Kate Breakey, Callimorpa dominula, Scarlet Tiger Moth, 2024
The April edition of the Photograph Collector Newsletter highlights the upcoming AIPAD fair, including interviews with exhibiting galleries. Read below for Catherine Couturier's thoughts on the upcoming fair.
What will you be bringing to the AIPAD Photography Show this year? Are you more or less optimistic about sales there this year than in recent past years?
CC: We’ll be bringing some vintage work for the bins, but the walls will mostly be filled with our artists Patty Carroll, Stanko Abadzic, Cara Barer, a fantastic wall of moths by Kate Breakey, and new breakout artist Sander Vos. I’m more optimistic about this year! I think we are bringing incredibly strong work that’s affordable and easy to love, plus last year we were all so worried about the tariffs.
Did you exhibit at or attend the Armory Show, Volta, NADA, Art on Paper, Chicago Expo, any of the Miami fairs, or any other fairs in the past year? If so, how were sales there and what was your overall impression as opposed to past years? If you exhibited, what did you sell that was special?
CC: No. Everyone I know at Paris Photo did extremely well, though.
How has business been in the past six months? Has the roller coaster of the economy but with a rising stock market in the last year affected your business? If so, in what ways? What are you anticipating in the next six months? In the next year?
CC: I’ve given up trying to anticipate anything since 2020. All the rules (August being dead for example) have been broken, and the administration and economy keep things in such flux that I’m not really seeing any patterns at all. As always, I’m hoping for great sales for my artists and happy collectors.
How has uncertainty in the economy amid war and political turmoil affected what you are planning in the next year? What, if any, has been the effect of tariffs on your business?
CC: I’ve been lucky to have paid very little tariffs thus far, but I have had to pay some even though art is supposed to be exempt. I would imagine it’s stopped international collectors from buying from the U.S., which is of course bad for everyone.
Amid increased scrutiny in the US of foreign visitors, including intrusive investigations of their social media activity and data on their phones, it has been reported that some foreign galleries are not participating in US art fairs and numerous foreign collectors are also staying away. Has this been an issue for you? Have any of your collectors from outside the US indicated that they are not coming to AIPAD and if so, did they give a reason?
CC: The number one complaint I’m hearing from foreign dealers is that the price of shipping in the U.S. makes fairs all but cost prohibitive. No one has mentioned the phone issue specifically, but I know a lot of my American friends (both born and naturalized) are taking burner phones when they go abroad. It’s really insane that this is America, but it is. It’s a real low point in our nations’ life story, and history will remember it as such.
Patty Carroll, Green Room, 2025
Sander Vos, Interpolation 17, 2025
Cara Barer, Carving up the World, 2025