Texture Emerges as Unifying Theme at Major Art Fair Through Works by Musson, Trosch, Sodi, and Others

At a major urban art fair in 2017, texture became a dominant visual thread connecting diverse artworks. Jayson Musson's fabric piece at Philadelphia's Fleisher-Ollman gallery first drew attention to this tactile quality. Jeffrey Deitch presented a salon-style display honoring Florine Stettheimer, featuring Thomas Trosch's 2008 oil and encaustic painting "One Day in the Life of Lovely Mars," which abstractly references Stettheimer's Harlem beach scenes through impasto techniques reminiscent of 1990s horror wedding cakes. Bosco Sodi's geological encrustations appeared prominently across multiple venues including Galeria Hilario Galguera of Mexico City, Blain Southern, and Paul Kasmin galleries. Michelle Grabner showed sculpted netted grids at James Cohan, while Miguel Barcelo's painterly reliefs were exhibited at Thaddeus Ropac. Even two-dimensional works like Vik Muniz's print of a mottled Picasso "The Dreamer" at Edwin Houk gallery contributed to the haptic experience. These textured artworks provided grounding amidst the fair's overwhelming visual spectacle. The observation was documented by David Cohen on March 2, 2017.