After attending the first edition of the Brooklyn Fine Art Print Fair (BFAPF) at Powerhouse Arts last year, I was keen to observe the development of this emerging event firsthand. Tackling New York’s spring art fair season once more, BFAPF is underpinned by an international community driven by enthusiasm, collaboration, and an unwavering desire to innovate.
Running through Sunday, April 12, the second edition of BFAPF has grown to feature over 60 exhibitors from local, national, and international backgrounds. These include independent print shops, leading publishers, academic printmaking departments and clubs, self-represented artists, and well-established galleries. The fair showcased a blend of returning and new exhibitors, with a curatorial emphasis on both current and classic works, alongside experimental mixed-media practices that push the boundaries of printmaking, making the event feel both novel and familiar.
Drawn to a striking display at the Shoestring Press booth, I discovered the work of TUG Collective, led by Gaelyn and Gustavo Aguilar. Their piece, “Shape Shift” (2026), was realized through the efforts of Shoestring Press’s Allison Carter-BeaulĂ© and framed by Griffin Editions. This layered screenprint on plexiglass is illuminated by LED light.
The collective shared that the piece, part of a new series titled Don’t Forgive My Hands, draws inspiration from poet Yusef Komunyakaa’s Warhorses (2008), which explores the human tendency to turn objects into instruments of violence.
Originally depicting armored men on horseback, the source image has been altered to remove the horses, leaving only the appendages of the men, highlighting them as tools of power and technological advancement in warfare.
Comprising eight layers of plexiglass, the work embodies the Seventh Generation principle, a Haudenosaunee concept that encourages considering the impact of decisions on the next seven generations. “That eighth layer is what’s left up to us as individuals engaging with this piece,” Gaelyn explained. “This is a piece that is dealing with history. What is the responsibility that we as individuals are going to take to make sure that this history is not erased? What are the choices we are going to make to prevent the perpetuation of violence?”
Maryland sculptor June Linowitz’s molded abaca paper artworks depicting extinct and endangered species were equally impactful. Displayed at the Reading Road Studio booth in Silver Spring, Maryland, Linowitz’s sculptures, described as evoking “trophy rugs or roadkill,” respond to global biodiversity loss.
Helen Frederick, artist and curator of Reading Road since 2016, shared that this was the studio’s first appearance at the fair. Noting the event’s highly selective nature, Frederick presented a diverse range of mixed-media prints and paper artworks, broadening the perception of the medium’s potential, including Randi Reiss-McCormack’s paper pulp paintings with needlepoint embellishments.
This year’s BFAPF highlights book art and the science of paper, a focus I found refreshing, as paper often plays a secondary role in many fairs, including Art on Paper.
A standout was The Papermaker’s Suite (2026), a collaboration between master printer Ruth Lingen and Reginald Dwayne Betts, a 2021 MacArthur Fellow and lawyer dedicated to prison reform. At the shared booth of Lingen’s Line Press Limited and Brooklyn Inc., Lingen displayed sheets made from materials sourced from Betts’s incarcerated friends. Betts’s poetry is set to be printed on these pages, connecting them to his experiences in the prison system.
Nearby, Iranian-American artist Golnar Adili presented “A Thousand Pages of Chest in a Thousand Mirrors” (2024), a work that functions both as a book and a diptych. Adili carved out the valley between prints of her breasts, assembling the excised paper into a shape reminiscent of Tehran’s Azadi Tower. When the book is closed, the cut-out pieces fit back into the images, restoring the chest’s completeness.
Having moved beyond the cautious beginnings of its first year, the BFAPF has firmly established itself as a venue showcasing the dynamic history and current state of printmaking. The Brooklyn Inc. booth prominently featured works focusing on Palestinian liberation, Venezuelan pride amidst foreign intervention, and protest art against ICE.
While I appreciated the added structure of walls for independent sellers’ displays this year, I missed the integration with academic departments seen in the inaugural edition. The sense of equal importance among all participants contributed to the event’s unique atmosphere.
The growing number of returning exhibitors is encouraging, reflecting the fair’s success. At the Viadukt Screen Prints booth from Austria, I asked Michael Wegerer about his experience this year.
“There’s a reason we came back,” he remarked.
