Editions/Artist’s Book Fair
OCTOBER 25 – 28, 2018
269 11th Avenue
New York, NY
Celebrating the impressive work of an international network of publishers, the Editions/Artist’s Book Fair will start its festivities on October 25th. Located in The Tunnel at the heart of Chelsea during the New York Print Week, E/AB Fair is a hub for cutting-edge contemporary work by notable and emerging artists exploring the joys of printmaking through experimentation and collaboration.
The Fair will take place during New York’s Print Week, to coincide with IFPDA’s Print Fair as well as dozens of special exhibitions, talks, and workshops throughout the city.
Editions/Artists’ Books Fair has been New York’s premier showcase for the discovery of new and contemporary prints, multiples, and artists’ books for 20 years now. Renowned for its cultivation of an international community of publishers, E/AB Fair provides a platform for their growth in the art market. Each year, the Fair presents a thoughtfully curated exhibition of works by hundreds of emerging and established artists and an informative program of talks.
E/AB Fair director Dusica Kirjakovic chatted with us in an exclusive interview regarding what to look forward to for the 20th edition of the fair.
This is the 20th edition of the EA/B fair – tell us how has the fair evolved since the early years?
It has truly become one of the major events on the international art calendar. In the growing and ever-changing milieu of art fairs, it has gained ground for quality and won the hearts and minds of collectors, art professionals, and the broad public alike.
What would you consider some of the most exciting developments over the past few years?
One of the fair’s guiding ideas from the beginning has been to feature the new, experimental, and unorthodox publishers and artists. To that end, each year there is a roster of first-time, budding exhibitors with fresh approaches and emerging artists. This year we will feature 14 of them. It’s a testament to the vitality and vibrancy of the field.
Can you tell us about some of the key artists to be featured as well as any artist collaborations we might see this year?
It’s a long list. We will see some of the champions of the field, such as Kiki Smith, James Siena, Nicole Eisenman, Carrie Moyer, Jane Kent, Jim Dine, David Byrne, Glenn Ligon, Nicola López, as well as those who don’t venture into the print world too often, such as Martin Puryear, Shinique Smith, Fab 5 Freddy, and Saya Woolfalk, to name just a few.
In terms of artistic collaborations, James Siena and Katia Santibañez come to mind. They have made an outstanding reduction woodblock print with Shore Publishing (booth D27).
I understand the fair is the only primary market and mainly consists of print shops? Can you tell us more about the various shops selling the work and how they are selected?
Yes, our distinctive strength have been the publishers, although here and there we have featured the secondary market dealers. There is no other place and time for the public to get in such close contact with the artists and the makers of the artworks. The shops range from very small but influential one-person outfits, such as 10 Grand, Jennifer Melby, or Center Street, to institution-affiliated such as the Brodsky Center at PAFA and LeRoy Neiman Center at Columbia University, to legendary ones such as Harlan & Weaver, Cirrus Editions, Crow’s Shadow, Highpoint, and Lower East Side Printshop.
The Metropolitan Museum and MOMA are very committed to EA/B, how did those collaborations form and what can we look forward to from supporting Institutions for special events at the fair this year?
The list of museums and large collections that have been supportive of the fair is very long. In addition to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and MoMA, they include the Whitney Museum of American Art, the New York Public Library, the Library of Congress, Cleveland Clinic, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, UBS, and many other notable collections. They all recognize the quality offered at the fair. It is quite a special experience to be the first to see artwork often completed in the days and weeks before the fair, and have immediate access to artists and printers who had made it.
Founded in 1998 by Susan Inglett of I.C. Editions, in partnership with Brooke Alexander Editions and Printed Matter, the Fair is now presented by the Lower East Side Printshop, a non-profit organization. E/AB Fair provides free admission in order to introduce the broad public to contemporary prints, multiples and artists’ books.
Opening October 25th
Collectors Preview: 3pm-6pm
Vernissage: 6pm-9pm
Special Programming:
Friday, Oct. 26 at 3 pm – Collecting Prints: Janice Oresman, Art Collector, in conversation with Jennifer Farrell, Associate Curator of Prints and Drawings, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Saturday, Oct. 27 at 3 pm – Prints & Politics: Saya Woolfalk, Artist, in conversation with Dexter Wimberly, Independent Curator
Saturday, Oct 27 at 5 pm – Artist Award: One emerging artist will be selected by a jury of renowned curators, educators, artists, and writers to receive a cash prize for outstanding work presented at the fair.
