Venus Over Manhattan, showing at TEFAF for the first time, landed one of the rooms near the first-floor entrance. Gallery Director Anna Furney hinted at the pressure of a fair debut. “Since so much of the work here is blue chip, we thought we’d bring really incredible examples by the artists that we’re working with,” she said. The result is an energetic platter of their recent and upcoming shows, including the mesmerizing textile work of Xenobia Bailey and a painting by Niuean artist John Pule. The latter’s glossy, foliage-filled canvases are widely celebrated in the Pacific art world, but Venus Over Manhattan’s show later this year will be his first in New York.
