I often share just one example by each artist in my posts (due to the former belief I was limited to 10-12 images), but I also preach the importance of looking at many works by an artist in order to understand their practice as a whole.

Queen Bey said, “I wanted to make this body of work and, I feel like it’s something that’s lost in Pop music. I wanted people to hear things differently and have a different first impression. Not just listen to a ten second clip but see the whole vision of the album.”

This applies to visual artists as well:

Louise Bourgeois said, “An artist’s work is a single continuous project. You cannot understand one piece without looking at the whole.”

And now that I know I can include way more images per newsletter, my readers are about to win BIG TIME on their subscriptions. Below are three artists whose studios I recently visited in my personal attempt to understand their practices at a higher level:

• Ever Baldwin, previously featured here and here

• Heather McKenna Pardo, previously featured here and here

• AJ Liberto, previously featured here

Keep scrolling if you want to see a candid of me in overalls, drinking a beer, googly-eyed over art.

And for my pro tip this week: you don’t have to visit an artist’s studio and you don’t need to wait for an artist to have an exhibition to see more of their work. A gallery has inventory of an artist’s works in storage, and if the artist does not work with a gallery, you can reach out to them directly to see more works!

All you have to do is email and set up an appointment to see them. If I don’t know anyone at the gallery, I send a cold email and ask them to share available works. After the gallery sends a PDF or an online viewing room link, I ask if I can come in person to see the pieces I’m potentially interested in acquiring. The gallery pulls the works from their storage and installs them temporarily in a back viewing room.

You do not need to be ready to buy before asking to look.

Pulling, unpacking, and hanging artworks takes time and coordination, but this is a standard part of the process when considering a work for acquisition.

This week, Chozick Family Art Gallery is sharing an online viewing room link for available works by Heather McKenna Pardo. You can sign up for their newsletter here to receive the link once it is live, and below is a first look at my selections from it. Like this newsletter, a gallery’s online viewing room is an excellent first step for seeing many examples by an artist before going to see the works in person.

Galleries tell me every week that readers reached out about an artist they found here, and it is genuinely the best part of doing this because it means this newsletter is working! This newsletter has always been built on relationships: artists generously opening their studios, galleries sharing inventory often as a first look, and collectors asking engaging questions.

And if you'd rather skip a step, just reply to this email if one of the works below resonates with you. I will introduce you to the gallery and help arrange a viewing.

My hope is that this issue gets you from looking at art online to seeing art in person. Enjoy!

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Ever Baldwin

I have loved following Ever’s work ever since Lauren Marinaro introduced me to their practice several years ago (like pre-pandemic years ago). Each piece is an arresting object that blurs the lines between abstract and figurative, frame and painting, organic and man-made. I’m obsessed with works that force viewers to do a double-take and engage a little longer than usual. The presented dichotomies in Ever’s work do just that, and I can also see the visual influences of Georgia O’Keeffe and Arthur Dove. I was elated when they had their first museum show at the Ogunquit Museum in Maine. Tbh, I was thrilled even more when Roberta Smith wrote about their show in the NYT. I mean, this line! “The conviction that forms have meaning verges on overheated but is leavened by wit.”

🟩 Available to View

If you are interested in seeing Ever Baldwin’s artworks in person, reply to this email and I’ll connect you with Marinaro Gallery to set up a viewing.

Ever Baldwin

The Immeasurables, 2023

Oil on canvas in charred wood frame

58 x 40 x 5 inches

$19,000

Ever Baldwin

Moxie, 2024

Oil on canvas in painted pine frame with 12K gold leaf

41 x 32 x 4 inches

$16,000

Ever Baldwin

No words, 2024

Oil on canvas in charred wood frame

31 x 26 x 4 inches

$9,500

Ever Baldwin

Prey, 2025

Oil on canvas in charred wood frame

24 x 24 x 4 inches

$9,500

Ever Baldwin

Not this time, 2024

Oil on canvas in charred wood frame

58 x 34 x 4 inches

$19,000

Heather McKenna Pardo

I’m not saying that every rabbit hole of exploring an artist’s practice will be rewarded with thrilling discoveries, but I am saying that about Heather’s work. During the studio visit, we spiraled into concepts of photography and light, scrolled through multiple catalogues of other artists who inspire her, and flipped through mountains of pages of her photography and painting. I could barely contain all the ideas in my brain after we really looked at each canvas and discussed edges, framing, and contrast. While her paintings may look like bright, giant windows, I personally find them to be portals into other dimensions. I can’t wait to see more of her work in person at Chozick Family Art Gallery.

🟩 Available to View

Heather McKenna Pardo’s available works can be viewed through Chozick Family Art Gallery in Tribeca. If you’d like to schedule a viewing, reply to this email and I’ll happily make the introduction.

Heather McKenna Pardo

incidental edge 24 (from light series), 2026

Oil on canvas

94 x 52 inches (overall)

45 x 52 inches (each)

$12,500

Heather McKenna Pardo

untitled (light series 08), 2019

Oil on canvas

97 x 60 inches (overall)

48 x 60 inches (each)

$12,500

Heather McKenna Pardo

incidental edge 10 (from light series), 2021

Oil on canvas

40 x 40 inches

$6,800

Heather McKenna Pardo

incidental edge 20 (from light series), 2022
incidental edge 21 (from light series), 2022

Oil on canvas

40 x 30 inches each

$6,000 each

Heather McKenna Pardo

incidental edge 27 (from light series), 2026

Oil on canvas

54 x 63 inches

$9,000

Heather McKenna Pardo

titled painting 3 (from light series), 2023

Oil on canvas

50 x 40 inches

$7,600

Heather McKenna Pardo

incidental edge 29 (from light series), 2026

Oil on canvas

50 x 28 inches (overall)

24 x 28 inches (each)

$6,800

Heather McKenna Pardo

incidental edge 08 (from light series), 2019

Oil on canvas

60 x 48 inches

$9,000

AJ Liberto

If you own a piece by AJ Liberto, anyone who visits your home and sees your collection will KNOW that piece is by AJ Liberto. Talk about a strong visual language! The tension is palpable and direct: wooden structures built by hand and then these rocks smashing through. It’s construction and destruction; it’s action in motion but suspended. AJ has recently shown at two of the major galleries upstate: Roundabouts and Bill Arning. The detail shots below were necessary so you can see up close the level of precision and intention AJ brings to each piece. And for my fellow sculpture addicts who dare to walk on the wild side, ask me about the Goblin carts and their narratives surrounding sentience, past lives, and future selves.

🟩 Available to View

If you are interested in seeing AJ Liberto’s artworks in person, reply to this email and I’ll connect you with the artist to set up a viewing.

AJ Liberto

ONE MAN’S TRAGEDY IS ANOTHER MAN’S SLAPPED STICKS, 2019-2025

Resawn and milled found pine, nails, glue, steel, concrete chunk found in Concord, NH, plywood and mahogany pattern (pedestal)

51 x 18 x 18 inches

$3,000

AJ Liberto

YOU ARE NOT IMAGINING THAT HISSING SOUND, 2019-2025

Resawn and milled found pine, nails, glue, cast iron drain cover, rocks found in Somerville, MA, Marmoleum (pedestal)

41 x 23 x 15 inches

$6,000

AJ Liberto

FERRY, CARRY, BEAR, TAKE, YIELD, 2025

Resawn and milled found pine, nails, glue, steel, stone found in Somerville, MA, old-growth maple felled from Connecticut churchyard, mirrored acrylic

65 x 30 x 18 inches

$15,000

AJ Liberto

GOBLIN CART (HOLY ROLLER), 2025

Unearthed iron parts and shale from quarry works ruin in Kerhonkson, NY, old-growth maple felled from Connecticut churchyard, brass, stainless steel, mild steel, silica gel, cloth from old toolbox, casters from Home Depot

82 x 36 x 22 inches

$7,500

AJ Liberto

GOBLIN CART (SHITTY PAST US AND DEAD FUTURE US CONSPIRING AGAINST COOL NOW US), 2025

Granite surface plate, cast iron, mild steel, stainless steel, brass, aluminum, polished found cast iron blocks, quartz, old-growth maple felled from Connecticut churchyard, broken safety glass, restored found beaker, brass peephole, walnut, dead machinist’s surface gauge, core samples from Ontonagon (Upper Peninsula) Michigan, plastic, felt, casters from Home Depot

64 x 36 x 22 inches

$7,500

AJ Liberto

FLOATER (IN THE EYE OF GOD), 2025

Resawn and milled found pine, nails, glue, steel, stone found in Philadelphia, PA, found table base, cast iron surface plate

35 x 15 x 15 inches

$1,500

AJ Liberto

CRISSCROSS APPLESAUCE ALL IS LOST, 2025

Resawn and milled found pine, nails, glue, steel, stone found in Somerville, MA, old-growth maple felled from Connecticut churchyard

51 x 18 x 18 inches

$3,000

If you enjoy this newsletter,
consider becoming a paid subscriber.
And if you know someone building a thoughtful collection,
feel free to forward this issue.
💚

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Below the paywall are 29 (!!!) artworks by emerging artists I am hearing people talk about, ask about, and buy. Additionally, 14 of the artworks below are $5,500 or less!

Each week, this newsletter is a source of discovery where I include artists I believe are fresh voices in the field; artists I am hearing will have upcoming solo booth presentations at art fairs six months from now; artists whose works are selling quickly and the dealer has given me a first look to share here. Today’s issue is no exception.

If you want to know the artists we are discussing in our art advisor/gallerist/dealer group chats and over Dola Dira spritz happy hours, you can subscribe below.

Enjoy the bonus works today, and as always respond to this email if you are interested in acquiring one (or more!) for your collection 💚

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As my art advisory is based on transparency and education, I want to share a few criteria of what I look for in an artwork or an artist before including them in the newsletter. Rather than simply telling you what I like, I want to show you how I evaluate contemporary art, so that over time, you can begin to identify strong work with more confidence.

Similar to how an investor looks for undervalued assets, I am always on the hunt for contemporary artists with these green flags:

• Visual Language: does this art look like nothing else I’ve seen?

• Practice: are the concepts and ideas explored unique and fully developed?

• Process: how does the artist physically create the artwork?

• Material: are the materials intentional, distinctive, and essential to the work?

• Exhibitions: in which galleries and shows has the artist been included?

If you are not a paid subscriber, you are missing out on 30+ artwork selections a month that attempt to answer the question “Is this good?” If you are a paid subscriber already, thank you for your support! You are already building the visual fluency to recognize emerging artists before they become widely known.

Enjoy this week’s many selections, and as always, I look forward to reading your replies with your questions and inquiries!

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Last month, over the long holiday weekend, my summer associate and I visited several artists’ studios, including Lily Morris’s studio. It’s only when I’m standing in front of one of Lily’s works that my mind sees the space she is extending beyond the canvas edges. That’s the kind of artwork I want to live with, engage with, and learn from.

Her art changes scale and consciousness, rejecting material limitations without being inaccessible in its subversion. Lily’s paintings do not accept the limits of their canvases. Instead, they extend outward, gathering sculptural force and creating their own ecosystem of cosmic scale, organic matter, power, and care. I KNOW! Just wait till you see them in person!

(watch till the end for a guest appearance by yours truly)

Studio visits are one of the rare opportunities to encounter work outside the compressed cycle of an exhibition. You see paintings that are still in process, works that have never been installed publicly, and the fuller range of an artist’s practice. That access creates a more intimate understanding of an artist’s visual language and ambitions before you buy the artwork. For curators and gallerists, it is often where the possibility of an exhibition begins.

I first discovered Lily’s work in a group show at Eric Firestone two summers ago. I learned that Lily’s studio is Upstate and that she is from Martha’s Vineyard. The painting in the group show had sophisticated, deep, nautical motifs, and I ended up selling the work to a client who also had roots in Martha’s Vineyard. It was a perfect example of how an artwork can carry personal meaning, and how taking the time to learn more about an artist’s practice can reveal those connections.

I love when subscribers reply and ask for additional images of the work or more examples of the artist’s available pieces. That curiosity is the beginning of the acquisition process. The next step is to look more closely at the artist’s CV, which is usually divided into a few core sections:

• Education

• Selected Solo Exhibitions

• Selected Group Exhibitions

• Residencies, Awards, and Grants

• Selected Publications and Press

• Lectures and Talks

An artist’s CV contains a wealth of information that you can easily unlock to learn more about the art. Do not be intimidated by the list of galleries, museums, publications, and residencies you’ve never heard of. The pro tip here is to click through the press links and immediately access more information about the artist’s practice.

You can access Lily’s full CV here and one of the first things you will see is that she recently graduated from the MFA program at SUNY Albany. I like flagging these details because they locate her practice at a pivotal moment of expansion: the work is already materially assured, while the ideas and scale of the practice continue to open outward.

Below are a few selected publications and press highlights that offer especially useful entry points into her work:

Painters on Paintings (Lily Morris on Dustin Emory) — 2025
Chronogram Magazine (Cover) — 2024
Chronogram Magazine — 2021
Martha’s Vineyard Magazine — 2019
Playboy Magazine — 2018
Arts & Ideas Magazine — 2017

I love a 2024 Chronogram article that describes Lily’s paintings as placing the viewer “in the middle of a storm, in the midst of the magnificence of sailing ships, stormy seas, sunlight bursting through the clouds, and gazing up at the ropes of a ship’s rigging. The ropes in these latest works are riveting on their own. They look like something only a nautical genius could manage, yet Morris renders them organized, chaotic, detailed, and explored from every conceivable angle.”

The earlier Chronogram article traces Lily’s research into Roman augurs, priests who studied the flight of birds to intuit the will of the gods. It is a beautiful framework for thinking about her work: a practice attentive to nature, ritual, uncertainty, and the enduring human desire to make sense of what is coming next. That article also reveals how Lily’s paintings found their way into films including Bird Box with Sandra Bullock (!!).

What I find most compelling is that Lily builds an iconographic language from storms, skies, rope, and nesting material. Together, these elements become a system for thinking about what binds us, protects us, traps us, and helps us imagine a future.

The work is cosmic and the themes are powerful, but it is also intimate. It asks how power operates in nature and in our own bodies, homes, relationships, and systems of care. When I think about art I want to buy, I want it to make me feel something and make me think about something. Lily’s work checks both of those boxes.

Together, Lily’s studio, press, personal history, and materials reveal a practice far larger than any single image can hold.

I am over the moon to share with you several of Lily’s works that are available for acquisition now. I hope you enjoy discovering her practice, and I hope you ask me why she includes hornet nest paper as a material in some of her works. You’ll want to be sitting down with a notebook!!

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Bloomberg Connects has put together this guide for Upstate Art Weekend. But still, I know, it’s not enough. There are just too many events, too much art to see, too many geographically-undesirable venues demanding a minimum 45 minute drive between exhibitions. And there are not enough answers of what to see and why.

This week, we are cutting through both feed saturation and the onslaught of UAW programming in one fell swoop. Paid subscribers will receive my selections from Loading… an art invitational at the Caboose in Hudson. Long may curation and discernment reign!

My friend and fellow art advisor, Sibilla Maiarelli, is the on-site art advisor at Loading…; the Caboose is directly across from the Hudson Amtrak station; admission is free; and my favorite bookstore in town, Old Books, is also participating in the invitational. Most importantly, it is one of my favorite environments in which to view art because of its exceptional space and light.

Lastly, ahead of my 100th (!!!) issue this August, I’m inviting readers who value this weekly lens on contemporary art and emerging artists to join the paid readership. Paid subscribers receive the full artwork selections, with pricing, and directly support the research and time that go into each edition. If this newsletter has helped you:

• discover artists

• understand art collecting

• feel more confident looking at contemporary art

becoming a paid subscriber is the most direct way to support it. Enjoy today’s selections from Loading… (and an additional 5 works at the end because I just can’t help myself).

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We cover her four-plus decades of painting on the Bowery, how secret paw prints and Prada boot prints find their way onto some works, and that inexplicable moment when it all comes together and finally clicks.

I first discovered Jane’s work four years ago after my dear friend Olivia Smith suggested I visit a small group exhibition tucked away in a Tribeca arts building. It was one of those freezing winter dark afternoons when most rational people stay home. Fortunately for readers of this newsletter, I have never been accused of being rational when it comes to discovering contemporary art.

I have witnessed Jane's career blossom, through museum exhibitions, institutional recognition, and solo presentations at some of the most respected galleries in the country. I personally collect her work, and I have placed a number of her paintings with clients over the years.

One of those clients first discovered Jane right here in this newsletter, later acquired a larger work, and that painting is now on loan in a museum show at the Currier Museum of Art (!!!).

A painting hanging in a museum does not begin its life in a museum: it begins in an artist's studio, then in a gallery, then in someone's home. And sometimes, years later, it finds its way into a museum exhibition.

I share this because you do not have to be an ARTnews Top 200 Collector for your purchases to mean something. I think people often underestimate how connected they already are to our generation’s cultural canon. It is actually quite within reach when you know where to look, and that is exactly why this newsletter exists.

Jane’s exhibition Strawberry Fields is on view at Magenta Plains through June 20. Below are some available works, and further reading can be found in recent reviews from The Brooklyn Rail and Whitehot Magazine.

Enjoy the video, enjoy the articles, and most of all, enjoy looking closely at art. Trust me, you’ll know when you lay eyes on the art you cannot live without.

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Jane Swavely

Strawberry Fields, 2026

Oil on canvas

Diptych, overall: 90 x 90 inches

Each: 90 x 45 inches

$36,000

Jane Swavely

Not Yet Titled, 2026

Oil on canvas

72 x 66 inches

$28,000

Jane Swavely

Untitled, 2026

Soft pastel on Bugra

43 x 34 inches

$8,000

Jane Swavely

Untitled, 2026

Soft pastel on Bugra

17 x 10 1/2 inches each

$2,500 each

Jane Swavely

Not Yet Titled, 2026

Oil on canvas

52 x 35 inches

$18,000

Jane Swavely

Not Yet Titled, 2026

Oil on canvas

56 x 54 inches

$22,000

Jane Swavely

Untitled, 2026

Oil on canvas

38 x 25 inches

$12,000

Jane Swavely

Untitled, 2026

Soft pastel on Bugra

Unframed: 43 x 34 inches each

Framed: 44 1/2 x 36 inches each

$8,000 each

Jane Swavely

Untitled, 2026

Soft pastel on Bugra

43 x 34 inches

$8,000

Jane Swavely

Silver Screen, 2026

Oil on canvas

66 x 72 inches

$28,000

If you enjoy this newsletter,
consider becoming a paid subscriber.
And if you know someone building a thoughtful collection,
feel free to forward this issue.

💚

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There are myriad of aspects that change how art is installed and subsequently lived with: the install height; the lighting; the wall color; the other pieces in the room. But my absolute favorite and arguably the most impactful choice you will make after acquisition is how you frame the art.

I am witness to how the right frame enhances the glow of an artwork: for my client’s Maggie Ellis work on paper, I did not originally envision a 4-inch mat around the work and I always preach about white frames. But I trusted the pros at DDG Frame Shop who suggested the wider mat and this beautiful walnut frame, and the client and I could not be more impressed with the final result:

Framing is definitely one of those opaque parts of the art world, where after you acquire a work and you’re already gutted sending that wire to pay for it, you receive another punch to the stomach when you see the framing estimate. I PROMISE STAYING WITH ME IS WORTH IT.

So today we are lifting the veil on why it costs so much, why it is worth it, and how you can get preferred framing prices this summer (told you it would be worth it, discounts RARELY happen in the frame world). Whether you are a private collector, a gallerist, or an artist with works in the studio in need of frames, you will appreciate how this post will change your art.

OK the first way to tell if you need to upgrade your framing is if you can see the seams in the corners: this means it is a chop frame, where the frame is cut at a 45 degree angle, then glued and nailed together. Ugh. A properly framed work sells faster. Elevate the piece and watch how quickly it moves.

What you actually need is a closed corner finished frame, spline joined with a finish applied. This creates seamless corners that hold over time with no visible ugly seam in the corners that is probably getting worse if your home’s temperature fluctuates and the frame starts to split apart. Below is a closeup of an exemplary frame:

Now that you have seen this prime example, I’m sorry that you will never be able to unsee a bad frame job

I spoke with DDG Frame Shop, established in 1988, about their five rules for museum quality framing. Turns out that it’s not just about shaping a piece of wood around the art: this is about protecting and conserving your investment.

1. Let the Art Speak First. The frame should support the artist’s vision, not compete with it! Restraint is usually the right call in contemporary art. The goal is presentation, not decoration.

2. Only Do What Can Be Undone. Conservation framing prioritizes reversibility. Japanese paper hinges and cotton rag corners allow the artwork to be safely removed later without damage. The artwork also needs room to expand and contract naturally!

3. Use 100% Cotton Rag Matboard. Cotton rag is naturally stable, won’t yellow, and has a long preservation track record. Most budget matboards are wood pulp, which degrades over time. Since matboard is usually the only material in direct contact with the artwork, the quality of that material matters enormously.

4. Always Use UV Protective Glazing. Light damage is cumulative and irreversible. Museum-grade glazing blocks at least 90% of UV light. The industry standard is Optium Acrylic, which adds anti-reflective and abrasion-resistant coating on top of UV protection. Yes, I am aware that choosing UV museum-grade is the more expensive option! However we are investing in our investments, people, so if you’re already spending the money on a beautiful frame, you should spend the money on the better glazing. The adage “Buy the best, and you only cry once” exists for a reason, and I can’t really talk about how many times I’ve paid to reframe crummy frames.

5. Never Let Artwork Touch the Glass. Moisture and environmental shifts can cause the artwork to permanently adhere to the glazing. A mat or spacer must always create separation between the artwork and the glazing surface.

This is not a sponsored post, I just genuinely love DDG Frame Shop! I have sent my clients there and I asked if they’d extend a rate to my subscribers because I think everyone reading this newsletter should know they exist.

THANKS FOR STICKING WITH ME! Your reward is access to the best frame shop I have ever worked with in my 10+ years in the New York art world.

Heather at DDG Frame Shop is extending 10% off to readers of this newsletter through July 31. Just mention where you found her: heather@ddgframeshop.com.

Additionally, if you are in the New York metro area, DDG Frame Shop can come to you for complimentary in-home consultation, pickup, and drop-off.

Lastly, I leave you with these pro tips:

• Framing takes several weeks: adjust your timing expectations, especially if you are a gallerist with an upcoming exhibition.

• Use DDG’s cheat sheet for 101 framing terminology. You will definitely want to save this for future reference.

• Defer to the framer on suggested hardware: wire, D-rings, cleats. You do not want the hardware to be visible, and I think a cleat looks better because it lets the piece sit flush against the wall.

• Do not admit to your partner how much framing costs (at all costs).

Enjoy the week’s selections!

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“A few times in my life I’ve had moments of absolute clarity... [T]hings seem so sharp. And the world seems so fresh... I have lived my life on these moments... I realize that everything is exactly the way it was meant to be.”

Engaging with contemporary art often feels like this, granting moments of clarity and new perspectives. Mariko Makino is an artist whose practice does exactly that for me.

I first encountered her work four years ago on the Lower East Side and immediately included it in a newsletter. Ignoring the fact that I am a total sculpture addict, Makino’s work felt so fresh and unique.

She combines neon tubing with beautifully crafted wood, and I couldn’t stop thinking about the convergence of manufactured materials and the natural world.

There was a multitude of ensuing rabbit holes including but not limited to: to what extent is anything truly man-made when we ourselves are natural? What does that say about our impact on the planet and global warming? And somehow, before I get too unhinged here, the Garden of Eden.

Fast forward four years and Makino’s work is included in Kelly Wearstler's gallery Side Hustle. She also has expanded her practice and created outdoor sculptures, which I am ecstatic to include in this week’s newsletter below.

That is the thing about contemporary art that nobody really tells you at the beginning. The true fulfillment is not always the acquisition: sometimes it is to witness. I love following artists’ practices, watching them build year by year.

And I love even more being a part of that story by collecting their art, and going to their openings, and zealously sharing their press (shout out to Daniel Correa Mejía, whose work is included below and was just named an Artist To Watch by Galerie Magazine).

You witness the scale expand, the thinking deepen, and the confidence settle in. And then one day you are standing in an outdoor exhibition in Red Hook on a warm Saturday night in front of Makino’s 8 Field Objects, with galvanized steel and neon lit up against a brick wall, and you remember the first small sculpture you saw four years ago.

You feel the whole arc of it and that is what this newsletter is about. Not just what to buy but who to watch. Subscribe to follow along!

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Sadly, that something is not to create art, I’ll happily leave that to the contemporary artists I feature here each week. But I did roll up my sleeves, haul bags of soil across the yard, and worked with my mom on my garden (she’s a Master Gardener! Reply here for consult requests during her next visit in autumn). While the Negroni O’Clock hours thankfully kept arriving, this week I really just needed dirt under my fingernails more than I needed another glass of wine at a vernissage.

When I came back to my inbox and started pulling works for this issue, I noticed the artworks I kept selecting were grounding. This week’s picks feel introspective and stabilizing: Abbi Kenny’s martini olives; Ron Isaacs building a nest out of painted plywood; Lucy Jones’ title “Just Looking, Just Checking On You”; Pace Taylor’s perfect soft pastel “The Nights are Now”. These works feel so right for the reset moment after a burnout month, now that I’m fishing my phone out from the river.

Also if you don’t already own a Brian Oakes work yet, I’m not sure what’s the matter with you, but the lamp below is accessibly priced and a brilliant addition to any collection and home design. There’s literally one at the Pocketbook Hotel Show Room in Hudson so I'm not sure how else to convey the extent of its chicness.

This is a paid issue, which means the full selections below are for paid subscribers. If you’ve been on the fence, this is a good one to come in for! The average retail of the below works is under $8,000, and each week I try to keep featured works around the $10k mark.

REMINDER: The Campus (and the café and bookstore I help operate) opens at the end of June. More details on the opening celebrations for paid subscribers coming soon!

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We have many new subscribers since last week’s issue, so I want to take a moment to say hi and welcome. Every week, I share a curated, punchy selection of contemporary art (with prices!) by emerging artists whose practices I am discovering and following. If you are interested in buying one of the works below or have a question, just reply to this email.

Every fourth issue is free, and in the three weeks between, the artwork selections are reserved for paid subscribers. Consider becoming a paid subscriber to support the research and curatorial work behind this publication, and to receive every artist selection each week.

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For everyone who successfully participated in the fairs last week, congratulations! Are you digging out of your willfully ignored inboxes as well? I heard a lot of good news on booths as I walked around Independent, NADA, Frieze, Future, and 1-54. Overall it seemed like sales were slower but still closing, and I’m gratified to hear so many people’s collections were enriched by acquisitions last week.

My sister and I have this saying (usually applied to painfully overdecorated spaces) that “our eyes have nowhere to rest”. This saying also applies to art fairs. At the end of the week, you have seen hundreds of works in a compressed window, standing in booths with crowds and noise and visual stimulation.

Fairs are genuinely one of the best ways to discover the most art in the least amount of time, and they are also completely the wrong conditions for actually absorbing any of it. So I have decided that this week’s issue is our collective recovery issue. The strongest collections begin with paying attention and that attention is always recoverable (just ask my inbox).

Veronika Pausova’s paintings are each a visual puzzle; Ren Light Pan’s process remains a mystery; Zuriel Waters we NEED to see detail images of the sewn canvases; and just try to convince me that your mind isn’t boggled by the CAST GLASS Alice Gong Xiaowen piece made from found photo albums (hot tip: she’s showing at Art Basel next month).

I could go on about the reasons I have included each of the works below, but I’ll leave the rest to your own curiosity and discovery. Reach out and let me know which artworks you would like to know more about. I can’t wait to hear what you think. Enjoy!

Ren Light Pan

palm (0206), 2025

Ink, water, infrared light and canvas

34 x 24 inches

$7,000

Veronika Pausova

Dwelling (Anchors), 2026

Oil on canvas

29 x 25 inches

$12,500

Zuriel Waters

Untitled, April, 2026

Pigment dispersion and acrylic on sewn canvas

44 x 84 inches

$12,000

Alice Gong Xiaowen

Untitled, 2026

Cast glass

9.5 x 7.25 x 0.75 inches

$3,400

Gabe Cortese

A Premonition, 2026

Oil on panel

16 x 16 inches

$5,500 + $200 frame

Vincent Pocsik

Hand with Purple Cone Flower, 2026

Carved walnut, bronze

14 x 6 ¾ x 4 ½ inches

$8,500

Dan Perkins

Lunar Void, 2026

Oil on panel

36 x 60 inches

$11,000

Rives Granade

Darkness Beginning to Trace the Light, 2025

Clay scratchboard

24 x 18 inches

$6,200

Emily Ponsonby

Salvia Nemorosa, 2026

Beeswax and oil on panel

8 1/2 x 11 inches

$6,800

Maude Maris

Petit Chien Blanc, 2026

Oil on canvas

13 x 9 1/2 inches

$3,600

Molly Rose Lieberman

The wind wakes me up, 2025

Acrylic, oil, cold wax, inkjet print, photograph on linen in artist’s frame

26⅛ x 26⅝ inches

$15,000

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For context, NYC galleries save the May exhibition slot for their strongest presentations on purpose. This is a week when the city is crawling with (some post-Venice) collectors, curators, and writers in town for the fairs and auctions, so it is a very competitive time for galleries to put their best foot forward with knock-out exhibitions.

This newsletter has always been a space for me to sift through the noise and share with you my curated selection of said inundated inbox previews. While this week I have included a couple of artists I can’t wait to see at the fairs, my selections actually yielded incredibly strong artists with gallery exhibitions.

Even though I’m an extrovert, I personally find art fairs way too frenzied and hurried and just not at all how I like to look at art. As a function in the ecosystem, fairs are hands down the best way to discover the most art in the least amount of time. The trick is knowing when to attend the fair to actually spend time looking at the art and speaking to dealers (pro tip: it’s not VIP day, and no, no one is clocking if they saw you or not during the 11am VIP access hour at Frieze. They’re clocking if you actually buy art.) Also as a New Yorker who detests waiting in lines, my chef’s kiss art fair hour is the first hour on a public day. You’re welcome.

I also thought it was interesting that this year Art Basel next month implemented a rule that galleries must withhold at least one key artwork from their preview. The only way a collector will know about and see the artwork is if they attend the fair in person. I really love this rule for enforcing in-person viewing experiences.

So I am thrilled to share my selections of artworks this week from exhibitions that you should go see and collect from this week. Spend time in the galleries with space to breathe and engage and really look at the art.

A few places I’ll be this week if you want to find me in the wild! First off, thank you to everyone who joined last night’s ArtStack panel that I moderated at People’s with four of my favorite art writers on Substack (Julie Brener Davich, Tatum Dooley, Georgia Stylianides and Sibilla Maiarelli). On Saturday at 1:30pm I am moderating the NADA Collects panel at the fair “The Point of Sale”, all ticket-holding fair guests can join! And out of all the fairs this week, I am most looking forward to Independent and I will probably walk that fair twice.

One more thing before we get into the selections: if you were reading this newsletter last fall, you may remember my issue on the Saint Laurent Rive Droite exhibition in Paris. This week, they are back with a New York iteration featuring artworks by Rachel Rossin, whose work I have been following closely for several years, and I could not leave her out of this week’s selections. Enjoy!

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As a writer, collector, advisor, and curator of contemporary art, I spend a colossal amount of time thinking about physical spaces. There is something special that happens when you stand in a room full of art, especially if that room is also full of people who are also there to appreciate the art.

When you connect with an artwork, the hairs on the back of your neck prickle and your awareness shifts. Honestly, you just start to absorb information so differently than scrolling on a screen.

Tonight is an event that creates an opportunity to stop scrolling and start socializing in rooms full of art: Mystic Caviar. If you have never attended one of these mystical monthly gatherings, know that it is hands down one of my favorite rooms to be in.

Everyone who shows up is new to everyone else: from different corners of the city, different sides of inside and outside the art world. But all the guests who attend share a curiosity for connection and meaning. Plus who isn’t curious to hear what the tarot readings will reveal?

This month’s edition of Mystic Caviar features three gallerists I have selected to share their artist booth presentations ahead of next week’s art fair madness.

So if you love first access to art, elevated canapés, and faith in finding larger-than-life meaning, this is your room.

Buy Mystic Caviar tickets here.

If you can’t attend, I am so excited to share the works below, which I selected around these themes embodied by Mystic Caviar evenings:

• Karla Knight, whose work weaves astronomy, the occult, and invented languages into a single practice

• Josi, whose work brings together river water, botanical pigments, and soil from Quilombo dos Ausentes to hold land, ritual, memory, and embodied knowledge in a single object

• Gozié Ojini, whose altered brass instruments are about breath, sound, conversations and listening

• Robell Awake, whose featured work below is a literal chair: a sculptural seat signifying gathering, craft, and the creation of cultural memory

• Maryam Yousif, whose practice is rooted in myth, intimacy, and Mesopotamian mythologies blended with modernism

I hope you enjoy all twelve of the artists below as much as I have enjoyed discovering their practices. As always, please reach out with any questions or if you would like to see additional examples of the work!

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I am especially taken this week with the discovery of Crystalle Lacouture’s current show, which takes its cue from H.A. Rey’s 1952 book on constellations. The idea of making something vast feel portable and relatable is the right mindset going into fair season.

Below is suggested rhetoric to use on booth when wandering the fairs, and remember the pro tip to always check out the closet for those tucked away gems.

1. Walk up to the artwork on a booth that catches your eye

2. Spend time really looking at it and notice how it makes you feel

3. Take a photo of the artwork

4. Take a photo of the caption or the booth name. Please do not pull your phone out during art fair week and show me a painting with zero context and ask me if I know the artist. Actually please don’t do this to anyone. (This step is also great for tagging the artist AND gallery on socials).

5. Ask “Can you tell me more about this work?” or “Do you have any more examples by the artist?”

6. Inquire “Is it available?” and “What does it retail for?”

7. If the artworks are all sold or they say “the works have all been placed”, you can still ask “What was the price range?”

8. Leave your name and email if you want the gallery to follow up when the artist has new work available - or just text me. If you want help considering a work for your collection, ask the gallery to email you the details and forward them my way to discuss!

Reminder that I am moderating these four upcoming events if you want to ask collecting questions in person! Spring Place Panel on 5/5, Mystic Caviar x Anne Parke Art Salon on 5/6, ArtStack at People’s on 5/12, and NADA Collects at the fair on 5/16.

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Today’s newsletter is a little longer and a little different: I’ve included a detail shot of each work below. I LOVE zooming in on a PDF preview to see what I can find going on in each artwork. If you can’t stand in front of the artwork itself, I recommend poring over the jpeg to discover materiality, hidden figures, process. It’s like the adult version of the Graeme Base “The Eleventh Hour” book. I’ve also hyperlinked each artist’s Instagram, because clicking through their profile can be an accessible way to see more examples of their work.

Galleries share multiple images with me for each artwork, from different angles to scale shots, and there’s almost always a detail shot. My Substack platform limits me to share one image per artwork if I want to pack as many pieces into a weekly edition as I do. So today I’m giving you two: the work, and the detail you’d miss at first glance.

Take the Alexandria Tarver painting below. You probably can’t tell if you’re quickly scrolling through a pixelated feed, but she actually paints all the layers of color first, then paints the darker tones around to create the shapes. Those flower stems were never lines! They grew from the space around them! There’s an incredible, subtle electric glow to these paintings that a rage-click, scroll-by will just not reveal.

There’s a reason I select each artwork for the newsletters, so even if you’re wondering “why would she include that” or as my mom likes to say “that’s not for me”, you should ask me why. If something catches your eye, please always ask for more: more images, more context, more about the artist’s practice. I promise you there are lovely and friendly people in the art world who, like me, are bursting at the seams to share. Enjoy!

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Peter Brock

Anthropic (03), 2026

Oil on aqua resin on aluminum

28 x 36 inches

$7,000

Łukasz Stokłosa

Palazzo Reale di Napoli, 2024

Oil on canvas

31 ½ x 35 ⅜ inches

€9,500

Alexandria Tarver

nights, 99, outside S&T’s wedding, 2026

Oil on linen mounted on panel

19 x 25 inches

$9,000

John Hee Taek Chae

Death of the Buddha (Spring), 2025

Oil on muslin

52 x 42 inches

$9,000

Abigail Lucien

To Unravel A Wrought, 2026

Urethane and enamel on powder-coated steel

41 ½ x 34 ¼ x 16 inches

$16,000

Guillaume Dénervaud

DR-01 - CORE.ACT / LOAD, 2026

Ink on watercolor paper

29 1/4 x 21 inches (framed)

$10,000

If you enjoy weekly access to artist selections,
consider becoming a paid subscriber!
And if you know someone building a thoughtful collection,
feel free to forward this issue. 💚

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My dad’s writing is a welcome relief from inbox fatigue and AI slop. I love taking fifteen minutes to find out what happens next in each issue in the lives of four young adults navigating the start of the Civil War. It is like when TV shows came out once a week and you could not binge watch. My dad would say that having to wait for the next issue “builds character”. (And do not even try to impress him by mentioning that you are reading War and Peace unless you are reading it in the original Russian).

Looking at art is the other version of this for me: the same forced stillness, the same being present. Give art a little space for you to breathe and think about its meaning; live in the moments when you are not looking at a screen.

Being present is also one of the best parts of People’s and it’s why I love curating the art there. People are fully alive and engaged during the moments in those rooms. I love that there is art in every stolen glance and in each memory made there. I am so pleased to share the latest artworks from our spring exhibition at People’s!

I curate the artwork selection around figurative works that reflect the community, engagement, and sometimes voyeuristic views of the guests. One cheeky anecdote for this latest exhibition is that I included 13 works by Jonathan Wateridge to pay homage to the address, 113 West 13th Street, the same building where Edith Halpert launched her Downtown Gallery one hundred years ago. Paid subscribers will see details below for the ArtStack event at People’s next month.

Lastly, I am excited to share with you that I am moderating a panel this Friday evening in collaboration with Layer about the future of digital art. Please let me know if you are interested in attending and I will add your name to the guest list!

If you can’t make the panel on Friday, I hope to see you at the New York Academy of Art Tribeca Ball on Monday. Purchase Tickets Here. Enjoy!

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In the coming weeks, I am producing several exciting salons to see art in person and exclusively preview artworks ahead of the May fairs. If you are planning to be in New York for Frieze New York, NADA New York, The Independent, 1-54, or Future Fair, consider purchasing tickets to the following events:

• Mystic Caviar x AP Art Salon
  - An evening of tarot readers, caviar, wine, and gallerists sharing a first look of their fair booth presentations
  - Limited ticket availability! Purchase here

• NADA Collects Member Salon Preview
  - Three galleries presenting upcoming presentations: Deanna Evans Projects, Chozick Family Art Gallery, and JDJ
  - Monthly member event on April 28: join here for time and location

• People’s ArtStack Evening
  - Substack art writers share which artists, galleries and booths they are most excited to see at the fairs
  - Event details shared next week with paid subscribers

I know all you New Yorkers are excited for the May art fairs, but April is just as packed with global art fairs:

SP-Arte: April 8–12, São Paulo
EXPO Chicago: April 9–12, Chicago
Art Paris: April 9–12, Paris
Art Cologne Palma Mallorca: April 9–12, Palma, Mallorca
Plural: April 10–12, Montreal
Dallas Art Fair: April 16–19, Dallas (a favorite fair!)
miart: April 17–19, Milan
The Photography Show (AIPAD): April 22–26, New York
Art Brussels: April 23–26, Brussels

I hope you enjoy my selections below, which include a manuscript-themed artwork, an appropriated Andy Warhol painting (yes, even the bubble wrap is paint), a wall-dependent sculpture, and a couple of abstract pieces that if you squint hard enough, you’ll see the figures. Enjoy!

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Last summer I dedicated a full newsletter to one of the clearest examples of a strong visual language: Art for If You Actually Don’t Own an Emma Kohlmann Yet. Emma is the kind of artist where even a small work on paper is instantly, irrefutably hers. I take most of my Zoom calls in front of a large Emma Kohlmann work on paper in my collection, and it is hands down the most recognized and the most inquired about artwork during my calls.

This week’s edit is a study in exactly that quality: artists whose work stops you cold because there is simply nothing else like it! I hope you enjoy this week’s selections of artworks. Thanks to my impressive grasp of technology, I embedded a video and thus was able to fit FIFTEEN artworks below. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts.

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I didn’t buy it because someone told me the artist was important (I honestly didn’t know who the artist was at the time); I bought the photograph because I knew why I personally wanted it. That distinction would later become the foundation of how I teach people to collect. I decided to buy it with my babysitting money from the previous Saturday night. I couldn't afford much else at the time.

A man eating his noodles on a fire escape, looking down at 88 Bowery and Hester Street,
Chinatown, New York City in 1998. Photo by Chien-Chi Chang.

I had just taken a 70% pay cut from Blackstone to go work as an assistant at one of the best galleries in the world, David Zwirner. I justified the decision that I was investing in myself, betting on myself that if I got close enough to the best in the business I would learn something that I could eventually bring somewhere new. I wanted to contribute meaningfully to the cultural landscape that so far I was only a bystander in.

After several years working at Zwirner, I joined the sales team at Fergus McCaffrey. It was during my experience at these two Chelsea bluechip galleries that I started to understand what I actually wanted to do with everything I had learned.

I wanted to be in the room where decisions were made and to learn how a work of art gets valued, how it gets placed in a collection, and how the whole system actually operates. Then I wanted to take what I learned from that system and contribute to building the infrastructure where it did not yet exist.

There is an entire generation of collectors who are about to inherit the greatest wealth transfer in history, and I wanted to be their bridge to the world of art collecting. I could see the interest everywhere, and I could also see the Instagram accounts sharing their top ten art fair picks, the publications covering the market, the panels about collecting, but nobody was explaining why how to actually begin or why any of it mattered. I even sat on a panel once where someone in the audience asked, genuinely, ‘but where do I find an art advisor?’. I understood how the top of the market worked, and I wanted to translate that for a generation that was curious, capable, and ready. There was no clear framework for how a new collector begins, so I built one.

I began programming events while I was at Fergus McCaffrey in 2018 and 2019. I started hosting evenings for new and young collectors featuring the more accessible, entry-level price point of our artists’ inventory. Then in 2020 and 2021, I launched AP Art Salons, inviting people who had never bought art into the same room as gallerists, letting them hear directly how a gallery program gets built, why an artist gets chosen for that roster, and what makes something worth living with.

Nobody was buying at first but everybody was asking the same question. Where do I start? What should my first piece be? How do I know what I like? How do I know what’s good? I didn’t have a neat answer then but I had rooms full of people asking, so I kept showing up to meet them there. AP Art Salons evolved into Lower East Side gallery walks, then curating at People’s, then spearheading the New Art Dealers Alliance emerging collectors initiative, NADA Collects.

But before all of that, I still had a simple problem: too many people asking me for art recommendations of where to start, and too many individual emails with random art offers where I felt like I was just throwing spaghetti at a wall. That’s when my dear friend Megan O’Connor Elsayed told me I needed a Substack. I thought if I put my ten art picks from the week in one place, I could send every new client to that platform first. Tell me what resonates, I would say. Tell me if you’re drawn to the sculpture or the painting, the abstract or the figurative. We can start there.

What I didn’t expect was that the newsletter would become the answer to the question I had been hearing for years. Not just for my clients, but for anyone who had ever stood in front of a work of art and felt something they couldn’t name, and wanted to know what to do with that feeling.

Most people think learning to look at art means taking an art history class or following the right art-world insiders on Instagram or joining a museum patron group. But when I sit down with a new client, I don’t start there. I ask them what they like and why they like it; I want to know what they keep noticing or which images stand out and hold meaning. And almost everyone says the same thing: I don’t know why. There’s just something about it. That’s not a wrong answer and that’s exactly where we begin.

Looking at art starts with your own awareness, understanding what pulls you in, what stops you, and then finding the pattern of the things you keep returning to. The reasons are always going to be different for every person, because works hold different meanings to different people. But you still need to understand why you personally are drawn to something. You don't need an art history background to get there, you just need to understand why you personally want something.

This newsletter exists because of that question, and it is my attempt to answer it, one entry point at a time. Mine started with a photograph of a fire escape on the Bowery. Yours starts here.

• Introduction: on learning to look

• Start with Awareness: what do you keep noticing

• Start with Intention: what do you actually want from this

• Start with Looking: how to be in a room with art

• Start with One Work: when to know something is yours

• Start with Patronage: why supporting an artist’s practice matters

• Continue with Love: what it means to collect art for life

I hope you enjoy this week’s selections.

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Motohiro Takeda

Hanaikada (Flower Boat) #15 and Hanaikada (Flower Boat) #16, 2025

Concrete, cherry blossoms

14 x 11 x 1 inches

$3,200 each

Madelyn Kellum

Ella I Saw You, 2026

Oil on canvas

28 x 22 inches

$4,000

Ignacio Gatica

Sunset 07, 2025

Custom software, LED panels, single board computer, custom artist frame, power supply

15 x 9 7/8 x 2 3/8 inches

$10,000

Kevin Sabo

Untitled Martini I and Untitled Martini II, 2026

Acrylic and graphite on canvas

14 x 11 inches

£1,600 each

Lior Modan

The Bite, 2026

Velvet, foam, plastic, sand, epoxy putty in cast rubber frame

23 x 26 inches

$8,000

Marlon Kroll

Tabloid, 2026

Colored pencil on bed sheet over panel

30 x 40 inches

$9,500

Chris “Daze” Ellis

Innervisions, 2025

Acrylic on canvas

24 x 20 inches

$8,500

Joshua Aster

Petals and Gourds, 2026

Egg oil tempera on linen

17 x 16 inches

$3,000 each

Margaret Curtis

Moonshiner Dataminer, 2026

Oil and ash on Dibond panel

60 x 48 inches

$16,500

Alice Kettle

Catch, 2026

Various threads on printed linen mix

22 x 18 inches

£6,000

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One of the things I care most about in my work is making that feeling of discovery accessible, not just to people who already know the rooms, but to anyone curious enough to walk in. I think that curiosity is already forming into something larger: a visually fluent generation that wants to live intelligently with contemporary art, and I want to help shape how that instinct becomes discernment.

It’s why Casey Monda and I created Viewing Rooms (also on TikTok and YouTube), an educational video series designed to give people the language and confidence to engage with contemporary art: how to ask about pricing, how to talk about an artist’s practice, what actually happens in those installation conversations. And it’s why I film videos about the artists I curate at People’s: to lift the veil a little and to show the work being looked at and talked about in real time.

I’ll admit it openly that I have not heard of every artist (I mean has anyone??). But I am always curious to know more, and I think that curiosity is exactly the right approach to bring into any gallery or space for collecting art. My hope is that this newsletter functions as one of those rooms, welcoming, specific, and worth sticking around in. I highly recommend checking out two of the longest paintings I have ever included - one is 105 inches and one is over 171 inches! Don’t make me name names, I know those of you who need a piece above your couch.

As always, please reply with interest and questions (let’s dig into that Kirlian photograph!). Paid subscribers also have an invitation below to a jewelry showcase at People's, and next week will be this month’s free issue with all the images and pricing available. Consider becoming a subscriber to always access weekly featured artists and artworks.

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My favorite example is Elizabeth Jaeger. I first saw her work in NYC in 2019 at Jack Hanley. Five years later, I saw her exhibition at Capsule Shanghai: Venice when I was visiting the Biennale. Last year, I saw her in Marie Catalano’s exhibition upstate at Octagon House, and this year I have been placing her flower sculptures from her current exhibition at Silke Lindner with collectors who read this newsletter. (Honorable mention to Elizabeth’s incredible ice skating at my birthday party this weekend!)

Another example of these accumulated encounters comes from this newsletter itself. A subscriber replied to last week’s issue inquiring about the Michael Thompson piece. I had placed a Thompson work in her collection a few years ago and was thrilled to see her continued connection to his practice when I shared this note with her:

The source image is a photo of Diana Ross that he found on the reverse of a greatest hits album of hers. MT is particularly interested in the sequins and textiles from that period, so it feels nicely connected to the [artwork by Michael] that you have.

I love when a reader engages with this newsletter, and it is even more gratifying to watch a collector’s taste develop over time through the artists they first discover here! Over the years I have noticed that this kind of engagement accumulates into something larger than market awareness and becomes a form of cultural stewardship. Just wait till you see the newest Michael Thompson painting below, encapsulating a powerful moment of collision.

Collectors rarely decide they love an artist all at once, I see it occurring after repeated encounters. And occasionally those encounters become the reason you start pricing flights. For collectors who want to live intelligently with contemporary art, following that curiosity across cities can often be where the real stewardship begins.

For now before you book those flights, I hope you enjoy my selections below!

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