One of the great things about visiting New York is that it’s the perfect place to meet up with friends from different places. While I was there, I was able to meet up with a few friends that lived in New York whom I met while I was living in London, a friend from Virginia who I met in Taiwan about 10 years ago, and my friend Adam Bridgland, who flew over with Jealous Gallery from London to help support Charming Baker’s NY solo show.
Adam Bridgland is a good friend from London who is also an artist. I was actually able to see his work for the first time in the flesh at the Affordable Art Fair, where he was showing with TAG Fine Arts. I timed my trip so that I could catch the last day of the AAF, see Adam’s work and visit an art fair with many younger galleries from around the world (although in my opinion, the ones with the best work were from London and Brooklyn).
The AAF was very busy, and I don’t know if it was because it was the last day or if it is always this busy, but a lot of sales were being made and people were walking away with their newest prized possessions. It was very exciting to see, and I hope it means that the art market is picking up again. I wish there was an art fair in Vancouver, but I think the closest one there is is in Toronto, and I’m not sure how well attended that is.
Adam’s framed screen prints definitely stood out from the crowd with their bold graphic style and text, and TAG Fine Arts was telling me about the pieces that were inspired by Adam and his wife Lucy Gough’s (another brilliant artist!) trip to Vancouver a couple of years back.
So Adam was in New York with a gallery that he works with, Jealous Gallery, which is also a print studio. They were supporting the artist Charming Baker, who was having his first solo show in New York, and it was a very busy affair and also a very successful opening night…he sold all of his paintings before the show even opened! It was definitely a good party, with a gallery space over two floors, an open rooftop deck, free Prosecco, mini cupcakes, a DJ and a small print studio set up by the Jealous Gallery allowing guests to pull their own prints.
