If fairs like Frieze draw art and money into uncomfortably close proximity, all that does is state the obvious. To separate them — to pretend that the former can float free of the latter — might appear to be a clean, ethical stance, but that’s a misperception.
I had heard that Frieze New York was huge, but I have been to Armory and Basel Miami, so I assumed that it was just another art fair, sure there would be a lot of stuff to look at, but nothing this hardened New Yorker couldn’t handle.
This story brings a tear to my eye: “Supporters of the campaign to recall Michigan Gov Rick Snyder are reporting they collected more than 5,000 signatures during the Ann Arbor Art Fair.”
First, it was blogs, now our bathrooms. I’m guessing Helguera was thinking about The Dependent art fair when he sketched this one. 16 Miles of String has a few good shots of the bathroom installations at The Dependent. [via The Art Newspaper]
New York Art Fair Week 2011 kicks off with the Armory Show! Over the course of a pre-show press conference we were treated to Mayor Bloomberg explaining his taste for Picasso, but that was just an appetizer for the exhibition ahead. The 2011 Armory presented a chaotic and inconsistent mixture, but there were still plenty of pieces that stood out of the general cacophony. Check out our first photo essay of the art fair below.
We’re very happy to have partnered with 20×200 and Art Fag City to create the most useful guide (if I do say so myself) of this week’s events titled “Art Fag City & Hyperallergic Present the Very Excellent Event Guide to New York Art Fair Week” (sneak peak) for their very excellent survival kit. Inside our contribution to the schwag bag are listings for tourists, residents and city natives of what to do to augment your art experience in New York. Whether it’s off-the-beaten path performance festivals, culinary artist events or lectures with people in the know, this is your go-to guide.
Okay, so, this week is New York City’s art fair week. This may sound like a carnival replete with Ferris wheels, clowns and cotton candy, but it’s not, at least in the literal sense. An art fair is like a carnival in that there’s a lot of excess noise, visual information and people yelling over each other. But an art fair is actually a clearinghouse for art works, a pow-wow of dealers, galleries, curators and collectors that’s part tribe meeting and part shopping mall. n the US, the major players are basically Art Basel Miami Beach, a sister fair of Art Basel founded in 2002 occurring annually every December, and New York City’s Armory Show, founded in 1994 and taking place in March.
When the VIP (Viewing in Private) Art Fair kicks off this Saturday January 22, there won’t be mad dash of collectors behind the gates, ready to snap up any work on view. The only crush might be an overloaded server or a long login time as patrons struggle to sign in. VIP marks the first digital-only commercial art fair: prospective buyers will simply visit the fair’s website and virtually peruse galleries’ wares for the event’s duration, through January 30. Founded by James Cohan Gallery, directed by Noah Horowitz and Stephanie Schumann and featuring 138 galleries from 80 different countries, of every magnitude from Marianne Boesky to Winkleman Gallery, the VIP Art Fair is a uniquely expansive event. But it’s also not as different as it initially appears.
We will be chiming in about the VIP art fair tomorrow, but until then I couldn’t resist sharing this snark from art blogger Tyler Green.
A website is somehow an “art fair?” Uh, OK. I’m pleased to announce that MAN is now the Modern Art Notes Art Fair.
Tyler Green
TylerGreenDC
For curator Jay Jordan, who had been planning to return to his homeland of Canada for some time, the recent Art Chicago fairs helped help him make it happen and in the process reminded him about the power of art.
Advertise on Hyperallergic with Nectar Ads
Subscribe to our Email Newsletter
Advertise on Hyperallergic with Nectar Ads
A Truly Subversive Artist Is Not Necessarily Someone Who Is Theatrical or Gimmicky
Graffiti Writer Gets Pwnd by Marc Jacobs
Brooklyn Designer Held Without Bail for Hanging Plastic Bags from Trees
Should Museum Acquisitions Come at the Expense of their Education Departments?
North Korea's New Website
The Daily Practice of the Impossible
The Stellar Fucking Growth of Fuck Yeah Tumblelogs
Worker Bees of the Art World, Unite
Gay Life Portrayed in Traditional Chinese Paper-cuts
