There’s something about entering a school that always gives a feeling of déjà vu, with the pastel-hued hallways and orderly lines of desks likes ghosts of the past. That’s something that makes the SPRING/BREAK Art Show’s return to the Old School on Mott Street something of a challenge, in that the curator-driven art fair feels like another semester rather than a completely new experience (although that’s a common feeling with art fairs, and this is only SPRING/BREAK’s second year). However, like any return to school there are new faces, new ideas, and in the mix of 22 curators and 80 artists there are some compelling moments, particularly with the installations (the involvement of Paddle 8 with an online auction is obviously a component more focused on the less site-specific work), although there are a fair amount of geometry-heavy pieces and the sort of sleazy chic work that seems spawned from a hidden chamber of a Jonah Freeman and Justin Lowe installation.
March 5, 2013
Posted inNews
Metropolitan Museum Snaps Up an Unrecognized David Drawing for $700
What happens when you get the best art historians, curators, and conservators together in a single museum? Well, you’re pretty likely to get the best deals in the art world, as the Metropolitan Museum just did when it snagged a Jacques-Louis David drawing for $700 ($840 with premium).
Posted inSponsored
Beat Brooklyn Armory Night With WAGMAG and Pernod Absinthe’s Art & Absinthe Guide
With Armory Week rapidly sneaking up on us, there are two things you’re going to need to survive: a guide to which shows are going on where and a strong drink (or several). Thankfully, Pernod is here to solve both of those problems.
Posted inArt
One Radical Archive Offers a Hands-on Approach to Activist Art
The intensified activism of the 1960s fueled by the Vietnam War and struggles over class inequality, women’s rights, and black liberation drove the rapid growth of the underground press. Between 1965 and 1969, the five indie counterculture newspapers scattered across the United States multiplied to over 500 around the country, representing and communicating the voices of feminists, the Black Panther Party, gay activists, psychedelic aficionados, and other social movement groups with their art and design as radical as their messages. Rebel Newsprint: The Underground Press at Interference Archive in Gowanus is digging into this historic period with over 100 newspapers from across the sixties underground.
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Portland’s New $35 Arts Tax Begins
Though the National Endowment for the Arts seems under constant threat of being gutted, one city initiative is putting arts funding at the forefront of civic responsibility rather than last on the list. In November of last year, Portland, Oregon, passed a new annual income tax of a flat $35 fee that goes directly to supporting local arts organizations.
Posted inArt
Art Rx: Armory Week
Happy Armory Week, New York! It’s that time again — time to get your fair on.
