ATLANTA — Pullman Yards, positioned about 4 miles from downtown Atlanta, is a free assemblage of former industrial buildings, anchored by an enormous brick, glass, and metal construction with worn concrete flooring the place practice vehicles from the railroad firm have been as soon as repaired. Deserted for a time, the cavernous website was a favourite location of native graffiti artists. Now redeveloped as an occasion venue and cultural vacation spot, the constructing is house to the Atlanta Artwork Truthful, whose various vary of labor on show and welcoming, unpretentious crowd units it other than different exhibits.
Not like gala’s began by sellers, similar to Artwork Basel and the Armory Present, or by artists, similar to Spring Break or Clio, the Atlanta Artwork Truthful was launched simply final yr by Artwork Market Productions (AMP), an offshoot of the experiential advertising company a21. (AMP additionally runs Artwork on Paper together with the Seattle and San Francisco Artwork Festivals.) For an organization targeted on mounting expositions outdoors typical artwork markets, in cities with under-appreciated cultural legacies and excessive concentrations of wealth, Atlanta just isn’t a stunning selection given its density of Fortune 500 firms and increasing tech and healthcare sectors. But, town additionally has probably the most pronounced earnings inequality in the US, a disparity that falls closely alongside racial strains in a metropolitan space that was lengthy house to a Black majority. Atlanta is a part of a area that’s “sometimes fetishized, always marginal,” stated Sarah Higgins, govt and inventive director of the native publication Artwork Papers, which is winding down operations in 2026, in a chat the identical weekend because the truthful.
Set up view of works by Kelly Boehmer at Cindy Lisica Gallery’s sales space (photograph Alexis Clements/Hyperallergic)
These contradictions make it unimaginable to generalize in regards to the totally different expectations and realities that fairgoers delivered to the occasion. The work on show was unpredictable, inviting attendees to pay shut consideration as they moved by the house — from J. Ruel Martin’s wood-turned work, which one could be extra used to seeing in a craft-focused setting, to items by large names like Keith Haring or Mickalene Thomas, shows by smaller galleries that don’t sometimes take part in artwork gala’s, an exhibition by college students on the Savannah School of Artwork and Design (which has an Atlanta campus), and an total emphasis on regional artists and artists of shade.
Notably, many cubicles listed costs subsequent to works, which isn’t in any respect typical for gala’s, the place gatekeeping could make it troublesome for attendees to entry that the majority fundamental piece of knowledge. (And lots of of these costs have been extraordinarily accessible, within the $100–1,000 vary.) Open Editions, a San Francisco-based venture that works with artists to create merchandise based mostly on their follow, had a shiny nook sales space the place attendees might stroll away with tote baggage, playing cards, and pins for as little as $10 or $20.
Open Editions bought tote baggage, pins, and extra based mostly on artists’ work. (photograph Alexis Clements/Hyperallergic)
Inquisitive about what drew folks to the Atlanta Artwork Truthful, I spoke to Jonathan Carver Moore, whose namesake gallery in San Francisco represents BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and girls artists. “When I go to New York, to Los Angeles, to Miami — these are all cities where we expect to see art fairs,” he stated. “But I think there’s an entire audience, a collector base, and a culture we’re sometimes missing.” Like a number of others, together with Rachel Lee, who runs 120 Artwork Lab in Seoul, Moore didn’t take part within the truthful’s first version, however he has accomplished different AMP exhibits up to now.
Amongst regional gallerists, I heard time and again that they have been trying ahead to connecting with others from the Southeast. Hunt Pennington and Joshua Edward Bennett from Nashville’s Tinney Up to date gallery, which was taking part in an artwork truthful for the very first time, stated the flexibility to easily lease a U-Haul and drive the work to Atlanta made an enormous distinction of their option to attend. Additionally from Tennessee, Lauren Kennedy of Sheet Cake Gallery, who repeatedly does gala’s together with the Armory Present and NADA, talked about feeling extra comfy in Atlanta, and extra intentional. “Doing this work outside of New York and LA is incredibly important,” she stated.
Tinnery Up to date offered works by Lovie Olivia, together with “Recess” (2023), Gypsum plaster, pigment, dye, venetian plaster, latex, acrylic on gypsum board (picture courtesy the artist and Tinnery Up to date)
Icart-Pierre, works from the Boxed In sequence (2025), acrylic paint on cardboard and Nike/Jordan containers, on the sales space of Atlanta-based Gallery 305 (photograph Alexis Clements/Hyperallergic)
For native artists, the present represented one thing totally different. Jean Patrick Icart-Pierre, who offered 4 works from his Boxed In (2025) sequence in a sales space for the nascent Atlanta-based artist-run Gallery 305, lamented the dearth of artist-run or nonprofit areas within the metropolis. Laila Jhané, who was sharing “City in a Forest” (2025), an set up created with Chanell Angeli and commissioned by the Fulton County Arts & Tradition’s Public Artwork Futures Lab, talked about how excited she was to be exhibiting for the primary time alongside internationally identified artists. Notably, this yr’s truthful additionally noticed the launch of the Balentine Prize, which focuses on artists working in Atlanta or the regional South, offering a bit extra recognition for taking part space artists.
Finally, the Atlanta Artwork Truthful provided a refreshingly approachable environment. It does, nevertheless, undergo from the perennial problem of most such occasions: a really excessive entry value, with day passes costing near $50 as soon as all taxes and costs are added. It stays to be seen whether or not its welcoming atmosphere might be maintained into the longer term — on the finish of the day, a good is a market, and gross sales are key to its survival.
The truthful’s inaugural Balentine Prize focuses on artists working in Atlanta or the regional South. (photograph by Atlanta Occasion Pictures, courtesy Balentine)
