Seven Emerging Artists to Watch at New York's May Art Fairs

During New York's art fair week, CULTURED magazine highlights seven artists across ten fairs including Frieze, TEFAF, Independent, NADA, Future Fair, and Esther III. At Independent, Rei Kawakubo's Comme des Garçons presented 20 sculptural looks from Autumn/Winter 2020 to Spring/Summer 2025, priced $9,000–$30,000, with four sold by opening afternoon. At TEFAF, Danish painter Eva Helene Pade made her U.S. debut with Thaddaeus Ropac; all three monumental works sold to public institutions for €140,000–€175,000. At Frieze, Kelly Sinnapah Mary's hand-painted booth at James Cohan sold out ($20,000–$130,000); a dual-venue solo show opens April 2027 at Americas Society and Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum. Also at Frieze, Rachel Youn's kinetic sculptures at G Gallery had two of three works reserved at $6,500 and $8,000. At NADA, Nagas gallery presented late French artist Véronique Wirbel (1950–1990) in her New York debut, with works under $10,000. At Future Fair, Seizan gallery showed Miné Okubo (1912–2001); LACMA acquired three paintings, and a traveling exhibition pairing her with Miki Hayakawa and Hisako Hibi will open at Japanese American National Museum later this year. At Esther III, Hungarian artist Kata Tranker's paper pulp sculptures were priced $2,500–$10,000; she won the main prize at 2025 LOKART Biennale and has upcoming shows at East Slovak Museum and Eesti Kunstimuuseum.