After an exceptionally moody and muggy New York City summer, the first whispers of fall spell a welcome reprieve to some, a dreaded reality check to others, and at long last, the bustling and beloved return of fall art fair season. While corn mazes might be a rare site amid the skyscrapers, there will be plenty of labyrinthine booths to wind your way through, both at the good ol’ classics like the tremendous Armory Show, and newer affairs such as the second edition of SPLIT LEVEL.
To help you navigate, we’ve compiled 10 art fairs that cater to an array of interests, including affordable zines, Surrealist women artists of past and present, and Latinx arts publications. Grab your totes, layer up, and prepare to embrace the annual pageantry.
The Armory Show
September 24–27 | thearmoryshow.com
Javits Center, 429 11th Avenue, Hudson Yards, Manhattan
Over 230 galleries, 30 countries represented, six curated sections, and some really, REALLY big sculptures. If these numbers are already making your head spin, you’ll probably need a compass to venture through endless booths across the Javits Center for Armory Week’s namesake anchor event. This year’s Armory Show will channel some much-loved equatorial climate through a shared focus on Caribbean and diasporic art in the Platforms and Focus sections. Between Lisu Vega’s 40-foot textile installation and Sandra Brewster’s enormous photo panels, keep an eye out for solo presentations of Betsabeé Romero, José Bechara, and Katarina Riesing. The Bronx Museum and the Pérez Art Museum Miami are also benefiting from the Armory’s debut prize, allotting five-figure funds for new acquisitions.
Independent 20th Century
September 24–27 | independenthq.com
The Breuer, 945 Madison Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan
Turning five this year, Independent 20th Century transforms the Breuer into a fitting headquarters for offbeat, undersung, and groundbreaking avant-garde art of the 20th century. With 57 invited participants, the fair will showcase work by over 130 artists and collectives, from Wassily Kandinsky, Gerhard Richter, and Elaine de Kooning to late Brazilian geometric abstractionist Ubi Bava, avant-garde feminist artist and illustrator Esphyr Slobodkina, and the pivotal Canadian artists’ collective General Idea. Most galleries will have solo or duo presentations, creating an opportunity for a much closer look at multiple facets of unprecedented artistic innovation that defined the century.
Affordable Art Fair
September 16–20 | affordableartfair.com
Starrett-Lehigh Building, 601 West 26th St, Chelsea, Manhattan
With artworks at Art Basel and Frieze regularly fetching prices only one or two digits shy of a Social Security number, “affordable” may be the last adjective one associates with art fairs. An international array of artists from countries including Australia, Japan, and Nigeria aims to bridge that gap at the Affordable Art Fair, where price tags on original works range from $100 to $12,000. From Nilraya’s embroidered meadows bathed in oranges to Clark Derbes’s sculpture that feels akin to a Rubik’s cube on LSD, there will be plenty to peruse and purchase.
Spring Break Art Show
September 23–28 | springbreakartshow.com
555 West 57th Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
The Spring Break Art Show’s fall 2026 edition seeks all that is encoded, shrouded in mystery, and cloaked in symbolism across over 120 projects. With previous iterations held at old schools, post offices, and former workplaces for cosmetics powerhouses, the forthcoming edition will take place at the former CBS News office in Hell’s Kitchen, where the justice-oriented media platform The Slow Factory will transform former recording studios into a live news installation.
La Feria: Print Media Fair
October 3 | latinxproject.nyu.edu
New York University, 20 Cooper Square, NoHo, Manhattan
Artists Gabriel García Román, Tatiana Arocha, and Nguyen E. Smith will be among over 40 exhibitors at the third edition of the NYU Latinx Project’s La Feria Print Media Fair. True to its collegiate setting, the fair champions affordability in a community-oriented model, where students and visitors alike can take home a piece of culture. Booths at the music-pumping gathering for Latine artists and small presses have previously displayed ceramic tiles, cyanotypes, prints of queer icons, and a range of zines, works on paper, and books.
Split Level Fair
October 1–3 | splitlevelfair.com
102 Madison Ave, NoMad, Manhattan
Hunger-inducing tapestries, otherworldly chandeliers, hand-crocheted cushions, and dozens of other artworks by emerging artists and galleries will be on view for the second edition of Split Level. Departing from the white-cube model of the traditional art show, the fair encourages artists to arrange their pieces as they see fit in the showroom of Italian design company Rimadesio. Exhibitors include Ariel Posh, whose prints spell out the contemporary dating scene, and Andrius Alvarez, whose bronzed Wonder Horse sculpture hangs from a manila rope like an antique piñata.
New York Art Book Fair
September 24–27 | printedmatterartbookfairs.org
MoMA PS1, 22-25 Jackson Ave, Long Island City, Queens
Over 300 exhibitors will share their wares in the 20th anniversary edition of Printed Matter’s New York Art Book Fair, filling MoMA PS1’s rafters with a classroom-like clamor. The term “art book” applies loosely among the selections from independent presses, institutions, self-publishing artists, and antique book dealers, capturing everything from compendiums of rigorous art historical analysis to handcrafted letters and artist postcards.
Salon Zürcher
September 21–27 | galeriezurcher.com
Zürcher Gallery, 33 Bleecker Street, NoHo, Manhattan
At Part 5, we’ve reached the halfway point in the second run of Salon Zürcher’s 100 Women of Spirit + mini-fair, which has highlighted the work of 11 women artists biannually since 2020. This intimate affair offers a much-needed sensory reprieve from the pizzazz-a-palooza of Armory Week through a thoughtful curation that includes Susana Wald’s and Laura Corsiglia’s surrealist sensibilities, Elizabeth Riley’s phygital “mixed realities,” and a posthumous spotlight on late avant-garde poet and artist Nadia Gould.
Clio Art Fair
September 17–20 and 24–27 | clioartfair.com
511 West 25th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
Keeping its recently adopted split-weekend model, Clio upholds its reputation as a beacon for self-representing artists who would rather make and sell art without regard to market trends. Assembled with the ultra-relevant theme of “I Don’t Want to Be Useful” in mind, over 250 artworks by more than 50 independent artists are included in this self-proclaimed “anti-fair.” In addition to the usual perk of direct communication with selling artists, Clio has also organized a performance art program that takes this year’s liberating tone of optimistic nihilism to the next level.
U-Haul Art Fair
September 25–27 | uhaulgallery.com
22nd Street between 10th and 11th Avenues, Chelsea, Manhattan
The unconventional, nomadic fair where galleries and artists show work in the back of U-Haul moving trucks is back for another Manhattan edition. As part of the line-up, artist Sandy Williams IV will debut their performance “Exhaustion IX” with Palo Gallery. The Black Southern artist will stand on West 22nd Street with a guitar and repeat the line “No, I don’t have a gun one” from Nirvana’s “Come As You Are,” a tireless, lifelong declaration that Black Americans must repeat in defense of their mere existence.
