New York New Museum Triennial: Which artists born in the 1980s and 1990s deserve attention?
Installation view of "2021 Triennial: Soft Water and Hard Rock", New Museum, New York, 2021
Photography: Dario Lasagni
For established collectors, biennials/triennials are often a better “hunting ground” than art fairs. While there are many such exhibitions in 2022 (Venice Biennale, Documenta, etc.), don't ignore emerging artists like the New Museum Triennial point exhibition.
This year's Triennial, Soft Water Hard Stone (until January 23, curated by Margot Norton and Jamillah James) is a quiet place. As Artnet News art critic Ben Davis summed it up: "It's an exhibition of objects that either lie on the ground or look like they've just been picked up from the ground, and are vaguely reminiscent of Ruins.” This seemingly modest aesthetic is present in many contemporary artworks, as some young artists begin to explicitly reject digital media in favor of ready-made and natural materials.
To help you understand the show, the Artnet News Pro team has selected six of the 40 participating artists who are preparing to enter the next phase of their careers. Here's an introduction to their work, as well as some information you need to know before buying their work.
Yevgeny Antufiev
Evgeny Antufiev
born in 1986
Installations by Yevgeny Antufiev
Image: Courtesy of the New Museum
Partner/representative gallery: Emalin Gallery, London
What you need to know: Born in Siberia and now living in Moscow, Yevgeny Antufiev works with natural materials such as copper, wood, cloth, stone and bone. His works are rooted in mythology, with masks, Roughly sewn stuffed dolls, sculpted figurines, and mysterious gadgets come in the form of things that feel both fun and a little scary. Antufiev's installation at the Triennale of the New Museum is set against a backdrop of wallpaper based on a third-century AD marble Roman sarcophagus design, which examines masks as they appear in history.
Most Popular: Gem-encrusted bronzes and embroidered textile masks are particularly popular, says Angelina Volk, director of Emalin Gallery, which sold all the Antu at Art Basel last September Fiev's work.
Price of works: 5,000 euros to 100,000 euros
Future trends: his solo exhibition at the Golubitskoe Art Foundation in Russia will open in April this year. In addition, a second solo exhibition at Emalin Gallery will be held concurrently with Frieze London later this year.
—Katya Kazakina
Bronwyn Katz
Bronwyn Katz
born in 1993
Bronwyn Katz, Kx'anis, 2021
Image: © Bronwyn Katz Image courtesy the artist and blank projects, South Africa
Partner/representative gallery: blank projects, Cape Town
What you need to know: Katz is a founding member of the iQhiya Collective, a community of young black female artists from Cape Town and Johannesburg. A multidisciplinary artist working with off-the-shelf materials, a recurring theme in her work is worn and discarded mattresses, sometimes cut open to reveal materials such as coiled springs. While blank projects is her only collaborating gallery, last summer she also had a solo show at White Cube London's Bermondsey space, which featured wall-mounted deconstructed metal bed frames and mattress springs. Her work is supported by a number of important collectors, including the influential South African businesswoman Pulane Kingston.
Favorite work: "All of her work is in demand," says Jonathan Garnham, project director at blank projects, revealing that the artist has a long waiting list. Her installation Xãe (2021) at the Triennale of the New Museum is a work of steel, cardboard and wire that looks like a family organization and a forest.
Price: $15,000 to $30,000 for a single work (installations will be more expensive).
Future moves: Katz is creating a new series of sculptures using materials including recycled mattress springs and spatulas. She also recently created a new set of works for the Future Generation Art Prize, composed of materials such as steel, stone, iron ore and coal.
—Eileen Kinsella
Kahlil Robert Irving
born in 1992
Kahlil Robert Irving, “Routes&Roots[(SaintLouis NewYork (returnflight)] MEMORY MASSES” series, 2021
Image: Courtesy the artist
Partner/representative gallery: none
What you need to know: Irving is best known for his modular abstract sculptures. Among the 10 assembled ceramics on display at the New Museum, one can look for traces of many objects from everyday life - such as coffee cups, takeaway boxes and crumpled magazines, as well as images and texts mined from the Internet, Irving Think of it as "a living archive of black life, death, commemoration, celebration and survival." He also recently participated in the group show "Social Works II" curated by Antwaun Sargent at Gagosian.
Favorite works: Irving's large-scale prints are in high demand, including one that was recently acquired by the Whitney Museum of American Art, as well as some sculptures like this one at the New Museum. "In my practice, things are constantly changing, so each of my pieces works well to capture the interest of both viewers and collectors," Irving said.
Price: $15,000 to $150,000
Future Trends: Recently, Irving has been described as New York's "City Influencer", and his work is currently on display in the Whitney Museum of American Art exhibition "Making Knowing, Craft in Art 1950-2019" at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA ) also has an exhibition project "Projects: Kahlil Robert Irving", and of course the New Museum Triennial. The artist will also be participating in group shows at the High Museum and the Carnegie Museum of Art in Atlanta this spring, and at the Katzen Center for the Arts at the American University Museum of Art this fall. His next solo show will be at the Walker Art Center in 2023.
—Naomi Rea
Brandon Endive
Brandon Ndife
born in 1991
Brandon Endive, Pinched, 2021
Image: Courtesy of the artist and Bureau, New York Photography: Photography by Dario Lasagni
Partner/representative gallery: Bureau, New York
What you need to know: Born in Hammond, Indiana, Endive was initially trained to paint and then largely ditched the canvas and palette to work in three-dimensional space. In this other world that belongs to him, the works are very down-to-earth. These sculptures of his include tables, chairs and other household objects, which seem to have sprouted biological growth forms, or seem to stick out from some strange planet. Once rooted, people feel both decadent and rotten temperament, but very romantic.
Favorite works: Endive's sculptures at the New Museum Triennial are a good example of why the young artist is attracting attention. The materials he uses include insulating foam and resin, as well as paint and rubber, and the pieces seem to be calling, wanting to be touched—even to wonder what would happen if you did touch them without realizing it. kind of result?
Price: $5,000 to $20,000
What's Next: Later this month, Endive will have a solo exhibition at the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. His work can also be seen in James Cohan's group exhibition "A Través" in New York (until 19 February).
—Tim Schneider
Ambella Wellman
Ambera Wellmann
born in 1982
Ambella Wellman, Strobe, 2021
Image: Image courtesy of the artist and Company Gallery, New York
Partner/representative galleries: Company Gallery, New York, Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin
What you need to know: The Nova Scotia-born, New York-based painter is extremely creative, and her work draws inspiration from Surrealism and Romanticism with a twisted twist. Her painting at the Triennale at the New Museum is one of her largest to date, depicting a beach scene where the human body seems to be constantly rolling in a style a bit like Bosch, Goya and Nicole The combination of Nicole Eisenman.
Most Popular: The waiting list for Wellman's paintings is also long. At Art Basel's Miami Beach show late last year, New York's Company Gallery launched a solo booth of Wellman's work, featuring the artist's bed frame and a new set of paintings.
Price: The gallery didn't say anything, but her work is fetching around $13,500 at the 2020 Independent Art Fair — though it's definitely going up now.
Upcoming trends: Wellman's work will be featured in the group exhibition "A Place For Me: Figurative Paintings Now" at the ICA in Boston, opening March 30.
—Julia Halperin
Harry Gould Harvey IV
born in 1991
Harry Gould Harvey IV, 2021
Image: Photo by Ben Davis
Partner/representative gallery: Bureau, New York
What you need to know: Harvey has garnered a lot of attention for opening a contemporary art museum called Fall River MoCA in a historic granite mill building in his hometown of Fall River, Massachusetts.
Most Popular: While his sculptures tend to be the most eye-catching, prices for sketches (complete with hand-carved frames) have also risen nearly 10-fold over the past four years. Both paintings on display at the New Museum this time have been sold.
Price: $4,000-$5,000 for sketches, $5,000-$25,000 for sculptures.
What's next: Bureau will be presenting several of Harvey's paintings in an upcoming group show, and the artist has an installation made from off-the-shelf objects like pencils on display at the Fruitlands Museum in Boston. In addition, he is curating the fourth group show at Fall River MoCA, which will feature the work of Rafael Sánchez and Kathleen White.
—Annie Armstrong
(reproduced)