Fountain Art Fair was founded in 2006 by David Kesting, John Leo, and Lincoln Capla as an attempt to leverage support for smaller independent galleries, collectives and artists who wished to gain access to a larger audience of collectors and critics. From its roots deep within the independent Williamsburg, Brooklyn art scene, Fountain has grown to represent over 60 international avant garde galleries and projects, showcasing progressive primary-market works in New York, Miami, Chicago and Los Angeles.
Fountain Art Fair has received critical acclaim for its uniquely alternative art fair model and genuine dedication to the artists and galleries who share in its vision and ideology. Celebrated as the first of a new influential generation of alternative fairs, Fountain is reinterpreting the concept of the art fair experience and paving a new path for the future of contemporary art.
When Marcel Duchamp arrived in New York for the first time to exhibit his work at the original 1913 Armory Show at the 69th Regiment Armory, he left a lasting legacy that challenged people’s preconceived notions of what art can be. One hundred years later, Fountain Art Fair is challenging people’s preconceived notions of what an art fair can be. Based primarily in Miami and New York City, Fountain bridges the gap between art and contemporaries delivered to America all those years ago.
Like Duchamp, and his famous ready made Fountain, Fountain Art Fair is the foundation upon which a whole generation of working artists and galleries are able to engage the global art market on their own terms. As a family, Fountain comes together to define an accessible alternative vision for the future of contemporary art.