Early May in New York City is a beautiful time to visit the city. The blossoms of trees are just about at peak, and everything is greening. In addition to that, a series of various art events are happening all over the Big Apple. One of these was the Superfine Art Fair, right at Times Square at One Five One, and where Rachel Brask Studio was exhibiting her paintings.

This post is a recap of highlights from the weekend. Artwork featured and sold, people met, amazing artists to connect with. Some intriguing adventures and places visited in the city.

Setting up is always an adventure. My booth was moved due to an issue outside of the organizers’ control, but it ended up working in my favor that now my booth was now right across from the bar in the cafe area. There were only three artists’ booth in the cafe, with easy access to food, coffee, and wine. It was a fairly high-traffic area throughout the weekend, and for that I was glad.

The Thursday was opening night for the VIP reception, and I got to meet a lot of great people, some familiar faces, some new. Cotton-candy topped champagne was fun! It even matched my paintings at times!

Friday was a bit quieter but gave me a chance to go outside my booth a bit more and visit and meet some of the other artists at their booths. The setup for the exhibition space was rather unique in that there was essentially two or three wings of the space, connected by one or two long blank hallways for elevator access to the lobbies or the restrooms. Once I got my bearings it wasn’t as difficult to navigate as it first seemed earlier.

Saturday I was slated to do a live paint demonstration from 4-7pm right at my booth, to show and explain my art making process in real time with real material to all who would stop to observe. Because my paint process for making rainy oil paintings is a very delicate time-based process, I actually had to start my demonstration painting at the desk in my hotel room early that same morning, applying thick impasto dots and daubs, and very carefully transporting it to the venue using a portable wet-painting panel carrier and riding in an Uber to extra cautious of handling.

I resumed applying additional dots throughout the day so that the painting would have plenty of flow when the time came. When 4pm came, I started showing my first swipes of my rain process, gradually and column-by-column as different groups or individuals came by the booth to engage with the process. Eventually I did the “rain thing” to the whole canvas, and the rest of the afternoon/evening was all about observing the rain drops movement and altering them gradually.

The next morning the painting was a bit different than when I left at 10pm on Saturday night, revealing a sort of ghost image of the dark horizon line of mountains behind the sunset-colored drips making their way down the painting.

Sunday was our last day at the art fair, and it also happened to be a rainy day! So I came in with renewed energy from the rain, excited that the organizers chose to play a music playlist of all songs related to rain and storms! That happened to be a very busy day for umbrella sales, and a bit more busy for browsing and sales in general, which we were all grateful for and excited about.

I sold a painting that I had been holding onto for several years but hadn’t exhibited in about 5 years, so I was extra pleased when that one connected with a new collector! It goes to show that you never know when the timing is going to happen for an older work to connect with a new collector! :)

In the very last hour of the art fair, I got the honor and pleasure to meet Marina of the Artist Advisory, someone whom I follow on Instagram, and a person to know of influence in the contemporary art world, especially with all the content she produces to help artists with the art business side of the artists’ hustle. I got to meet her adorable Pomeranian, Odette. I was thrilled to be able to talk with her, and she even touched my painting to feel the texture!

When the fair closed, it was time to wrap up, break down, and pack up. When it was time to actually load up my vehicle, I couldn’t access the street where the loading dock was because, apparently, Dua Lipa was giving a concert in Times Square, and many roads had been blocked off in order to get her access to the stage and the logistical equipment needed to set up for the concert. I did not stay for the concert, because I was just too tired at the conclusion of the last four days. Thank you Dua Lipa for a grand finale to the Superfine Art Fair!

I got some of the most amazing artists from all over, and absolutely loved connecting and chatting and sharing the joys and struggles of being an exhibiting artist. Thank you to all who visited my booth, thank you to all who helped to make the Superfine such a fine time! :)