By Jillian Steinhauer<\/p>\n
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All art fairs\u00a0aren\u2019t the same<\/a>, but they can have a comparable blanketing effect: after hours of walking around a sales floor, the works start to blend together. Was\u00a0this<\/em>\u00a0the clever neon text sculpture you liked, or was it that one?<\/p>\n This week, two fairs gamble on unpredictability to help break up the monotony. The more ambitious,\u00a0Spring\/Break Art Show<\/a>, offers shake-it-all-up collaborations between artists and curators, while\u00a0Volta<\/a>\u00a0is a mixed bag, but with a strong streak of playful abstraction. Although very different from each other, both lack the blue-chip sheen of bigger outlets like the Art Show at the Park Avenue Armory. They can\u2019t give you a flawless experience but that\u2019s OK. They make you put in a little extra legwork to find something you love. Consider the possibilities.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Volta had a dramatic 2019: Scheduled for Pier 90, the fair was canceled after Armory Show exhibitors displaced from Pier 92 \u2014 which had been deemed structurally unsound\u2014 moved to its location. Now the fair is back, with a new director and location, and change in format \u2014 whereas before it was strictly solo booths, now anything goes. The 53 exhibitors are an undeniably international group, but what they\u2019ve brought to New York City is decidedly mixed. There is, honestly, plenty of mediocre work to skip, but also enough good stuff to reward a visit.<\/p>\n The strongest current at the fair is abstraction, which takes a variety of forms.\u00a0Mark Hachem Gallery<\/strong>\u2019s booth provides a historical anchor with a selection of op and kinetic art, including several small, two-plane constructions by\u00a0Jes\u00fas Rafael Soto<\/strong>\u00a0that seem to shift and vibrate. A striking piece nearby by his fellow Venezuelan artist\u00a0Dario Perez-Flores<\/strong>\u00a0should literally move \u2014 the label lists a motor \u2014 but it was either dead or hadn\u2019t been turned on when I saw it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Read the full article on NYTimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n View installation photos at susaneleyfineart.com<\/a><\/p>\nVolta<\/h4>\n