Trends We Don't Want to See at Art Fairs in New York This Week

Image via Complex Original

We're the first to admit that we can't resist an #artselfie opportunity, but reflective surfaces are losing some of their sheen as they turn up at art fairs again and again. Jeppe Hein's abstract mirrored sculptures and Doug Aitken's mirrored words attract crowds (and iPhones) like flies to a lamp, so they must be doing something right. Still, so many shiny surfaces start to feel lackluster. Not to mention, they can artificially detract from other, more innovative works.

What's flashier than mirrors at art fairs? Neon at art fairs. Ivan Navarro does both, and he does them well, but sometimes neon lights inside fair tents look like mini cityscapes of the Vegas Strip. You can always count on a few examples of neon signage dotting art fairs, but the glowing letters don't seem to be saying much anymore.

Andy Warhol may have predicted that everyone in the future will have his 15 minutes of fame, but his celebrity never seems to lose momentum. From Brillo Boxes handed out at the Armory Show last year to an enormous and lifelike sculpture of Warhol's head at SCOPE during Art Basel Miami Beach 2013, we're tired of seeing homages to the King of Pop art. The same goes for updated Campbell's soup cans or re-appropriated images of Marilyn Monroe's lips. If it's not an original Warhol, we'll pass.

Damien Hirst has come under fire for his butterfly genocide, and yet he's still making millions off of his animal product pieces. Wings, feathers, fur—it's not often that taxidermy animals appear in art fairs for more than just shock factor. We're not huge fans of many of the stuffed animal toys that rule the gallery circuit these days either, but at least Mike Kelley proves that there's value in furry creatures.

Sometimes it seems like crowds at art fairs are primitively drawn to anything shiny, which explains the popularity of mirror art. But sparkle just for the sake of it can come off as lazy or cheap. Gold, glitter, metallic (sorry, Jeff Koons), or crystalline, there should be more to a work than how bright it shines.

Want to talk about consumerism? Homogenization? Capitalism? Class warfare? McDonald's seems to symbolize it all. From a morbid scene of Ronald McDonald miniatures at Art Basel Miami Beach 2013 to replicas of an order of fries at VOLTA NY last year, art fairs are drowning in the Golden Arches. When do these pieces stop being critiques of the global brand and start making you crave fried food instead?

If there's one cultural Force that never seems to die, it's Star Wars. We've seen Darth Vader helmets on just about everything, and no art fair seems to be complete without an allusion to light sabers. The same goes for superhero figures. Superman, Spider-man, Wonder Woman—the crowd's all here during Armory Week. While appropriating pop culture references can be done with brilliance, a lot of these cultural icons just make for accessible (and very sellable) pieces.

The money thrown around at art fairs sets up an atmosphere of excess, which may be the reason we see so many cloying works inspired by food. From a sugar nightmare of a rainbow cake at PULSE Miami 2013 to giant boxes of Alpen and bags of Cheetos at Art Basel Miami Beach last year, some of this food art is enough to make you sick.

Can we all agree that art history remixes belong on the Internet? From Beyonce Art History to The Carter Family Portrait Gallery, all the best mash-ups, memes, and Photoshop jobs happen online. Marcel Duchamp cornered the market on the art history remix with his mustachioed Mona Lisa 100 years ago, and it's only been downhill from there.

Freud would have a field day with all the shoe art that pops up at art fairs. There's everything from Haim Steinbach's punk sneakers at Art Basel Miami Beach in December to various high heels symbolizing femininity, sexuality, and danger. We're not sure why so many artists seem to have a foot fetish, but gallery booths shouldn't resemble Foot Locker stores.