Art & Object Fall Fair 2024

“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” —Thomas Merton

“Kandinsky, a favorite abstract artist. Introduced him to many students over a 30 year teaching career. They always related to his color and shapes with a line focus of surprise.” —Brenda T. FROM Facebook Commenters React to Wassily Kandinsky’s Improvisation No. 30 from 1913:

Welcome Welcome to the inaugural issue of Art & Object magazine. You like ly know us from our art-world coverage online and may be won dering: why print? We yield to no one in our love of the natural environment, but we believe that not only is print sustainable, it has a special relevance to the world of art. A magazine is a physi cal entity, an object even. Like an artwork, it anticipates that you spend some time in front of it. This first issue is focused on art fairs, aligned in particular with the major international events happening in New York. In this era of virtuality, there is still no substitute for in-person contact. Art fairs thrive on the premise that bringing the dealers to the public rather than the other way around not only makes buying more convenient, it also brings about a sort of critical mass of creativity. Walking the fair floors, going from booth to booth, comparing one work with another across the aisle, collectors have “aha” moments and become collaborators. Turn the pages of Art & Object , and you will find in-depth previews of the events throughout the fall sea son by our correspondent Paul Laster, and a collector’s guide to shopping the fairs by longtime art-world author Alan Bamberger. A print magazine has some similarities to the genre of fine-art printmaking; both are branches of publishing and distributing images to a wide audience in multiple copies. One of the articles in this issue, by curator and art podcaster Jennifer Dasal, explores the ramifications of collecting artworks that are made in multi ples, especially those on paper. Like the printmakers, we firmly believe in bringing art to as wide a public as we can. We hope you enjoy this issue of Art & Object !

Wassily Kandinsky, Improvisation No. 30 (Cannons) , 1913 COURTESY OF ART INSTITUTE CHICAGO

“The true father of abstract expression ism, Kandinsky! Doing it 30 or 40 years before before it caught on and became the great Abstract Expressionism art movement of America.” —Daniel S. “He shook our world. Order and tradition were not unquestionable.” —Marta U. “I majored in Art History in the late 70s, and I developed my lasting fondness of Kandinsky then. He is even more refreshing now!” —Ruth D. “He had synesthesia-of which there are many kinds-perhaps his was sound/ color or sound/shape … Artists are gifts to humans who risk seeing life in only one way when, in fact, life is multidimensional. Artists challenge our thinking. That is their role.” —Martine H. “One of his best-known early abstrac tions, displaying some identifiable elements from WWI era: cannon, buildings, explosions.” —Susanna L.

John Dorfman, editor John.Dorfman@ArtandObject.com

COVER FEATURE This year, James Barron Art will exhibit works on paper by Janet Sobel and Sol LeWitt at Inde pendent 20th Century. Our cover image show cases an untiled gouache by Sobel created between 1941 and 1946. Previously overlooked by art historians, Sobel is now being recognized as a pioneer who melded folk art, surrealism, and abstraction. Image Courtesy of the Estate of Janet Sobel and James Barron Art.

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Fall 2024 | Art&Object