"Despite its relatively modest profile, as an art experience I think That ’70s Show will stick around in my head longer than Frieze. Maybe there’s just a certain organic fit between the concept, the art on view, and the venue—all are kind of scrappy and off-the-beaten-path and so worth championing."

Get Out Your Checkbook, It's Frieze Week-Month in Manhattan

Another pleasant surprise was a very serious fair with an extremely silly name: That ’70s Show. No, it has nothing to do with the Topher Grace–Ashton Kutcher sitcom; it’s just a cool micro-fair where local galleries brought a few works and installed them in Eric Firestone’s two loft-through spaces at 4 Great Jones Street. All the works in the show were made in the 1970s, many of them by artists who lived in the neighborhood, in SoHo and NoHo, in semi-legal apartments.

That 70s Show, a 20-dealer takeover of Eric Firestone Gallery’s loft space at 4 Great Jones Street in New York, spotlights artists who were active during the titular decade, a period of enormous growth and experimentation across genres and media. The thematic fair (until 21 May) was inspired by a lecture given by the critic Jerry Saltz about the importance of keeping the legacies of older artists prominent in the cultural consciousness, after which dealer Eric Firestone resolved to “disrupt the usual fair week”, gathering a large variety of works from a pivotal moment in the New York art scene. Galleries participating in the project include PPOW, Karma, Kasmin, Ortuzar Projects, Craig Starr Gallery and Gordon Robichaux, among others.

Tucked into the third and fourth floors of an old building on Lower Manhattan’s Great Jones Street, an expansive gallery exhibition is paying homage to the 1970s. Running through Sunday, May 21, That ’70s Show is a refreshingly free alternative to this weekend’s astronomically priced art fairs. It includes presentations by 21 galleries, all featuring work from the decade of the shag carpet. The two upper-level loft spaces are part of Eric Firestone Gallery, which has its primary storefront a few blocks away on the same street. All three spaces are in Soho, the bohemian hub of 1970s New York.

In a project organized by the dealer Eric Firestone, 21 galleries will exhibit works by artists who were active in the 1970s. Calling itself an “alternative” to the fairs of Frieze, the show—on display in his walk-up NoHo loft—pays tribute to galleries invested in scholarship and the re-examination of artists from that decade. Entrance is free. May 18–21 at 4 Great Jones Street, Manhattan; 70sshownyc.com.

There’s an outsized emphasis on newness during Frieze week. But this week, 21 dealers will ignore the new and instead look 50 years back in time. This is the precept behind That‘70s Show, a joint presentation of work from the 1970s by 21 New York galleries, including Bortolami, Karma, Kasmin, Lyles & King, and Ortuzar Projects. From May 18–21, they will set up shop across two lofted floors at Eric Firestone Gallery on Great Jones Street, a raw, light-filled space that itself feels like the downtown art world of yesteryear.

Twenty-one New York galleries are presenting an alternative to Frieze in the form of a throwback exhibition well worth the 20-minute trip from the mega-fair. Anton Kern, Bortolami, PPOW, R & Company, Venus Over Manhattan, and Kasmin are just a handful of those contributing ‘70s-era works to the group showing, which its organizer, Eric Firestone, is hosting at his loft space on Great Jones Street. You’d think they’d want to make the most of all that organizational effort, but this ‘70s show won’t be back for reruns. It’s on view from May 18 through 21, then it’s gone.

With two weeks worth of art fairs in New York, from Independent to Frieze, the city is about to add one more, a new initiative called That ’70s Show. Organized by dealer Eric Firestone during the past month, 20 dealers will take over Firestone’s loft space on 4 Great Jones Street to show works from artists who were active in the 1970s. Spread across two floors, the galleries lined up to participate include P.P.O.W., Karma, Kasmin, Ortuzar Projects, Craig Starr Gallery, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, Anton Kern Gallery, and Gordon Robichaux.