Clio Art Fair 2020 during a ‘carnival’ of NYC Art Fairs – before the World ‘went on pause’
Every year, New York’s Spring Art Fair Season starts in the beginning of March. It’s an exciting week full of interesting art events: a wonderland for artists, art professionals, collectors and art lovers in the Mecca of contemporary art. I was very excited about the upcoming festival of New York art fairs, and my dream came true! I started a job as an art dealer at Clio Art Fair and became an intern at Independent. I have been exhibiting gallery booths at different art fairs for several years and I have always wanted to be part of the art fair team.
Right after this extremely busy art week, however, the rest of the events in New York were canceled indefinitely and now the entire state ‘is going on pause’ due to the Corona-virus pandemic. Yet despite this, ‘culture is not canceled’ (Zak Kyes) and the positive energy we gained from Clio Art Fair and from this week in general will outlast the events themselves and continue to motivate us during social isolation. ‘Creativity is a survival strategy; it’s in every bone in our bodies, and always has been’ (Jerry Saltz).
Clio Art Fair hosted 53 artists from the US, Canada, China, South Korea, Japan and Europe, and held thousands of visitors during March 5-8, 2020. Painting, Sculpture, Photography, Mixed Media, Installation and Video Art were all different mediums exhibited at the separated booths represented by the artists themselves. There, the visitors each had a rare opportunity to initiate intimate conversations with the creators of this magnificent environment.
The exposition represented affordably priced of works, ranging from $250 to $18,000. One noteworthy sale during the fair was a painting by Carla Accardi, a famous abstract painter known as a founding member of the Italian avant-garde movement Forma 1 (1947). Marco Domeniconi’s architectural series, Cinzia Cotellessa’s works and Carol Scavotto’s silk thread paintings were labeled with lots of red dot stickers. Scavotto’s conceptual, sensually beautiful objects touch the viewers in different ways. Insook Hwang’s imaginative playful abstract forms inspire the visitors and create the transcendental space filled with positive energy. Clio featured Giorgio Guidi’s minimalist installation, Frédéric Lere’s ‘Vessel Series’, Jérôme Forsans’ conceptual works, Lalage Florio’s colorful wall sculptures, Astrid Stoeppel’s Scraped Dot canvases and other emerging and established artists’ works.
Celebrating Clio’s 10th edition, art advisor and fair manager Misha Capnist curated a special section dedicated to a very important issue of environmental care featuring 7 contemporary artists.
The founder of Clio Art Fair, Alessandro Berni, has been recognized within the art world as a great leader and manager with extensive experience in the arts and full commitment to the success of the artists involved.
It is very likely that one of the primary reasons of the art fair success is Berni’s role as a founder of Alessandro Berni Gallery. Since 2012, the gallery has been representing a wide variety of artists, both emerging and established. Alessandro Berni actively promoted and consulted artists, writing articles on contemporary art, visiting their studios and selecting pieces for the particular shows. These relationships lead him to create a platform focused on independent artists without any exclusive gallery representation, ‘helping them to become aware of their own creativity, as well as commercial potential’.
The organizers of the fair are planning to arrange Clio in even more cities: Los Angeles, CA and Venice, Italy. They are currently working on different initiatives for artists and art professionals.
Creative people are ‘wired to create’, and accordingly a lot of great projects will be born during this challenging time that we hope will soon pass away!
Artists from all over the world can apply for the June 2021 edition of the Clio Art Fair in Venice