Photofairs New York, the fair for lens-based and digital art that debuted in September 2023 at the Javits Center alongside The Armory Show, has cancelled its 2024 edition.
The New York edition of the successful Shanghai fair was founded by Scott Gray, the chief executive of Creo Arts, the London-based company that operates both fairs as well as Photo London, plus the Sony World Photography Awards and the Sony Future Filmmaker Awards. Helen Toomer, a former director of the Pulse Contemporary Art Fair and the International Fine Print Dealers Association’s print fair, who was Photofairs New York’s inaugural director, is no longer working with Photofairs according to her LinkedIn profile.
A spokesperson for Creo Arts said that in spite of “great interest and support” for the New York fair, “in light of market conditions and in consultation with our community of galleries and partners, we have determined that the fair will not take place in 2024”. The spokesperson did not elaborate on when Photofairs might return to New York, simply adding that “we feel it is best to hold the fair once market conditions improve”.
At the time of Photofairs’ New York debut, Gray expressed optimism about the appetite for photography among the city’s collectors. “The idea for Photofairs is to create space for the medium,” he said. “When we launched Shanghai, collecting photos in the Asia Pacific [region] was embryonic. Here, it’s far from that.” The fair’s New York debut featured 56 exhibitors in a hall at Manhattan’s sprawling Javits Center adjacent to the city’s biggest art fair, The Armory Show.
The Shanghai edition of Photofairs held its ninth edition in April, with around 50 participating galleries. The Creo spokesperson confirmed that the fair’s 2025 edition in China will proceed as planned.
