Last weekend was an art-stravaganza. In addition to the annual Armory Show, there were several satellite art fairs the same weekend. My boss, John Zieman, was featured at the Bridge Art Fair for his video art piece Time Suite.
Now, I am a fierce critic of video art. I feel that most of it is remarkably awful. John's piece, however, was elegant and - dare I say it?? - unpretentious. He projected beautiful, poetic words onto naked bodies and filmed it in higher-than-you-ever-thought-possible definition.
I stopped by on the VIP night and was very impressed with his very own booth and the passers-by stopping to admire his work.
Shannon came with me. We do a good job of being cute together.
Okay SO. The Armory Show this year was better than last year, but as impressive as the year before. The pictures below are greater (and more detailed) when you click on them. I'm only going to show you the pieces I really liked. (okay, and a couple I really, really hated.)
Like these massive, massive jellyfish of thread.
Love the texture on this....
A spinning carousel of faces.
Speaking of carousels, an intricately designed twirling house with bobbing windows, chairs, toilets as you spin it 'round with music, manually.
I LOVED this gorgeous, oddly-placed piece. I couldn't get a full photo of it because it was hung in a corridor near an exit. Rather odd, but beautiful colors and concept.
Ah the texture.
A moving Alice Walker set. This was just one of the many paper-cut designs.
I know everyone has their opinion on what makes "good" art, but can someone PLEASE explain to me why this is in any way relevant???
Anyway, moving on...
"Monster appetites feed in private"
Gorgeous, weird, melty sculpture.
Naturally, I'm drawn to the sparkly.
Speaking of which, I saw this artist represented in, like, 6 galleries. John Armleder. I remembered him from last year and now I officially love him. It's hard to capture it in photo.
There was even a faux apothecary as art.
There were certain things that I am not sure I loved as art per se, but that somehow resonated with me nonetheless.
I wonder what's inside this mystery box? Perhaps Phillip J. Fry will open it.
There were probably 30 of these pieces of paper, all with a slightly different hue on them. As one, it is called "Trying to Remember the Colour of Jackie Kennedy's Pillbox Hat."
Ah, good old-fashioned paintings.
Kissing embroidery.
A tutu, or at least that's what I thought.
Some of my favorite pieces are the ones for which I can't define the draw. Why do I like these so much? A slew of young men in a line, covering each other's eyes, ears, mouths while standing in the ocean.
Or this giant spiral of glass. (probably because it's shiny.)
Okay. One more frustrating thing. I clearly don't know what constitutes decent art, because why, WHY is this art?
And why is this one better? I don't know why, but it somehow is.
This artist I adored. Simple, funny, slightly psychotic.
Your basic Ryan McGinley.
A booth of VHSes. Genius! If only there were a video installation within it.
They were rather vigilant that people not interact.
"Death should be graceful, like a swan dive"
Some good collages were present.
I was surprised that I liked this piece, as from afar I thought it was merely a canvas with a lot of masking tape on it. Upon closer inspection I realized it's a painting. Period. Still surprised I like it.
Collaged BOOKS!
Glowing, racing, trapped gas!
Richard Prince, whose joke-based art I liked at the Guggenheim some months ago.
OH ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce you to my new favorite artist.Mel Bochner.
Then there was this ultra-realistic rendering of a girl gone swimming. You can almost smell the sunscreen.
Cracked landscape.
After emerging from a four-hour tour of art art art, one's focus is altered and you start to see everything as potential art. And art it all is, even waiting for the bus...
So, here are some pretty damn good artists that I liked, and which you should check out:
Saturday was the opposite of its previous incarnation: instead of blustery, icy cold blizzards, we were treated to 60-degree weather and sunshine. Everyone went outside. I was doing laundry that day and looked out to Broadway, saw the multitudes of people wandering in a spring daze, and decided to capitalize on my theory that spring makes people want to spend their money.
So, as I did in October, I dragged all of my paintings out to the corner of Broadway with a sign that said "MAKE ME AN OFFER!" I was excited by the prospect of getting my stuff off my floor and out of my life for someone else to hopefully enjoy.
And I was successful! It's easy to be successful when you're cheap. I sold seven pieces for about $15-$20 each. As follows:
Swallow The Sea:
Collage #Blue (I was so sick of this one that I gave it away for $5):
Mirror:
Okay, correction. I sold six and I traded one with this adorable li'l boy named Jack for a bracelet he'd just gotten at the Museum of Natural History or something.
Hang On, as inspired by Pink Martini song "Hang On, Little Tomato":
Lookat this little cutie!
These darling fashionistas snatched up two of my favorites.
Gorgeous Blonde Tresses:
and Assault:
And there was one that was so new I didn't even get a chance to take a photo of it. In addition, the fellow who bought Mirror later emailed me and asked me to make him a custom piece as well. I made a li'l bit of pocket change (enough to keep fueling my hobby), and got to enjoy the Saturday chatting with passers-by.
Yesterday at the Javits Center was the International Art Expo. I went, still jazzed from my experience at the Museum of Art & Design and also looking forward to next week's Armory Show.
Many of the artists were present, and some were doing their thang right at the expo, like this gentleman.
There were some interesting things, like this noir-ish Italian painter:
But I've got to be honest with you, it was mostly crap. And not in the pretentious way that the Whitney Biennial is crap, more like... things you would see as dècor at a bank kind of crap. For example, one of the artists showing was Thomas Kincade, whom you may know as the "Painter Of Light" from his shops in suburban shopping malls. A lot of landscapes, a lot of still lifes with fruit. I also noticed that the '80s revival of late has reached the art scene, with wayyyyy too many stark, blocky, primary color-laden, flat, geometric abstracts at the show. People kept coming up to me and asking if I was an artist. I can only attribute that to the faux hawk. I told them in my spare time yes, professionally no.
Ummmm... Jane Seymour was there? With paintings of... herself?
But these ladies seemed to enjoy its accompanying table/chair set.
There were a few things I liked. This painting by a Buddhist artist...
This painting so thick it could be a sculpture... reminds me of a vein.
One particular artist's work caught my eye many times - Craig Allen. He had a lot of very different items with different styles, which I find inspiring. For example, this large plexiglass diorama box filled with goose down, with a goose outlined over it (complete with golden egg).
Or this ghostly painting of a dress on another diorama box with filling of fabric, twigs, and nests.
I've seen Obama has inspired artists all over the world, and here was no exception, and neither was Allen. I was staring at this painting when an adorable little 6-year-old girl bounced up, squealed, "Obama!" and proceeded to speak in a foreign language to her father. The only word I recognized, over and over again from this little girl, was "Obama." Kids are so politically aware these days.
Although I didn't particularly dig the paintings surrounding it, I did like this painted mannequin.
And sculpture made out of Korean paper. I think I saw this at last year's Armory? Perhaps not. Seemed familiar.
This mixed media piece was intriguing.
Oh jeez. I saw this piece and just fell in love with it, went over to take a photo of it, and saw its sculptural qualities were due to masterfully manipulated painted paper. Then I read about the artist. She is represented by a company whose clients are child prodigies. She's 16. And a little freaking genius!
Why don't I ever write down names?? I don't know. There was also a little boy with her, I think about 11, who was painting right there in front of everyone. There was one other child prodigy elsewhere in the show, who I think was an even more insightful artist, but she was just sitting there by herself, coloring. Nobody was even watching her. It was kind of sad.
Anyway, back to the land of adults - there was this interesting section involving paint and well-placed string.
But this painting was probably my favorite.
In all it was a fairly interesting day. All of the above artists excluded, the show was far less edgy or daring or provacative than... well, any art exhibit or expo I've been to, but it got me out of the house. On one hand, it made me feel better about myself as a sort-of artist, because, although I don't really consider myself a serious artist, if these people can sell their stuff, I sure as hell should be able to get rid of some of my things on the street for $5 a pop. Then again, I didn't come in from New Jersey to buy a $9,000 painting of sunflowers.
But it was fun to get to meet some of the artists and talk to them. I spoke for awhile with one sculptor from Paris, Fernando Costa, who was showing lovely compositions made of French street signs welded together. He was definitely among the best artists there, but I was too busy talking to him to get any photos of his work. He was really excited to have just discovered the Lower East Side.
I'm certainly looking forward to next week, when I can trek all the way over to 12th Avenue, then walk around for 5 hours looking at art. The inspiration continues....
The original was not red, it was mylar, but as I listened to a Gershwin record and its blessed dust noise this afternoon, my eyes strayed to the about-to-snow New York outside and found this little gem:
