Color burned butterfly: Bryan Graf

Bryan Grol, Butterfly #1 (c-print, edition of 5, 2011)

I fell for the colors burned into these photographs of New Jersey photographer Bryan Graf (represented by the Stockholm gallery Jonas Kleerup at Pulse, whose has a really nicely designed website, by the by). 

I'm using the term "color burned" liberally; as I don't know nearly enough about photography. So that's more a comment about what the photographs look like, rather than how they are made.

Johannes Girardoni: Print in Yellow

Johannes Girardoni's pieces at Tomlinson Kong at Pulse struck me as being incredibly contemporary and well executed. I don't even really go in for this sort of flat, Baldessari-like stuff.

Yet somehow I especially like this print in yellow.

Exposed Icon #4, 2011, c-print with commercial paint mounted on aluminum, 60 x 40"

Exposed Icon 50, Exposed Icon #42, Exposed Icon #42, 2011, c-prints with commercial paints mounted on aluminum

Eve Sussman's Stereoscopes at Pulse

Elevated Train, Eve Sussman 

I was happy to hear that Eve Sussman's stereoscopes did so well at Pulse.

"Creative Capital the generous grant-giving foundation, had surprising success at their upstairs location in the Impulse section — the part of the fair typically reserved for younger galleries with solo booths — even though the organization's main purpose was to preview pieces from their upcoming May benefit auction. They sold ten editions at $500 each (plus an auction ticket) from former grantee Eve Sussman’s stereoscopic “Elevated Train” series."

The stereoscopes actually put two images side-by-side, and when you look through the viewfinder your eye mixes the two scenes to create one 3D image. This is an old practice, as I remember having a wooden stereoscope with some 1840s-era scenes in my house growing up. Here though, Sussman took pictures of a JMZ platform, peering into the train cars as they passed at night and snapping people on the platform.

These images are from Creative Capital's blog, where you can find more of them and also learn more about the making of the work.

Box o' Yarn at Pulse

Chris Duncan, Halsey Mckay Gallery at Pulse

So much yarn and string lately, including at Pulse, and so in lieu of a proper post consider this my summary.

Pulse Favorite: Christopher Russell

Christopher Russel, you had me at the Luis de Jesus booth at Pulse Art Fair.

I love your aesthetic. I love the layering and the subtle colors. I love the richness of the textures and chaos your work approaches. I love the conflation of mediums. I love the active nature of scratching on the photographic prints.

Let's make art-babies.

Matthew Cox's Embroidered X-rays

Of all the uses of thread I saw at the art fairs, and they were myriad and multitudinousness, even more so than last year, Matthew Cox's embroidery on x-ray at Pentimenti Gallery's booth at Pulse struck me as novel and apt.

The Botticelli-esque embroidery fleshes out the lines suggested by the x-rays. The contrast between the x-ray and the embroidery works well, although I wish the pieces could have been backlit to show off the x-rays better.

Then and now: Similarities at Pulse

I felt like I was seeing a lot of the same things that I saw (and liked) last year at Pulse Art Fair this year. Magdalena Mura then, above image from 2010, and now:

Priscila Di Carvahlo then and now:

Seong Chun then and now:

Why the repetition? I'm sure I'm not the most observant or aware art fair-goer. Other industry people must notice even more than I do. Is it a sign the artist is selling so well nothing needs to be changed? The first two artist created different pieces in recognizable styles, but I'm pretty sure the beautifully-crafted paper piece I admired in 2010 is interchangeable for the 2011 piece.

I had the same sense of deja vu for the pieces below, just not the photographic evidence to support it. Did anybody else notice this? 

Xiaoze Xie this year at Pulse:

Marcus Linnenbrick this year at Pulse: 

Art Fair Giveaway: 20x200 Tote and Pulse Passes

20x200 (the original affordable art site) will be at Pulse Art Fair and they'd like you to join them--plus stay well-prepared and refreshed while visiting the booths. 2 lucky people will receive a free day pass to Pulse, plus a tote full of essentials, and fun non-essentials, to prepare you for a great day of art-viewing. And while you're there, stop by the 20x200 (booth b4) and say hi!

I find cupcakes and caffeine help me manage visual overload. Enter to win an Art Fair Survival Kit + day pass to Pulse Art Fair by leaving a comment below that tells me what essential keeps you afloat during Armory arts week. I'll pick the two winners Thursday evening at 9 pm--just be sure to sign in with an email so I can reach you about the prize!


Art Fair Survival kits include:

+ Altoids: Freshen up before saying 'hi' to your favorite artist or chatting up that cute gallery guy/girl.
+ Orabrush: Ditto—you can't make a first impression a second time.

+ illy issimo: Drink up and re-caffeinate on the fly.

+ Popchips: Eat up and refuel whilst gallery hopping.

+ West Elm tape measure & level: Measure up with pocket-size art hanging essentials.

+ West Elm discount card: Stock up from one of our fave frame sources.

+ BAMart Auction Invite: Culture up at one of our fave institutions.

+ Art Fag City + Hyperallergic Event Guides: Read up and be in the know on what's happening.

+ 20x200's Map of the 2011 New York Art Fairs (above): A work of art right in your bag! This year's map is drawn by the inimitable Wendy MacNaughton.

+ 20x200 Magic Fortune Teller: Thrill your friends with amazing feats of art market prognostication!

NYC Art Fairs Open Tomorrow

You can find me here for the next few days, trying to manage the art overload with coffee and cupcakes...

The Armory Show

www.thearmoryshow.com 

Pier 94

Twelfth Ave. at 55th St.

3/3-6 

Pulse

www.pulse-art.com

Metropolitan Pavilion

125 W. 18th St.

3/3-6 

Scope

www.scope-art.com

320 West Street

3/4-7 

Volta

www.voltashow.com

7W

7 W. 34th St.

3/3-6 

Independent

www.independentnewyork.com

Dia Center for the Arts

548 W. 22nd St.

3/3-6

These are my favorite shows (with the exception of the Armory, which is a must but really too much to be an enjoyment). What are your favorites? Anybody want to meet me out for a coffee and show?

Priscila De Carvahlo: 2 NY Shows

New work from an artist  I saw at Praxis's Pulse art fair booth, who left me with a bright, urban impression that her website reinforces with playfulness. I thought to put both the Jamaica Center and the Museum of Contemporary Africa Diaspora Arts on my mental "go see" list, and wanted to share.

Oil Fields, Priscila De Carvahlo

St. John's Day, Priscila De Carvahlo

Magdalena Murua: Can you spot Archie?

Magdalena Murua, Constellation

I can't. The serpentine pattern created here seems inextricably entangled, and the various colors are muted by the white background and the small size of the circles. Done with comic book paper punched into tiny holes, the artist creates compositions with thousands of tiny circles. Murua had a few works up at Pulse art fair in the same vein. At times the comic book source material is more prominent, but here it is subsumed in the form, and I quite like the overall effect.

Size Matters: Liliana Porter at Pulse

Forced Labor: weaver (blue III), 2008

Size matters. This diminutive knitter by Liliana Porter is an exercise in scale speaking volumes. Domesticity is overwhelming.


For more little people, check out a favorite project of mine, Little People- a tiny street art project.

Art Fair Trend: Writing on the Wall

Santiago Sierra, No, 2009

No more! Like a two tone, blown up, gaudy portrait of a celebrity's face is a tired take on Warhol, writing on the wall seemed like a similar convention by the end of the art fairs. I get it; it's convenient to spit out your message, sardonic, mocking or inscrutable as it may be, then let the peons wonder. But I am no longer impressed--the same goes for cars being put in galleries (Gabriel Orozco, whoever you were at Independent, and especially you, overhyped BHQF at the Whintey) and for the raven trope (be they stuffed, cast, molded, silhouettes, or talking.) Maybe it was the art fair atmosphere, but I lost the distinction between signage and art about a day into it.

Peter Liverside, Little By Little

Walter Robinson, Worth, 2010

Tracy Emin, I keep belonging in you

Ivan Capote, Autumn all fall

Steve Lambert, Money Laundered, 2010

Ryan Gander

So I suppose it's clear why Ryan Gander's piece at Armory, of busted up signage, appealed to me, despite myself, just a little bit. On the whole though, it's just become a boring way to convey something. All these photos were taken at Pulse and Armory on the last day of the fairs, when I was thoroughly sick of sayings, aphorisms, declarations etc, but Verge, Independent and Scope had their fair share. Does anyone else notice all the writing on the wall? What did you think of it?

New York Agenda: First Week of March

There is never a bad time to come to New York and look at art. As it happens, my return to New York comes at the same time as the art fairs--what a pleasant coincidence. So many things are happening! This is my personal top 5 drool list;

• Scope and Pulse Art Fairs: Lots of art and people crowded in together in order to completely overwhelm, or something like that. Come highly caffeinated.
• The Armory Show: The prestigious, sprawling, and expensive ($30) forerunner of them all. Tip: start writing an art blog and then ask for a press pass, claiming you are revolutionizing the industry. Maybe someday they will believe you.
  
• Independant: The new art fair that isn't. Called a "hybrid model and temporary exhibition forum," its showing work from some top notch galleries withOUT the lame entry fee. Here here.
• Whitney Biennial: Never been to this historic show and looking forward to seeing the wide mix of artists. Bonus points for being less hectic than the fairs.
• William Kentridge at MoMA: My friend was talking to me about the production Kentridge designed for the Met Opera, the NY Times article on exhibition design touches on it, Art:21 videos remind me of it. The whole world is whispering "go see this show."

Luckily I can! I missed the art scene during this island time. It will be tough to squeeze all this into a week along with more humdrum bits of business. Then I'm off again.