Art history and pop culture collide at Tefaf New York

Contrary to its reputation for traditionalism, Tefaf has been moving slowly but surely towards the art and culture of the present day for some time. Three years ago, the organisation ended its autumn fair for historical art and objects in New York and kept only its Modern-and-contemporary-focused spring edition in the city. The shift could also be seen this March in Tefaf's most recent flagship fair in Maastricht, where the number of galleries presenting recent and new works of art surpassed those showcasing the pre-20th-century objects that have long defined the fair.

Now, as Tefaf New York returns to the Park Avenue Armory, its exhibitors are poised to broaden the event's dialogue between the past and the present with several notable pieces from the realms of pop culture, fashion and design. It may be the surest sign yet that the fair's organisers and constituents are committed to taking the event further than many in the trade thought it could ever go.

 

Another standout work that bridges fashion and fine art at this year's fair comes from the Bologna-based Galleria D'Arte Maggiore g.a.m.: Body Armour (Kate), the third and final available edition of a 2013 photograph by the British artist Allen Jones. Jones, a Pop art icon whose admirers have included Elton John and the late Stanley Kubrick, is generally known for his paintings and sculptures, making Body Armour (Kate) an outlier in terms of medium. Yet the work reflects the artist's long (and often controversial) explorations of gender.

 

Crafted in 1974, the metal-flaked fibreglass torso at the photo's centre was originally conceived as a prop for a film project. Although the film never materialised, in 2013 Jones found another way to bring the structure to life when he was commissioned to create a piece featuring the British model Kate Moss, the apotheosis of the so-called heroin chic aesthetic. The resulting photograph was produced as a limited edition print that "tells of an era of glamour and icons but also of women as objects that exist only in the eyes and minds of those who wish them to be so", Alessia Calarota, the gallery's director, tells The Art Newspaper.

"Allen Jones is the protagonist of the booth with this artwork dedicated to Kate Moss," she says. "This, of course, brings me to think about the body. I decided to bring other works related to the body, showing the ways that artists depicted the body during different times." Alongside Jones's piece, the stand will showcase works by a breadth and depth of canonical artists, including Paul Delvaux, Giacomo Manzù, Giorgio Morandi, Giorgio de Chirico and Pier Palo Calzolari.