The Photography Show fair returns to New York with images of ominous sculptures, elegant figures and the void

Rob (2019) by Michael Bailey-Gates Courtesy The Ravestijn Gallery
The Photography Show, the longest-running fair devoted specifically to photography, opened its 42nd edition in New York on Thursday (30 March). It is organised by the Association of International Photography Art Dealers (Aipad) and applications to participate are only open to member galleries, 44 of which are taking part in this week’s fair—nine for the first time. Here are some standouts from the presentations at Midtown Manhattan’s Center415.
Weapons #41 by Rodrigo Valenzuela Courtesy Assembly
Assembly, a gallery based in Houston, is one of the Photography Show’s first-time participants. The gallery’s stand is devoted to the work of a single photographer, Rodrigo Valenzuela, a Los Angeles-based artist who was born in Chile. Valenzuela draws on his experience in construction to build found-object sculptures. He photographs his creations and screen prints the images onto canvas collaged with repurposed time cards to explore the relationships between labour, unionisation and the consequences of automation. Prices for Valenzuela’s work at the Assembly stand range from around $5,000 to $25,000.
Maria Leoncia (1991) by Miguel Rio Branco Courtesy The Photography Show presented by AIPAD
Italian gallery Paci Contemporary is displaying work from three international artists: Brazilian photographers Miguel Rio Branco and Mario Vravo Neto, and Michal Macku from the Czech Republic, who uses a unique photography technique he calls “gellage”. Macku transfers gelatin emulsion from photographs onto paper he arranges in glass to create almost three-dimensional works. Branco worked on movie sets before taking on documentary photography that leans into dramatic colours and shows the contrasts of life in Brazil, while Neto is known for producing black-and-white portraits of Black Brazilians using props and poses reminiscent of religious iconography. Prices at the Paci stand range primarily from $4,000 to $15,000, with one large print of Branco’s most famous photograph, Maria Leoncia (1991), priced at $35,000.
While many of the stands at the fair prominently feature historical photography, the Amsterdam gallery Ravestijn Gallery focuses on contemporary photography, with many of the works on its stand featuring human figures in strange contexts and posed with props. The stand features prints by Dutch fashion photographers Inez & Vinoodh, Swedish photographer Eva Strenram and American photographer Michael Bailey-Gates, with prices starting at $5,000. The stand also features a triptych by Danish photographer Theis Wendt that creates the optical illusion of a dark void.
Hydrangea Pillow, Rockport, Maine (2021) by Cig Harvey Courtesy Robert Mann Gallery
Robert Mann Gallery, based in New York, has mounted a solo stand with prints from Cig Harvey, a British photographer now living in Maine. Harvey’s colourful images often incorporate flowers and show humans interacting with the natural world. The prints are priced between $3,000 and $7,000.
At London-based Augusta Edwards Fine Art’s stand, the 2011 series Ladies by German-born American photographer Karen Knorr shows well-dressed models and actresses in sprawling spaces paired with tongue-in-check text about feminism, capitalism and globalism drawn from the subjects’ own answers to a questionnaire. Knorr was commissioned to create the series by British fashion magazine Pop. The series draws inspiration from an earlier project of Knorr’s that incorporated text with portraits of members of London’s elite gentlemen’s clubs. There are 22 images in the Ladies series, each priced at $6,600.

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