Jong Yong Yang, Niq Nanu Daah and Giorgio Guidi.