The New York Art Book Fair’s seventh annual conference, a two-day event full of dialogues concerning the art book, is a distinguished gathering of bibliophiles looking to dissect each inch of paper at their disposal.
Lynn Maliszewski
Lynn Maliszewski is a freelance art critic.
Posted inArt
Among the Zines at the NY Art Book Fair
The New York Art Book Fair is an open terrain, an annual zone that allows for a wide degree of experimentation. I especially wanted to take a thorough look at the zine tent this year, presented as XE(ROX) & PAPERS + SCISSORS, and spin in the blooming meadow like Julie Andrews.
Posted inBooks
Is Norway an Artist Book Paradise?
Norway, the enigmatic teardrop of a nation that crowns the Scandinavian peninsula, could be considered heaven or hell depending on whom you ask.
Posted inArt
Scope Kills With Kindness
After celebrating ten years of contemporary art fairs nationally and abroad, Scope New York has decided to make the move uptown to mingle with the big boys. The fair is enclosed in an enormous white tent on 57th Street at Twelfth Avenue and provides a much-needed respite from the hysteria of the Armory Show. Fifty-seven galleries are represented, approximately half of which are based in New York. The Middle East appears to be the one region noticeably absent from the international pool, but strong entries from Santo Domingo and South Korea show that this fair is still digging deep into underrepresented terrain.
Posted inArt
A Perceptual Dance Party for Your Eyes
Abstraction is a fickle shapeshifter. Outlines of horses and bulls in caves and geometric markings on ceramic flatware were the earliest embodiment of the craft. Since then, abstraction has travelled through an unbelievable number of incarnations. James McCoy Gallery recently took on the challenge of presenting a hiccup’s worth of abstraction from the 20th Century, anticlimactically titled 70 Years of Abstract Painting: Excerpts. The showing was based on the gallery’s strong holding of abstract art, looking to “initiate an unusual dialogue” between past and present.
Posted inArt
How to Be a Freelance Art Writer
Being a freelance art writer in New York is as outwardly glamorous as it has ever been; that is, not glamorous at all. Sure, I have the freedom to wake up at 10:00 am everyday and traipse around Brooklyn armed with a carton of 27’s, my laptop, and $8 for four cups of coffee and several bananas. A the same time, I also have the freedom to make very little money. Here are some lessons learned while writing about art.
Posted inArt
Is The Art Show a Senior Citizen’s Swinger’s Club Past its Prime?
The Art Show has been hosted by the Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA) for the last 23 years, reigning supreme as the longest running national art fair. The ADAA consists of 175 galleries but only seventy exhibitors enrolled this year, excluding stunners like Andrea Rosen, Betty Cunningham, PPOW and Gavin Brown. A large majority of the participants are located uptown between 50th Street and 90th Street. The generalized content (“cutting-edge, 21st century works” and “museum quality pieces from the 19th and 20th centuries”) and my fears of dated academia prepped me for the deflated viewing that was The Art Show. The ADAA’s Executive Director spoke to the “calm and intimate atmosphere” of The Art Show. Although the Park Avenue Armory’s soaring “balloon shed” construction is partially responsible, the cavalcade of elderly patrons weren’t exactly rambunctious. The air-kisses exchanged between crotchety senior citizens summoned a swinger’s club way past its prime.
Posted inArt
The Quiet of Hermann Nitsch
Hermann Nitsch’s performance at Mike Weiss Gallery on February 15th and 16th was a historical moment, summoning the exuberance of his context while disintegrating the mystery shrouding his practice. After stalking Nitsch’s every movement for close to fourteen hours, the legend was humanized. Yes, this is a natural occurrence, but one may expect someone who has made slaughtering animals and organizing group blood orgies a natural part of his practice to be a little … off.
Posted inArt
Experiencing Hermann Nitsch’s First Live Painting Action in the US
I giggled like a giddy seventh grader with a boyfriend on Valentine’s Day when I heard Hermann Nitsch, the forerunner of the Viennese Actionism movement, was showing in New York.
Since his earliest works in the 1960’s, Nitsch equalized the art-making process and spiritual ritual. The artist was head priest, facilitating an enlightened awareness through action. His earliest endeavors tarnished his reputation and led to complications with the police; alas, badass creativity knows no limitations.
