Wen Liu’s ‘Inarticulate Trace No. 2’ (2024). Dinner Gallery
In three dimensions, Wen Liu’s wall sculptures, exhibited by Dinner Gallery, explore traditional Chinese medicine, with some of its natural remedies embedded in resin that punctuates modeled clay. That material’s shapes suggest ornate frames and anatomical models, a nod to both the artist’s heritage and her health struggles. And Mariana Varela’s dioramas at Casa Zirio’s booth are both enchanting and heavy, telling the story of Colombia’s often troubled history but never being depressed by it. In the most grabbing example, clay hippos laze in a river as a boat drifts by in the background—a reference to the animals kept by Pablo Escobar that escaped after his death and have since thrived and multiplied, now often being spotted around the Magdalena River. Though the fairs as a whole may have been disappointing this year, works like these show that, like tracking an exotic creature through the jungle, the effort of the hunt is well worth it.