It’s pretty screwy that here, now, in the year 2016 many people still have a hard time grasping that Africa is an incredibly diverse continent home to vastly different cultures, languages, landscapes, and art traditions. Thankfully, we have things like the 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair (held May 6 through 8 at Pioneer Works in Red Hook) at our fingertips to keep us in the know about the incredible (and, ahem, marketable) art work coming out of the 54 countries on the African continent.
1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair
Three to See During Frieze Week: NADA, African Art, and a Design Fair

‘Untitled,’ photo by Bobson Sukhdeo Mohanlall on view at 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair (Photo from 1:54 website and courtesy of Axis Gallery)
If there’s anything to say about Frieze that speaks to the massive annual art fair as a whole is that it’s wholly impossible to see everything. Last year, there were 190 participating art dealers from all over the globe. And that’s just at Frieze alone. What’s more the art fair brings so many art people into the city and out of their studios in “far-flung” neighborhoods to Manhattan, that several satellite festivities coincide with the event in places other than the Frieze tent. So take your pick and get ready for two parts shmoozing and feigning interest and one part legitimate enthrallment!
Tags: 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, and Beyond, art, art fair, art fairs, Arts + Culture, Bobson Sukhdeo Mohanlall, bodega, Design, Events, frieze art fair, galleries, Lower East Side, Melissa Brown, nada, New Art Dealers Association Fair, pioneer works, red hook, shoot the lobster, Sight Unseen, Sight Unseen Offsite, Signal Gallery, The Hole, Tunica