Neil Farber

Neil Farber @ Pippy Houldsworth

Volta NY is a relatively young fair that sets out to put the focus back on the artists, by presenting a highly selected group of solo shows. With each booth only allowed one artist, attendees are able to get a better, more rounded representation of each artist’s work. We love the idea in theory, but in practice find that Volta tends to be more hit or miss than other fairs, because they put all of their eggs in fewer baskets, so to speak.

Although we wouldn’t say that this year’s fair was a total miss, it did feel very subdued, perhaps because more than other years, potential applicants had been swallowed up by the Armory Show. By far, our favorite booth at Volta was that of Canadian artist Neil Farber, who was presented by London’s Pippy Houldsworth. Farber, who with Marcel Dzama and Michael Dumontier formed the now-defunct Royal Art Lodge, creates chaotic compositions, typically of lots of tiny figures, painted thick and glossy. Although not an outsider artist, Farber instills in his paintings the best qualities of that genre – naivety, humor and emotion.

See more images of Neil Farber’s work, along with other selections from Volta, after the jump.