Though the fair is known for its outlandish installations, there is no shortage of great painting in this year’s event.
With curator Nina Kong-Surtees, Los Angeles artist Mary Lai is showing texturally dense paintings made with paste and acrylic—though she did also create an interactive archway installation for viewers to walk through.
Mary Lai with her presentation “Threshold of Transformation: Unveiling the Unseen,” curated by Nina Kong-Surtees at Spring Break Art Show New York 2024. Photo: Sarah Cascone.
The idea is to live out the narrative that inspired the works, that what you could perceive as a cage could actually act as a gateway or a portal.
“It’s about creating your own doors of opportunity,” Lai told me. The canvases are priced from $500 to $6,500, with a gold-plated stainless sculpture for $8,000.
