The Atlanta Art Fair 2024 showcased artwork from Atlanta and from the American South as well as from other regions. It featured a wide array of artists and was a great success. The fair featured American photojournalist Steve Schapiro's photography and captured a profound moment in American history. In Mr. Schapiro's VOTE we see the struggle to fight for the right to vote for racial minorities. It was a struggle all too familiar and personal for Martin Luther King Jr. who featured in another of Mr. Schapiro's photograph. The civil rights leader's enigmatic and powerful image is iconic to this day. His vision is forever sealed around the world and Mr. Schapiro does a wonderful job of profiling him at his best. Captured in 1965 he vividly portrays Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in his fight for justice and equality.
The Atlanta Art Fair displayed a diverse and rich group of artists many of whom were also from outside of the US. The aim of the fair highlights the inclusivity of the many ethnic groups we see here. Take for example Armenian artist Tigran Tsitoghdzyan's Black Mirror which reveals the intricacies of the pressure social media places on society. The double imagery beautifully captures the discord and appearance of harmony that results. The image of a young woman is distorted yet quietly reveals the dilemma we place on ourselves. She's a product of her own making yet we see the distance between reality and the end product which in turn is only a fantasy.
In Yulia Pinkusevich's, Sakha Air Spirit, we see a different artwork on display. Ms. Pinkusevich hails from Ukraine but now lives in the US. Her dream-like abstract work captures the sinuous lines and shapes that makes her work a pleasure to look at. She uses feminine contours to play with the viewer's sense of reality. The light above shines over the billowing shapes and we can revel in the work's abstraction.
Overall the art fair captured the zeitgeist of the artworld which aims to create conversations between history and contemporary life. It also sparked the careers of new artists in a new environment. Please enjoy these and other works.
1 Steve Schapiro, VOTE, Selma March, 1965, American
2 Tigran Tsitoghdzyan, Black Mirror, 2020, Armenian
3 Brian Day, Coalition of Agents, 2023 American
4 Susie McColgan, Forever Young, 2024,
5 Wole Langunju, Caryatid Male Figure Surmounted by a Bird, 2024, Nigerian
6 Gavin Benjamin, The Glamorous Life No. 1, 2022, American
7 Arinze Stanley, Flower Boy, 2024, Nigerian
8 Izere Antoine, Karabo, 2024, Rwandan
9 Steve Schapiro, Martin Luther King Jr., Selma, 1965, American
10 Taurus Burns, Walk with Me, 2024, American
11 Yulia PInkusevich, Sakha Air Spirit, 2021, Ukrainian American
12 Cailyn Dawson, Get Away, 2024, American
13 Oluwaseun Odeyemi, Daily Bread II, 2024, Nigerian
14 Evita Tezeno, I know my heart will go on, 2024, American
15 Kaleigh Blevins, Hope That Helps, 2024, American
