The self-proclaimed “World’s Largest Public Art Fair” is headed straight to New York City. The Brussels-based and world-renowned Cube Art Fair landed in New York City for Frieze art week. The Cube Art Fair will use Manhattan as a showroom, displaying 100 artworks on more than 100 billboards throughout the city.
The billboard concept was motivated by Cube Art Fair’s #staycreative campaign as an effort to encourage hope and positivity during a difficult time. The innovative solution took off in Miami and Brussels. Now, it’s NYC’s turn.
The fair will feature 40 established and emerging artists displaying their artworks in more than 100 kiosks, news stands, bus stops and billboards across the city. The centrepiece of the event is a 12,000 sq ft billboard in the heart of Times Square that will rotate works by various artists, including the Toronto-based artist Laura Jane Petelko, whose explores themes around isolation and nature amid an increasingly digital world.
The event aims to provide a respite from the typically lusterless online viewing room format. “We came up with the idea of taking art and displaying it to everyone in the hope to inspire people not only to stay safe but also to stay creative,” says Belgian art dealer, Gregoire Vogelsang.
Other artists featured in the fair include the New York-based artist Sam Tufnell, the Danish fashion photographer Kenneth Willardt, and the French-Mexican photographer Patricia de Solages. Each work is accompanied with QR code that leads viewers to a website where artists can sell their works in NFT or physical formats.
