Discover 5 Standout Talents at New York’s Satellite Art Fairs
See the remarkable artists on view at Independent, NADA New York, Esther III, 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, and Future Fair
With Frieze New York and TEFAF New York drawing most of the blue-chip galleries, the city’s satellite art fairs offer an exciting mix of works by established artists recently rediscovered and by emerging artists on the rise. Galerie journeyed to the five best satellite art fairs during the VIP previews to compile a curated list of standout artists from local, national, and international exhibitors at Independent, NADA New York, Esther III, 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, and Future Fair.
Scroll through to discover our favorite artists and artworks from notable galleries at these must-see art fairs.
1. Julia Maiuri | 12.26 | Independent
Relocating to a dynamically designed site this year, Independent features more than 100 artists presented by 76 exhibitors at Pier 36 on the Lower East Side. Equal in quality to Frieze and TEFAF, more than a third of the gallery booths highlight artists making their first New York solo presentations, including Julia Maiuri at Dallas’s 12.26. For Maiuri, film functions as a medium in which personal memory merges with cinematic imagery. Techniques such as cropping, zooming, transparency, and color distortion alter borrowed film stills, detaching them from their original sources to create dreamlike worlds that emphasize symbolism over literal meaning.
Other standouts at Independent include Michael Bühler-Rose’s intricate wood inlays that explore history, authorship, and the hidden stories behind artistic legacy at Stems; Taiwanese artist Tseng Chien-Ying’s paintings that address Asian artistic traditions and queer sensibilities, created during an artist’s residency in New York, at Kiang Malingue; Norwegian self-taught artist Trude Viken’s distorted portraits and surreal scenes featuring strange creatures that provoke unsettling questions about our fantasies, neuroses, and life experiences at Ricco/Maresca Gallery; Dan Friedman’s Neo-Pop Art assemblage wall works at Superhouse; and Frank Gaard’s satirical works that reference pop culture, politics, and personal relationships at Post Times.
Through May 17
2. Shangfeng Zhang | LATITUDE Gallery | NADA New York
At Chelsea’s historic Starrett-Lehigh Building, the New Art Dealers Alliance’s annual art fair showcases over 110 exhibitors from 15 countries and 46 cities worldwide, championing galleries at the forefront of contemporary art. Returning to the fair for a second outing, New York’s LATITUDE Gallery presents a solo booth featuring new paintings by Chinese artist Shangfeng Zhang that explore the intersection of contemporary life and myth. Zhang uses psychologically charged figures, symbolic elements, and atmospheric settings to portray painting as a modern way of mythmaking rooted in vulnerability, ambiguity, and emotional depth. For Zhang, myth is neither monumental nor fixed; it emerges in hesitation, waiting, silence, and the subtle instability of everyday life.
Additional highlights at NADA New York include THIRD BORN’s solo show of tableau assemblages by French artist Loucia Carlier, incorporating collage, silkscreen printing, carpentry, upholstery, and metalwork—envisioning her objects as catalysts for introspection and the revival of autonomy; British painter Emily Ponsonby’s small-scale encaustic canvases, featuring intimate portraits and still lifes from detailed perspectives, at Gillian Jason Gallery; self-taught artist Beck Lowry’s painted abstract, patterned weavings on the artist’s playful, hand-carved wooden armatures at Morgan Lehman; an overview of deceased Japanese-American artist E’wao Kagoshima’s spirited paintings, drawings, and collages—one of the TD Bank Curated Spotlight presentations—at Ulterior Gallery; and an amusing selection of paintings and drawings of dogs and cats by various artists, presented in the shared booth of Saenger Galería and COHJU.
Through May 17
3. August Krogan-Roley | Margot Samel | Esther III
Organized by Margot Samel of the eponymous gallery in New York and Olga Temnikova of Temnikova & Kasela in Tallinn, Estonia, the third and final edition of Esther features projects by 22 international galleries from 10 cities around the world at New York Estonian House. Inspired by other gallery collaborations, such as the Basel Social Club, artworks are displayed throughout the rooms and hallways of the charming four-story Beaux-Arts building, originally designed as a civic club and now an important gathering space for the Estonian community in New York. Margot Samel is presenting three artists, including canvases by August Krogan-Roley that explore the thresholds between public and private space, where everyday backyard scenes become sites of tension, memory, and quiet observation, with Compound Interest (La quinta del sordo) referencing Francisco Goya’s final home in Spain.
This year’s fair also features custom seating, chairchairchair, created by Houston Parke and Isaac Haseltine as a response to consumerism and waste, embracing the legacy of readymade and DIY culture by assembling and collaging discarded objects found on NYC sidewalks into functional seating. And there are special projects, such as the “Neanderthal Beauty Clinic,” an installation by Madlen Hirtentreu and Darja Popolitova that explores how beauty procedures and activities marketed as self-care can conceal mechanisms of bodily control and subjugation. Other highlights include Estonian artist Katja Novitskova’s sculptures of mutant deer-like creatures in kissing poses, made primarily from glass-like polyurethane resin, red pigments, and an admixture of natural stones and aluminum wire, presented by Temnikova & Kasela.
Through May 16
4. Boemo Diale | David Krut Projects | 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair
The 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair returns to Chelsea’s Starrett-Lehigh Building, featuring more than 20 international exhibitors and a curated section on Afro-Brazilian art, broadening the fair’s exploration of transnational diasporic narratives. 1-54, the leading international art fair dedicated to contemporary art from Africa and the African diaspora, invites visitors to experience the diversity and innovation of contemporary African art firsthand.
David Krut Projects features recent prints by the acclaimed South African artist William Kentridge, alongside new paintings and ceramic vessels by Boemo Diale, a multidisciplinary artist who grew up in South Africa’s post-apartheid racial and socio-political landscape. Her colorful painting, Protected from all besides cold feet, depicts a reclining figure in a tropical setting, resting within a patterned realm while holding a vessel decorated with a similar motif.
Other notable works include large-scale photographs of Ivory Coast artist Laetitia Ky’s sculptural self-portraits, shaped by her hair, exhibited alongside her more recent paintings at Lis10 Gallery; French-Tunisian artist Shourouk Rhaiem’s sculptural objects made from everyday commercial products, such as washing powder, cigarette packages, and record albums, vibrantly embellished with Swarovski crystals, at 193 Gallery; and Rwandan artist Innocent Nkurunziza’s barkcloth sculptures, colored with the natural dyes he massages on like organic muds, at Ethan Cohen Gallery.
Through May 17
5. Sopho Mamaladze | Wondering People | Future Fair
Future Fair returns to Chelsea Industrial for its sixth edition, featuring 68 local, national, and international exhibitors. The fair positions itself as a progressive exhibition that highlights curatorial vision, accessibility, and growth in global art. It brings together artists, galleries, curators, collectors, and patrons, welcoming emerging and established voices to engage and network. One such voice is Sopho Mamaladze, a 24-year-old Georgian artist and Tbilisi-based painter whose work at Wondering People explores themes of identity, transformation, and the emotional impact of memory. She represents a new generation of Georgian artists rethinking tradition with a modern perspective. Drawing inspiration from folklore, nature, and dream logic, she constructs open-ended narratives—spaces where personal and collective experiences converge.
Further works to see at Future Fair include Joan Bankemper and her daughter Sophie Bankemper; Frances’s biomorphic ceramic sculptures adorned with flowers, birds, and circular forms, paired with Jody Guralnick’s expressive watercolors of wild plantlife, at Nancy Hoffman Gallery; Mexican artist Cristian Franco’s figurative works on paper that combine collage and digital printing to create popular culture and political narratives at Encarte; a group presentation highlighting new mythologies with paintings, sculptures, and works on paper by Megan Greene, Kimia Ferdowsi Kline, and Erica Westenberger at Tinney; and Dave Tavacol’s sexually suggestive sculptural reliefs made with leather and industrial objects to explore otherness at Elijah Wheat Showroom.
Through May 16