Future Fair returns for its fifth anniversary from May 7-10 at Chelsea Industrial in Manhattan, featuring 67 exhibitors. The fair is impacted by President Donald Trump’s tariffs, with one Bologna-based gallery, Magazzeno Art Gaze, displaying a sign that its shipment is stuck at JFK customs, showing only works brought in luggage. Montreal’s Wishbone Gallery narrowly avoided a similar fate after its artist consulted a psychic, and the works arrived just in time. Despite trade disruptions, the fair continues its focus on portraiture, showcasing artists such as Saki Sonoda (depicting Bushwick club House of Yes), Émile Brunet (Dutch Golden Age-inspired portraits), Izere Antoine (impastoed Black women), Matthew Rosenquist (wooden reliefs of Americana), Katie Commodore (digital textile tapestries), and Catie Cook (animal stand-ins for Southern womanhood).
This matters because Future Fair exemplifies how smaller art fairs are navigating geopolitical and economic pressures—specifically U.S. tariffs—while maintaining curatorial identity. The fair’s emphasis on portraiture in diverse media (painting, relief, tapestry) highlights a broader trend of reimagining traditional genres through contemporary and diasporic perspectives. The customs anecdotes underscore real logistical challenges facing international exhibitors, making the fair a microcosm of the art world’s resilience amid trade policy disruptions.