Superfine! Art Fair ended its run in Soho on Sunday after exhibiting the work of over 60 artists during NYC’s Frieze Week. This year the fair, which moved downtown after two years in the Meatpacking District, partnered up with nearby Moniker Art Fair in Noho to try to lure art lovers away from Freize’s hub on Randall’s Island and Art New York on Pier 94.
Founded by Alex Mitow and James Mille, wasn’t short on visitors despite Sunday’s rain, and plenty of buyers took away art adorned with stickers proclaiming “I found my forever home.“
Joseph Meloy, co-owner of The Living Gallery Outpost in the East Village, exhibited his canvases alongside fellow painter Kervin Andre and sold seven of them priced under $1,000. He told us about the community formed over Superfine!’s three years in New York. “I’ve met neighbors I hadn’t known before and made friends with collectors from last year that returned this weekend. There’s real camaraderie here and it’s good opportunity to see what people respond to in my work.”
Settling in at the lounge where a cozy bar was set up, we redeemed the drink tickets that came with admission while taking in a panel discussion, “From Artist To Art Business,” featuring fair director Mitow and cookie jar maker Hazy Mae. On her Instagram, Mae recalled how a pretend kitchen she set up at last year’s fair helped her “grow my cookie jar business in way I’d dreamed of and beyond.”
Afterwards, painted renditions of challah bread by artist Ken Goshen caught our eye and almost our stomachs because they looked that real. Goshen’s series, entitled Bread Encounters, brings to life the braided, traditional Jewish bread on a variety of oil-on-wood panels that are fit for a tiny New York apartment. Goshen himself lives in Astoria, Queens when he’s not in his hometown of Jerusalem and told us how social media helped bring visitors to his booth. “I loved finding out that people will come out for an Instagram post if it’s cool enough. I sold four pieces to people I met on Instagram and the best part for me was meeting them in real life.”
While Superfine!’s final minutes ticked away to beats spun by DJ Mouthlove, I talked with co-founder Miille, who was taking photos of his friends before they left. Miille is an artist himself who hails from an olive farm in California and turns his renditions of reality into fantastical dreamscapes. This summer, Miille and Mitow plan to spend three weeks in the south of France before doing their second Washington D.C. fair in the fall. “Yeah, we’ll be living the dream but with D.C.’s fair coming up, it’ll be a working vacay.”