Observations from the Coffee Shop 3.11

I haven’t posted anything for a couple days because I have been busy getting caught up after last week and getting the gallery back to normal for the coming weekend. But also because I have been thinking about where I want to go with this blog. I totally enjoyed writing about Armory Week and about the art so I think I'll be doing a lot more of that in one way or another. I also had a suggestion that I use more photos with my posts so I may try to do that too. Other than those changes I suppose it's just going to be more of the same ranting for now because I enjoying ranting and you should do what you do best.

But I did have a few other theories on new directions to take like sports, sex, horoscopes, or maybe just a combination of all three. I could read the stars and predict this weekend’s game results while I answer questions. Sort of Dan Savage meets Chris Berman. That's an idea I have to ponder longer but one problem I already foresee is the stars say Philly teams are going to win everything. Now that won’t go over big with any New York fans I happen to know.

Just to get back into it I’m going to throw in one micro-rant here. Something I could go on about but Stephen Colbert said it much better on Twitter last night. "@StephenAtHome: Scott Walker took down the unions! Wisconsin's budget problem is fixed! Now on to the part of the deficit caused by gay marriage."

Stay tuned ....

The Boxer Rebellion - Flashing Red Light Means Go

Observations from the Coffee Shop 3.8

I suppose it is finally time to wrap up my writing on Armory Week and get back to the real world. Maybe it would be better to say my world which doesn't seem all that real sometimes. It's a little sad because I enjoyed the week and enjoyed writing about it so don't be surprised if you see me doing a lot more art writing.

Here are some final thoughts ....

In a week filled with art a few things did leave a lasting impression. Among the best was a set of seven, out of 23 known, brightly colored plaster busts from the series "Heads" by the late David Wojnarowicz. A collector had spent years putting the seven together and the complete set sold for $300,000. For me another real treat to see was a Robert Mapplethorpe dye transfer print the name of which escapes me. Dye transfer itself is a dying photo printing technique due to the fact that Kodak no longer makes the chemicals needed to do it.

Something that made a very negative impression was Ivan Navarro's glowing neon-lit fence titled "The Armory Fence." So many people said so many good things about it but I just didn't like it at all. Maybe it would have worked for me at a Las Vegas Art Fair along with the velvet Elvis paintings but it just didn't work for me here. The fence totaled 82 feet around an open floor and was priced at $40,000 per seven foot section but I have no idea if any of them sold. You might look for it at a trailer park near you.

A question I heard often was whether New York, a city filled with galleries and museums, really needs a major art fair at all. The best answer I found to the question was this; "New York is a city without parallel in this world, and we want to support it, and keep in contact with curators here," said Tim Marlow, director of London gallery White Cube. I'm no expert on these things but I personally think New York without a major Art Fair would be like San Francisco without a major Gay Pride event. It just shouldn’t be allowed to happen if we expect the world to keep spinning in the proper direction.

In the end Armory Week may be the closest I'll ever come to a Penn State football weekend in New York City. Except it only happens once a year, it lasts a week, there probably isn't as much to eat or drink, and the attire of choice is a bit darker in New York.

Metric - Black Sheep

In Memory Of ....

I didn't know Sabrinaa Nightfire but I did know the name well. I saw her in SL one time years ago at one art opening or another where I noticed a 'cousin' of mine flitting around putting finishing touches on her work. Sadly I know more about her now than I did before her passing. Because of my mom I always feel a little sad when I hear that somebody has succumbed to cancer. Still I wouldn't be writing this except that she seems to have touched so many lives in her SL family and touched them in a good way. In the end I suppose that is all any artist can ask for, to be remembered in a good way.

A friend of mine sent me a a blog post by Rowan Derryth that contains a description that I'm borrowing here without permission, I hope she doesn't mind. It tells me all I need to know about Sabrinaa Nightfire.

".... Only one work here speaks of her struggle: Stage 4, a simple platform with phrases that vocalize her thoughts of anger at having stage four cancer. The one that hit me the hardest was “I have a lot more art to make.” A pose ball with the text “I am SO Angry!” allows one to have a virtual tantrum – something that some might find theraputic today."

Another thing about artists is that they are never finished with their work.

Observations from the Coffee Shop 3.7

There is one thing I have yet to get used to about New York. I met the VQ for lunch today and ordered a Philly cheesesteak because I was totally famished. Where the hell is the sauce? I still forget I have to ask for sauce here. Damn Yankee fans.

When you first arrive at the Armory Show you are greeted by an industrial size elevator that takes you to the main floor. What is fun is taking a quick look at who joins you for that ride and if your lucky enough you will get a microcosm of the art world itself. My first group was mainly female but still a varied group. Among them a younger girl in camo fatigues and headphones, an older woman in fur talking on her cell phone, two Eastern European model types dressed in black and knee high boots, and a middle aged man who looked like my dad if my dad had been a physics professor with a penchant for Hawaiian print polo shirts and silk scarves.

What had to be my fav line of the whole week was this. I was eating dinner one night with a group of friends when a friend of Ash came to the table to say hello. One guy was sitting at the table with us and Ash's friend leaned over and said to him “I’m sorry but I have to say this but I hate men! Not you though, I don’t even know you."

Something I try to never do is the Euro cheek kiss greeting but I totally had major problems with that this week. To many Euros around to start with plus in the shows you can't see far enough ahead to get yourself ready before somebody sees you and boom heyas kiss kiss. But my height still comes in handy in these situations because not many people carry a stool around with them.

I know Armory Week is now passed and it's time to move on to other things including a piece I want to write on Contemporary Art. But I don't think this is my last Armory Week post because I just have so much I still need to get out of my head.

Kings Of Leon - Pyro

Armory Week Randomness 3.6

In the end I may remember the people more than anything else from this week. Deep down I really am just an observer because what I like to do is sit back and take everything in. Still the excitement of the last few days has been just contagious at times and next week could be a big let down after the constant buzz of this one. I've been so intrigued all week by everybody at the shows, at the gallery, and just talking to friends about art.

My brain has just been on sensory overload for days now and for the last few I have been trying to come up with a way to describe it better and have yet to find it. Maybe because it is the first time I experienced anything quite like this. I have been to other shows, galleries, museums, and exhibitions but this is something so totally different and I can't find the right words for it. I might keep trying but I honestly don't know if it's possible.

The always amazing VQ doesn't seemed to have slept more than a couple hours a night since the fairs began and yet she was still all perky at breakfast today. Actually she was probably all perky before breakfast, that would be before she woke me up with a cell call asking what I wanted for breakfast. While I have been into the people she has been into the art and texting me a constant stream of opinions on one gallery's works or another. It's been fun to watch her because more than anything else she reminds me of seeing my sister in a Toys"R"Us at Christmas time.

Finally, between the owners and the connoisseur I haveve worked on my French more than I have in some time. I even came up with a favorite line I used more than once during one conversation or another. "Pourriez-vous me faire parvenir un billet s'il vous plaît?"

I haven't gotten a positive response yet.

Observations from the Window 3.4.1

So many things on my mind that I want to write about but I'm so totally wiped that they will just have to wait. It seems I might be writing about the things Armory Week has me thinking about long after the fair itself is passed. It's been a long time since I thought about what art actually is but questions a friend has been asking about the fair have me doing just that. My earlier post about Modern Art is one result of that and I think there are going to be more once I get through this busy weekend.

I know I was here last year during Armory Week but I didn't go and it didn’t make much of an impression on me. I guess partly because I was still torn about whether I was even going to stay in the Village at all or go back to the mountains. I'm much deeper into the art world up here now, and also Ash's business side of art, so in ways the whole week has been eye opening. I could write a post on just the forum on Art Funds that Ash went to today but maybe I should just quit thinking, get some sleep, and enjoy the last couple days. Maybe I will.

But first there is one thing I want to mention. I was up early this morning to go to breakfast with the VQs and than get to the gallery by nine or so. While I was eating I got a chance to see the Times review in honest to god print and it just made me smile. What made me smile more was when I got to the gallery and the florist arrived, than the next one, and than the next. Seems it’s the thing they do when you get yourself in “ArtsBeat,” the New York Times arts blog, but it was totally unexpected on my part and I was just smiling all day.

So thank you to anybody out there who is reading this and happened to send flowers. That has to be the high point of the week for me and at the moment I don't see how anything can top it. But there are still two days left so I'll just have to wait and see what happens next.

But for now my bed is crying for me ....

Observations from the Window 3.4

It’s early, I’m tired, and I have to go to breakfast but I wanted to pass something on. We all had a big surprise at the gallery yesterday, a big effing fun surprise. Seems we found ourselves right there in the New York Times. We didn’t have any idea it was going to happen so it was just one of those fun moments and everybody was so excited.

“If you don’t have a booth at one of this week’s big fairs, the thinking goes, you’re invisible — especially if you’re a smaller gallery that’s slightly off the beaten track. The solution? Become a fair yourself. That’s what Zürcher Studio has done, carving its space into six booths and inviting in like-minded downtown and Brooklyn dealers ….”

Read the full review
(A version of this review appeared in print on March 4, 2011, on page C25 of the New York edition.)

Yup one of those moments and now I think I need coffee. Bad ....

Armory Week Randomness 3.3

Today I spent most of the afternoon at the Armory Show and I have one overall observation. It's big, real big, be sure to grab a map or you'll get lost kind of big. I have been to big art shows before but never anything like these two cavernous piers filled with a maze of hundreds of booths and stands. At times the Contemporary section seemed a bit overcrowded, maybe they should cut back on the number of galleries allowed, but the Modern section was less crowded and the spaces seemed much larger.

Something that I noticed right away the number of iPads all the galleries seemed to be using instead of, or along side, catalogs with most booths having more than one. I was told it's the wave of the future but I don't see one in my future at all.

One thing you can not miss seeing, even if you wanted to, is a huge neon glowing fence by Chilean sculptor Ivan Navarro. It radiates bright blueish light in every direction and some neighboring dealers weren't to happy about it. I guess you need to get attention anyway possible at one of these things and after all it was a relative bargain at $40,000 per 7 foot section. Still it just reminded me of some kind of trailer trash yard decoration.

As with anything there was some good, bad, and some pretty effing ugly to be see at the Armory Show. I have to say most of what i consider bad was in the Contemporary section. Taste wise I just tend to shy away from what I consider Post-Modern art, but that is for another post when I get to it.

Observations from Armory Week 3.3

Today the big Armory Show/Fair itself opens to the public on the two 12th street docks, divided between the modern show and the contemporary show. So what actually is the difference between Modern and Contemporary art?

The Modern Art era is said to have begun during the American Civil War period, the 1860s, even more precisely in 1863 with the work of Manet. Modern art is characterized by the attempt to capture the essence of a subject rather than the resemblance of it. For just this reason it moved more and more towards abstract as time went by.

The major painters of the early modern period include Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, and Claude Monet, or the Impressionists and Post-impressionists. The early 20th century was dominated by the rivalry between the Cubism of Pablo Picasso and the Fauvism of Henri Matisse. The interwar period saw the rise of Salvador Dali, Marc Chagall, and the Bauhaus of Wassily Kandinsky.

Finally the post war years saw the birth of Abstract Expressionism which the first American movement to dominate art worldwide. For the first time New York City, and not Paris, was the center of the art world. Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, James Brooks, and many others define this period.

My personal opinion is that the Modern Art period began to end with the death of Jackson Pollock who pioneered the 'drip painting' method in which he laid a canvas on the floor and threw paint on it. But technically the period was extended into the 1960s and even the 70s by the rise of Lyrical Abstraction which was a movement once again dominated by Europeans as the United States struggled with the Vietnam War and it's aftermath.

Either way the era had ended before I ever set eyes on my first brush.

The idea here was to explain the difference between the Modern and Contemporary eras but I seem to have gotten a little carried away so I think I'll make two posts out of this. Hope this was easy enough to understand.

*I tried not to turn this into a masters thesis but keep in mind there at least a dozen major movements in the Modern era and each can be broken down into three or four sub-movements.

Armory Week Randomness 3.2

I hope you don't know why I am writing this but let me just say I will never ever completely trust spell check again, that's all I'm going to say on the subject.

The Armory Show is named for a 1913 exhibition that took place at the 69th Regiment Armory and for the first time showed European Modern art in America. The current fair was started in 1994 in a Gramercy Park hotel and now occupies over 200,000 square feet on piers 92 and 94. Try not to confuse that with The Art Show which starts today at the Park Avenue Armory.

I have never in my life seen so many black leather jackets in one place and no that statement doesn't include my closet. Anyway yesterday I said an art fair was part convention and part art show. Now it seems I need to add a biker rally to that, like an artistic Sturgis without the bikes. Now that's a thought though, we need bikes.

I was on my way up to Armory when I ran into a new Manhattan trend that I'm not at all thrilled about. On my way I stopped in a random coffee shop for a quick lunch and cup of coffee. I sat down with my coffee, opened up my net book, and promptly had another patron point out a sign that said no electronic devices allowed. I blurted out something on the order of "you've got to be freakin kidding me," gulped down my coffee, and bought a pretzel outside. I have no idea how they expect to compete with Starbucks and its free wifi.

Phantogram - When I'm Small

17:45 update - Everything I heard today said that sales were brisk last night at the VIP opening. Highest price tag I saw today was $2.2 million for a work by the late German painter Martin Kippenberger. The only other major highlight was seeing Sotheby's Vice President Lisa Dennison. Rumor had it Courtney Love was there too but I didn't see her or I would have offered her a bite of my pretzel.

Observations from Armory Week 3.1

A few days ago I was asked what and art fair actually was. An art fair is an event unlike any other museum exhibition or gallery show. It’s really a hard thing to describe because it is part art show, in that everything is for sale, and part a convention of some sort. The major fairs are in Switzerland (Art Basil being the original), Madrid, Cologne, Hong Kong, Shanghai, London, Miami, and New York.

The show side of a fair generally starts the day or night before the public opening with the VIP preview for mostly invited guests that include major galleries and collectors. The public is allowed in the next day for a fee, so basically you are paying for the right to buy something but only if you can afford it and only if the VIPs didn’t snap it up before you. This also means the fair organizer is making money off both the public and the gallery owners. A minimum booth at the Armory Fair costs $40,000 and a one day general admission ticket costs $30. The prevailing opinion is that it has to be a buyers market because there is so much art around but I have already seen things priced in the hundreds of thousands of dollars so I don't know how true that could be.

For the past few years it’s been hard for galleries, especially new galleries, to make any money at fairs so now they tend to use the events as a chance to build relationships with other galleries and artists. Yet, as I said, booths are expensive so most everything is for sale however there is no law that says an owner has to sell it to you and some dealers are always looking to place their works with well known collectors. For an emerging artist trying to establish a career it's just to be seen at the fairs. Than again there are many artists like myself who have almost a private relationship with their work and feel strange seeing it viewed in public. I'm far from being the only artist who could best be described as an enigma.

With dealers, galleries, curators and collectors all attending it's a convention with a very artistic side. The social aspect of a major art fair can turn the city into one big block part with shows, parties, dinners, and special events crowding the calendar. A place to see and be seen, to network, to meet that gallery owner or artist or curator, find funding for a project, or maybe finally land that solo show.

Among the things I personally want to see is a forum with Gary Tinterow the curator of the recent Picasso exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It seems to be sold out but I’m still working on that, I’ll get myself in there one way or another.

Observations from Armory Week 2.28

This week is Armory Week in New York, or call it Art Week, much more important than the recently ended Fashion Week. Wednesday through Sunday is the big Armory Show on the 12th Avenue piers and, due to a miracle of scheduling, Tuesday through Sunday is the ADAA Art Show at the Park Avenue Armory.

The Armory Show includes over 270 dealers from around the globe spread over two piers. Pier 92 will host the modern art section of 76 dealers and pier 94 the contemporary section of 194 dealers, all together over 80 galleries and 23 countries are represented. To put it all in perspective a 50 square foot stand at the Armory show cost $40,000. On top of that are the 70 American dealers and galleries at the ADAA show. The record number of dealers at the Armory Show is blamed on a suddenly rebounding art market. Less than a year ago the market was bottoming out and many of the usual exhibitors gave up there spots to newcomers only to have the market rebound dramatically at Art Basil in December.

Almost a dozen other shows are taking place this week including the first ever at the gallery I supposedly work at. It will be a comparatively tiny show with only six galleries including our own and the floor space divided into six booths with a walkway down the middle (l). The owners arrived yesterday for tonight's opening and hopefully a nice dinner afterward.

I can't help but finishing this with a quote from the official ADAA press release. I think a friend of mine will get a kick out of it. "Aligning with newer fairs, such as The Armory Show and other concurrent expositions during the first week of March, The Art Show will celebrate New York’s iconic status as the center of the cultural world."

It must be true if they said so.

Observations from the Window 2.28, Oscars

Let me start by saying this, the Academy Award coverage started on E! at 2PM Eastern Time. What the hell were they thinking? Seriously people, this isn’t the Super Bowl after all. How much can you talk about dresses?

Any other year I watch the Academy Awards to see who won and check out who is wearing what cool awesome slinky dress. In that way I guess it is like the Super Bowl which I tend to watch for the commercials when the Eagles aren’t in it, and yes that means pretty much every year. This year I only saw two of the best picture nominees, "The Social Network" and just last night I watched "Inception," so I really wasn't watching tonight because I knew the films.

No this year I had my own ulterior motive for watching. I watched to see co-host Anne Hathaway, star of film and also star of some wonderful fantasies of mine. I wont bore you with the details of those fantasies but after seeing her in a tux tonight I might be coming up with some new ones; the tux followed by the red dress , followed by the blue dress, followed by the sheer lace high collar dress. Damn, that girl is just hot and I want to take her home and raise a family of little dark haired kids. For the record I never said that last part and I'll deny any of it.

Oscar randomness. So honestly, does Randy Newman get nominated for a song every year or does it just seem that way? And speaking of singing, Gwyneth Paltrow please don't quit your day job any time soon. OK I opened my mouth and Newman wins his third Oscar, I'll just keep it shut from now on so I don't effect any more outcomes. it seems the Eagles can't win a Super Bowl but damn if Jeff Lurie didn't win an Oscar for "Inside Job." So take that Donavan McNabb, Philly wins one way or another. And yes, Scarlett Johansson, that’s all I’m going to say.

Final thought, some years there are terrible movies nominated for the best picture and the winner is that one good one that you know is a lock. Tonight all the films were totally awesome and still the winner was a lock. I honestly didn’t see and didn't hear one bad thing about “The King’s Speech” so I cant complain but still I was hoping for a surprise.

Now it’s time for my fantasies.

Hesta Prynn - Turn it Gold

update - I wrote this last night than just before posting it I found this little gem in a column about what you don’t see watching on TV. My kind of girl.

"During a commercial break early in the show, Anne Hathaway came out and thanked the audience “for all the energy you’re giving us.” She told everyone they looked fabulous and then held a quick raffle for a plate of sushi — “because the only thing more glamorous than being at the Oscars is eating sushi at the Oscars.” Referencing Leo’s f-bomb, Hathaway noted it was “really fucking good sushi."'

Observations from the Window 2.26

It's the Saturday before spring break at Penn State so let me start by wishing you all a Happy State Patty's Day. Five years ago St. Patrick's Day fell during spring break so State Patty's Day was born to enjoy the holiday's drinking and other fine traditions. Well after all Penn State was awarded the #1 Party School title for a reason. Just picture a mid-winter football weekend with a lot of green clothes and beer, sad but that description reminds me of a Notre Dame football weekend.

I did read one comment to a blog post about State Patty's day that goes a long way in explaining why the 'holiday' has become a bit controversial with the locals in State College. Among other things the comment said this, ".... And if they really are afraid they SHOULD stay out of downtown that day. This town belongs to us." That is such a totally stupid thing to say. True State College wouldn’t be the same without Penn State but the reverse is also true, Penn State wouldn't be the same without State College. Drop the main campus in the middle of Philly or Pittsburgh and what would you have? Temple or Pitt, enough said.

Yesterday was just a dreary and rainy day in the Village but it was a day to get some work cleaned up at home. Yes a day for cleaning, washing the black, and maybe even buying some foods. But instead I started playing with what I loosely call my empire. I always had a list of my site links to the side of this blog but it can't tell you in any detail what they are so I came up with the idea of adding a page that did explain them better. Well while I was working on that idea I came up with yet another idea so now you can see why I don't get much sleep.

I love to look at other people's art almost as much as I enjoy working on my own. I can spend hours just looking at photos and paintings or just reading well written blogs. Really I just enjoy art in almost any form, it's what makes me go, and my idea was this. Up until now I had three Tumblr blogs all of which were nsfw and one of which is almost as secret as my Facebook page. I am always seeing shots of one kind or another that I love but that just don't fit into the idea of the other three Tumblrs, some of the shots I favorite and some I don't. I decided I would start a fourth one just to show photos that are totally safe and just as gorgeous as the others. I didn't get to that blog page but this is the official unveiling of le quatrième (l), the fourth and hopefully last of my Tumblrs.

Have a good one and enjoy the green beer.

Metallica - Whiskey In The Jar