Pictures at an Exposition

April 10, 2026

Art Expo NYC is back this week at Pier 36. The annual show brings together hundreds of artists, galleries and collectors in one place. So, rather than traipsing all over the World to take in this much art, visitors can take the F train to East Broadway this weekend and walk a few blocks to the Pier. Thursday night’s opening was packed with so many art lovers that one often had to wait a few minutes to enter one of the booths. But when you did it was worth it because many of the creators were on hand to discuss their work, inspiration and process with attendees.

Big turnout at Pier 36 for Opening Night (Thursday)

This year visitors are once again treated to a wide range of art. Everything from delicately painted Persian miniatures to very large paintings is on display. Brooklyn based artist Nina Kossman (S105) told the Gazette she only decided to come a few days ago. The multitalented author and poet is also an accomplished painter and sculptor who’s inspired by epic themes and mythic subjects. Her visual art at the expo commands the viewer’s attention. The longer and closer one looks at these paintings the more one discovers within them.

(L) Nina Kossman. (R) “Fall of Troy“; “Mars“

Another gem was a booth filled with Barry E. Jackson‘s (S203) paintings. Fans of The Nightmare Before Christmas, Shrek, and Cool World will instantly recognize the aesthetic. Barry was a major Production Designer in Hollywood before taking a turn a couple of years ago to do his own thing, namely these oil paintings. In fact, a viewer remarked that the paintings reminded her of a Tim Burton movie and her jaw dropped when he told her that’s because he worked on “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” The works displayed here were inspired by the club scene in NYC in the 1980s. They evoke the time here very effectively, conveying the weightlessness of a fleeting dream or a memory, specific yet intangible at the same time. Nowadays it’s noteworthy to state that this art isn’t created using either photography or AI tech. Rather, the scenes Barry depicts are painted solely from memory, however not of specific people in a particular moment in time as a photograph would do. He conveys the dark and edgy club atmosphere of that era so well you can almost feel the music pounding and taste the cigarette smoke hanging in the air.