EP 85: What is Killing the New York Art Fairs (Part 1)

Is New York Art Fair Week losing its momentum? This week, artist and critic William Powhida and I spent time at Independent, NADA, and Spring Break—and the energy felt deflated across all three.

In this first part of our two-part series, we dig into what went wrong. Thin crowds. Dealers complaining about slow sales. International collectors staying away due to political uncertainty and travel concerns. The overall market recession.

But is it just market fatigue, or something deeper? We explore whether New York has simply become too expensive for emerging galleries to self-subsidize, whether political anxiety is creating a chilling effect on both artists and collectors, and why even the best new venues (NADA's stunning Star-Lehigh building) couldn't energize the crowds.

From The Shed's "art prison" atmosphere to Spring Break's maturation away from experimental energy, we examine whether these fairs are losing their essential character—or if broader economic and political forces are reshaping the entire ecosystem.

Next week in Part 2: We'll walk through the specific artwork that caught our attention at each fair and discuss why we had to leave the fairs entirely to find art that truly captured this political moment.

 

Relevant Links:

• William Powhida:
• Jilian Steinhauer for the New York Times on Spring Break https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/08/arts/design/spring-break-art-fair-review.html#
• NADA Fair: https://newartdealers.org/
• Independent Art Fair: https://independent-art.org/
• Spring Break Art Show: https://springbreakartshow.com/