Many bundled up and braved the blistering cold weather outside to find unique pieces and enjoy a lively opening night at Nameless.
Review & Onsite Photos by Carly Timpson
NEW YORK CITY — In Romeo & Juliet, Shakespeare wrote that “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” At the Nameless Art + Design Show, exhibitors proved that an object’s quality upholds its value even when the maker’s name is unknown. Like Romeo in Juliet’s eyes, it is not the name that makes these pieces sweet to collectors. Their value is in their craftmanship, their uniqueness and their spirit.
In its third year, the Nameless Art + Design Show took place during the tail end of New York City’s antiques week, January 30 through February 1, within an industrial gallery space that further contributed to its differentiation from most of the formal antiques shows running concurrently. The show brought in 25 dealers from around the country and attendance at this year’s edition was “on par with last year,” shared showrunner Adam Irish. “The show continues to attract a younger audience, with a majority of attendees under 40. Likewise, our dealers range in age from in their 20s to 80s. As to new developments, we were thrilled this year to partner with the American Folk Art Museum. It was also our second year partnering with New England Auctions, which is a great collaboration.”
Irish also had a booth in the show, featuring antiques and Americana from his shop, Old as Adam, which is based in Warren, R.I. Among his sales were a life-size painted metal skeleton, a low stand with blue paint and a series of watercolor and pencil spiritual drawings from Kansas, done in the mid Twentieth Century. Shoppers may have found his inventory exciting, but when we caught up with him in his booth on opening night, he was eager to share something else. “It’s been a really good evening so far. And the mayor’s wife [artist Rama Duwaji] just left, so that’s really great for the show!” Duwaji, who typically works with digital media, though she sometimes handcrafts ceramics, was spotted surveying the merits of several folky pieces throughout the show.
If you like canines you were in luck. Adam Irish brought this miniature cherry sideboard with reliefs of dogs. A children’s wooden dog pull toy was displayed beside it and a hooked rug depicting “Fido” was hanging on the wall behind it. Old as Adam, Warren, R.I.
Dealers Zack Allen & Tré Warren are Portmanteau New York. The pair has been doing the show for all three years and said they are “so thrilled to see how interest in the show has grown.” A theme that was echoed by nearly every dealer, they reported, “People seemed most drawn to things they’ve never seen before!” One such object in their booth was a taxidermy folding screen with preserved hummingbirds and ferns. “We received many comments from guests both shocked and delighted, having never seen anything quite like it. Nature in general had a huge presence in our display this year, as we wanted to highlight its immense beauty and also its fragility.”
The New York City dealers had many great sales, noting a nude folk painting of Amphitrite and a hand-carved wood torchbearer wall sconce. “We were delighted to see so many familiar faces and also made some great new connections! This show truly brings out the best people, and a huge part of its success for us is in making new connections. We love Nameless, and this year was no exception. We feel honored to be a part of the show, and look forward to next year,” the duo of Portmanteau closed.
One of Josh Steenburgh’s first sales was a 1940s piece of yard art, a rainbow-painted butterfly, though by the time opening night ended, he had several blank spaces on his walls. Steenburgh shared, “It’s been really good. Mostly painted things have sold, and a good sign, too. I usually do a lot of sales on Saturday and Sunday, so this is a good start.” Other items in his booth included articulated figural models, tapestry and fabric arts, pottery, painted stands, wooden carvings and about a half dozen folky canes.
This chenille hooked velvet floral work was with Joshua Steenburgh Pike, N.H.
Animal objects are always popular at shows, and there was no shortage of pets to be admired at Nameless. A pair of wooden pigs with adjustable legs and sheet metal ears sat on a table with Francis Crespo. Crespo’s nephew, Camilo Torres, was assisting him in the booth, and he told us that they were really unusual, especially with the detail of the ears. Beside the pigs were a fish and a bird; above them hung a carved wood pair of bear cubs in a tree and a flat wooden stable with two three-dimensional horses. Another item that was drawing significant interest in Crespo’s booth was a cat mascot made for an automotive shop, made around 1940-60 with rebar and washers and various other found metals, and retaining its original surface and glass marble eyes. Torres shared that the cat would be heading to its new home later that weekend.
If you had the time to look through Stacy Waldman’s photographs, you were sure to find more animals there, too. Some that we were able to spot included a portrait of a woman holding her Jack Russell, a Boston terrier running toward the lens, a black-and-white photo of kittens by a window, a dog shown seated with a band and children on donkeys. However, most of the images with House of Mirth were of people, showing everyday people in everyday scenes: people doing laundry, scoring a soccer goal, lounging at the beach and getting on the train.
Though they sold early, these 1930s clown shoes remained a draw in Humberto Jiron’s booth. Heimwee Antiques, San Francisco. Photo: JD Dimino.
While many dealers were local to the Northeast, several made longer journeys. One such vendor was Humberto Jiron of San Francisco. Jiron shared that at a show like this where there aren’t many tangible collecting themes, items “have to be something special, not of typical form, more unexpected.” Case in point, he had a pair of clown shoes from the 1930s that sold early on opening night. “I’ve seen so many clown shows, but none with the exposed toes just like this. When you know you know.” In his description of the shoes, he wrote, “At the very tip, exaggerated white ‘teeth’ edged in red grin back at you, cracked and worn from decades of hard laughs and harder landings… There’s something deeply charming about how seriously they were made for something so unserious.” Other unique pieces that sold included a crocheted cane from the second quarter of the Twentieth Century that he described as “wonderfully idiosyncratic, completely wrapped by hand in tightly crocheted yarn,” miniature crocheted sock and glove purses, a Donald Duck costume with a papier-mâché head and a carved and painted wooden clock hutch in the form of a mythical lion mask.
Daniel Schmidt, who ventured North from Texas, was returning to Nameless for his second time. He said, “Each show is a balance of folks coming for particular items — wanting a good box, collecting tramp art, that sort of thing that will be consistently available at a show like this — but many folks also come specifically for the absolutely unique items.” One of those that he brought was a 1940s chiropractors’ model of the spinal system. “I always meet someone new at this show: young collectors, which is always exciting to see, New England friends who never make it to Texas and dealers who I only see at this show. It’s a bit of family in this small world, and I always appreciate meeting anyone who gets what we do,” he added. “What Adam does with the show is pretty magical. Filling one booth with quality of this level is difficult. Finding 20 dealers who are willing to do that work is very, very difficult. I drive 30 hours by myself each way to make this happen and I will happily do it every year I can.”
Daniel Schmidt trekked from Texas to set up at Nameless, calling it “The most inspiring show of the year.”
Kevin Duffy of Atlanta-based Candler Arts noted that the show was good for both sales and purchases he made. This was also Duffy’s second time at Nameless, after taking last year off. “Several visitors to the show commented that they liked its small size and conversing with the dealers. They also appreciated the variety of items. The visitors to my booth were a mix of new and old friends — I nearly ran out of business cards, he reported. “One memorable sale was actually a series of three sales. I propped two experimental photos on a pedestal in front of a pillar. Quickly sold. I replaced them with two photo transparencies showing silhouetted figures. Again, sold right away. Lastly, I propped a naive drawing against the pillar. Sold. Something magical, I think, about that pillar.”
“Across the show as a whole, there wasn’t a single dominant theme. People were buying everything from American primitive furniture and traditional paintings to more challenging, avant-garde outsider imagery,” said Dallas Dunn of High Tramp. “In my own booth, I noticed that collectors were especially drawn to highly colorful works with abstract and surrealist elements, and I sold several paintings that fit squarely within that territory.” Some of Dunn’s successful sales included a 1949 Surrealist painting “that had previously caught the eye of Jerry Saltz, which made the sale especially gratifying.” The majority of his sales were Tramp Art pieces, which, as his business name suggests, are the foundation of his shop.
Like many of the other dealers, Dunn also expressed a sense of optimism from the crowd. “A number of collectors I worked with last year returned this year, which speaks to the show’s staying power. What I found most encouraging, though, was the level of engagement from younger collectors. Despite the show’s relatively intimate scale, many visitors spent well over an hour there. Even when people weren’t actively buying, they were genuinely invested in understanding the work… Adam Irish has done an extraordinary job assembling a group of dealers with distinct perspectives and real depth of knowledge. There’s a sense of kinship among the exhibitors that clearly extends to the audience as well. This is the kind of show I wish had existed 20 years ago, when I first became interested in outsider and folk art but couldn’t afford to collect it. Nameless provides an accessible entry point into collecting, and that’s something worth nurturing and protecting.”
The Nameless Art + Design show will return to New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood next winter. For information, www.namelessartshow.com.
