Art Across Centuries Ignites Emotions, Myth, Allegory At TEFAF New York’s Star-Studded Opener

The 10th US edition of the European Fine Arts Foundation (TEFAF) hosted an invitation-only preview yesterday and is open to ticket holders until May 14 at the Park Avenue Armory in New York. At $55 ($25 for students) for one-day admission, TEFAF offers the best value for money, showcasing museum-quality art and radiating a charm that takes us away from the daily grind and horror geopolitical

The space, built in 1861 for the first volunteer militia to respond to President Lincoln's call for troops, is transformed into an elegant setting for viewing art adorned with floral displays that act as art itself, complementing especially works like that of the Ukrainian artist Aljoscha. Phylogenetic Utopias – Bioism Engineering of Ethical Happiness (2024), presented by Beck & Eggeling International Fine Art from Dusseldorf, Germany. Like an arrangement of cut flowers, the large-scale conceptual sculpture, composed of 36 elements created from partially pigmented poly(methyl acrylate) or PMA, colorless organic polymers commonly used in the finishing of leather and textiles, conveys the coexistence of fragility and ferocity.

From ancient times to living masters, the younger brother of TEFAF-Maastricht, Europe's defining celebration of fine art, antiques and jewelry, is the only fair in New York that offers a comprehensive art history tour that attracts the most discerning celebrities, collectors, institutions and aesthetes. Maastricht's presentations have embraced more modern and contemporary art in recent years, with newer works taking center stage in New York.

Although New York is indisputably the art capital of the world, with a wealth of galleries, museums and pre-auctions to suit all tastes, there is a wide variety of art fairs, too often mimicking the experience of suburban shopping of the 1980s, but it becomes tedious to satisfy the appetite. of an increasingly feigned existence where gratification is instant and fleeting. TEFAF is the antidote to a sick world where image and conformity trump images and wit.

My practice each year has been to go around the stands several times, taking note of what stirs emotion and devising a theme that inspires me through a series of works. Yesterday I was deeply drawn to art that embodies various interpretations of myth, allegory, and other re-imaginings of human existence.

We accompany Salvador Dalí on his self-referential journey to Allegory to the Sea(Allegory of the Sea) painted 13 years before his death at the age of 84 in 1989, presented by Donna said from New York. We embark on the upper canvas, where our eyes feast on two yellow lobsters, which remind us Aphrodisiac phone (1938), evoking Dalí's repeated analogy between sex and food. The bare branches of a heart-shaped tree of life at its roots pierce the grasshoppers as its trunk overlaps a rectangular sea of ​​quartz crystal-like waves as a naked man dives to grab the hands of a mermaid The rectangular symbolism reminds us of Dalí's adolescent subversion of the male gaze Woman at the window (1925), which may have been influenced by Caspar David Friedrich's rückenfigur (German for “back figure”), Woman at a window (1822).

Our eyes return to the roots of the lower canvas to find a human figure walking towards the center of the heart. An abstract figure seemingly taken from a line drawing appeared seated on the left, while a man on horseback trots towards the center from the right, a tribute to the 1964 Modern Library edition. First part of The life and achievements of Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, and illustration by Dalí.

As we look at the canvas, we encounter precious stones and rocks placed in a deliberate pattern at the base of the tree, reminiscent of the exquisite and rare collection of 39 pieces of fine jewelry that Dalí created between 1941 and 1970 as a tribute to his wife. collaborator and muse Gala Dalí, who shared the authorship of many works of art. In the context of this painting that narrates so many decades of the artist's work, we also go back The Eye of Timea brooch in the shape of an eye that a small clock with a face in the iris and

The platinum, diamond, ruby ​​and blue enamel treasure with a mechanical Movado watch movement, crafted by Argentinian jeweler Carlos Alemany, who ran a workshop at the Hotel St. Regis of New York. Looking at the composition as a whole, we remember shapes, colors and compositions of previous works Persistence of memory (1931) i daytime fantasies (1932).

Di Donna confirmed it today Allegory to the Sea and another Dalí that he showed at the fair, The eye of the painter (1941), quickly sold to private collectors.

The childhood trauma of experiencing death is reborn as a new beginning in Berlin-born artist Chiharu Shiota's performance and installation in Osaka. State of being (book) (2023), presented by Win Art from Seoul, Korea. We feel the pulsations of the human vascular system in the sculpture made with a metal frame, pages from a German book and thread representing arteries and veins that carry blood throughout the body. The work is essential in the flesh, electrifying us with a mixture of attraction and repulsion.

There are many works that deliberately present myths, both traditionally as the Roman statuette of Minerva with her owla bronze statuette (around the 1st century AD) in the Carlos Ed from London stop, and with a contemporary elucidation, like that of Claude Lalanne The Rapture of Europe (The Rape of Europa) (2007) patinated bronze, presented by Ben Brown Fine Arts from Venice, London and Hong Kong. The two works are specifically connected through Jupiter.

Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom, medicine, the arts, poetry, crafts, and later war, burst forth (fully armed and in full armor) from the head of Metis, who had been swallowed by jupiter Jupiter had sex with the titaness Metis, causing her to shapeshift in an effort to escape him. Her pet owl connects her to her Greek complement, Athena, and the “owl of Athena” or “owl of Minerva” became a ubiquitous Western symbol of knowledge, wisdom, insight, and erudition.

The myth of the rape of Europe has served as a creative force for centuries, most notably for a 16th-century painting of the same name by Titan. In Greek and Roman mythology, Europa is kidnapped by the king of the gods (Zeus in Greece and Jupiter in Rome) in the form of a bull, and he takes her from her birthplace in Phoenicia to the island of Crete, where she viola and gives birth to twins.

Many other works convey subtle or implicit mythic narratives. We look into the eyes of a contemporary goddess, observing Allen Jones Body Armor (Kate) (2013), an edited photograph of supermodel Kate Moss with a shiny gold cast sculpture that the pop artist made in 1978 for an unmade film. Presented by Galleria d'Arte Maggiore – GAM from Bologna, Italy, Venice and Paris, the portrait of ethereal beauty transcends time, evoking Venus, the Roman goddess of love, beauty, sex, fertility and victory, who is heavily borrowed from Aphrodite Greek, both likely descendants of the Mesopotamian Ishtar, the goddess of love and battle.

Continuing the search for the goddess, we are invited by N. de Mickalene ThomasUS Exotics #2 (2023) at Gallery Nathalie Obadia to stop The staged photography portrait adorned with acrylic, rhinestones and enamel, amplifies the otherwise non-famous black women's feminine beauty, sexuality, desire and female power. The naked subject exposes her rear, while a chain of rhinestones imitates her heart-shaped buttocks. Smiling and at ease, she demands the viewer's attention as she leans against a backdrop of geometric cutouts, as if caressing the wall. Thomas describes how her series of large-scale photo collages of women, sometimes referencing art historical titans like Picasso and Manet, “celebrates the beauty and power of black women through the prism of popular culture and collective history, past and present.” The idea for the series came from Thomas's study of black female eroticism Jet magazine, and its namesake, the French publication of the 1950s Nus Exotique