{"id":274370,"date":"2026-04-18T16:09:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T16:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/274370\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T16:09:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T16:09:13","slug":"what-not-to-miss-at-the-san-francisco-art-fair-according-to-curator-mara-gladstone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/274370\/","title":{"rendered":"What Not to Miss at the San Francisco Art Fair, According to Curator Mara Gladstone"},"content":{"rendered":"

The San Francisco Art Fair (SFAF)<\/a> presented by Art Market Production (AMP)<\/a> kicked off this week, bringing together 88 local, national, and international exhibitors as well as 46 regional cultural partners. Debuting not only a dynamic array of presentations complemented by large-scale sculptures and immersive installations, the fair is also anchored by a talks program, offering visitors another way to engage with the diverse range of art and exhibitions on view.<\/p>\n

Among the ambitious public projects featured in the 2026 edition is the presentation of \u201cThe Sun Beneath,\u201d curated by independent curator and educator Mara Gladstone. Featuring a selection of paintings by Filipino interdisciplinary artist Jon Cuyson. The presentation is a sneak peek of what will be presented at the Philippine Pavilion at the forthcoming 2026 Venice Biennale, of which both Gladstone and Cuyson are tapped to participate.<\/p>\n

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Mara Gladstone. Courtesy of Art Market Productions.<\/p>\n

Following the opening of SFAF, which is on view through this Sunday, April 19, we reached out to Gladstone to learn more about her booth highlights from the 14th edition of the fair.<\/p>\n

Cult Aimee Friberg, San Francisco, CA
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Installation view of Cult Aimee Friberg at San Francisco Art Fair 2026. Courtesy of Art Market Productions.<\/p>\n

Founded in 2013, local gallery Cult Aimee Friberg operates as a platform for both emerging and established artists and foregrounds work that is at once experimental and engages with societal intricacies and issues of today.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the range in this booth,\u201d says Gladstone, \u201cfrom large-scale ceramic totems to more intimate neon paintings. I\u2019m always impressed by the artists Freeburg represents and the clarity of her program\u2019s mission. Being rooted in San Francisco\u2019s East Bay really comes through in the gallery\u2019s curatorial vision. It has such a fresh, dynamic energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Black Art in America, Atlanta, GA
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Inside the booth of Black Art in America at the San Francisco Art Fair 2026. Courtesy of Art Market Productions.<\/p>\n

Marking its first appearance at SFAF, Atlanta-based gallery Black Art in America has maintained a mission since its founding in 2010 to \u201cdocument, preserve, and promote the contributions of the African American arts community\u201d through a diverse range of projects, initiatives, and services.<\/p>\n

Gladstone notes, \u201cWhether you\u2019re looking for blue-chip or emerging artists, this booth really covers the spectrum. On view, they have an incredible\u00a0Kerry James Marshall\u00a0print that\u2019s actually a printer\u2019s sample plate, so it\u2019s completely unique within the series. There\u2019s also a fantastic duo by\u00a0Robert Pruitt, where you can acquire both the printing plate and the finished print.\u201d<\/p>\n

exhibited.at, San Francisco, CA
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Lomakin, Ghost N2 (2023). Courtesy of exhibited.at.<\/p>\n

With a unique program dedicated to a small number of artists, exhibited.at aims to help shape and work with artists at critical junctures in their careers. Eschewing the traditional brick-and-mortar gallery space, the gallery instead creates tailored presentations through an evolving program centered on fairs, collaborations, and curatorial partnerships. For the 2026 edition of SFAF, the gallery focuses sharply on one of its artists.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis booth is a solo presentation by Lomakin, titled \u2018Watching Cartoons,\u2019\u201d says Gladston. \u201cAt first glance, the work feels almost manufactured, but the closer you look, the more you see the intricate handwork behind each piece. The works are not only fun and engaging to live with\u2014but also feel like a great value. It\u2019s an artist who gets what his medium is doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gallery Century, Oakland, CA
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Erie Loran, The Place (1960). Courtesy of Gallery Century.<\/p>\n

Taking a cross-generational approach to its program, Gallery Century represents work from emerging voices to modern masters and everything in between. Core to its presentations is a focus on creative rigor, including reappraisals of historic figures\u2014and for SFAF 2026, the gallery homes in on artists from the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one of the booths at the fair where you can really connect with Bay Area masters and Berkeley School figures,\u201d says Gladstone. \u201cOn view are works by influential artists who shaped generations that followed, like\u00a0Tara Yomoto\u00a0and\u00a0George Miyasaki. The presentation feels deeply rooted in the Bay Area, with many pieces anchoring that legacy. I especially loved the works from the \u201960s and \u201970s. They still feel incredibly relevant today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parallel +, Hong Kong and Taguig City, Philippines
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Installation view of Parallel + at San Francisco Art Fair 2026. Courtesy of Art Market Productions.<\/p>\n

Informed by the concept of Korembi, a term used to describe sunlight filtering through tree leaves, Parallel + crafts exhibitions that center dialogue\u2014both between art objects and with viewers.<\/p>\n

Gladstone explains, \u201cAlthough based in Hong Kong, this gallery represents artists from across Japan, China, and the Philippines, many of whom work at the intersection of art and design. You can feel how intentional the installation is. Everything is so thoughtfully arranged. Walking into the booth, each object invites a kind of quiet, intimate engagement. I actually bought a piece here by Pat Frades. It\u2019s their first time at the fair, and I was really struck by their roster of glass artists, like\u00a0Yosuke Miyao, who are true masters of their craft. If you\u2019re interested in where art and design overlap, this is definitely a booth to spend time with.\u201d<\/p>\n

San Francisco Art Fair<\/a> is open through Sunday, April 18, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Francisco Art Fair (SFAF) presented by Art Market Production (AMP) kicked off this week, bringing together…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274371,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[118861,94022,118859,118868,118862,118863,118864,118866,118860,118865,15885,101,103,102,104,106,105,118867],"class_list":{"0":"post-274370","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-aimee-friberg","9":"tag-art-fair","10":"tag-artnet-news","11":"tag-artnet-news-partner","12":"tag-black-art-in-america","13":"tag-exhibited-at","14":"tag-gallery-century","15":"tag-jon-cuyson","16":"tag-mara-gladsone","17":"tag-parallel-gallery","18":"tag-partner-content","19":"tag-san-francisco","20":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","21":"tag-san-francisco-news","22":"tag-sf","23":"tag-sf-headlines","24":"tag-sf-news","25":"tag-the-sun-beneath"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}