this week in art

POOL ART FAIR 2011

Matt Bahen, “Gatekeeper,” oil on canvas, 2010

Gershwin Hotel
7 East 27th St. at Fifth Ave.
March 4-6, suggested donation $10 (vernissage and party $50), 3:00 – 10:00 pm
www.poolartfair.com
www.gershwinhotel.com

Organized by Frère Independent, the PooL Art Fair features unrepresented artists not seen at other art fairs, offering collectors, gallerists, and art lovers the opportunity to get in on the ground floor with emerging talent. The fair opens on Thursday at 3:00, followed by vernissage at 6:00 and a party at 10:00 with a DJ and open bar ($50). The art is spread out in more than thirty rooms on the fourth, fifth, and sixth floors, in addition to the lobby, with a focus on painting. Among the stronger works are two large-scale, densely textured oils by Matt Bahen depicting mysterious locations with dogs, “Gatekeeper” and “We Carved Our Names”; Bob Clyatt’s “Reframing Figurative Sculpture,” particularly three male figures hanging upside down; Claudie Bastide’s “Freedom and Random,” consisting of French Abstraction Lyrique canvases bathed in reds and yellows and blacks; Dan Pottick’s photographs of naked threesomes playing together, in the same room with several lovely paintings by Lola Morishita; and dirquo nyc/++’s and Tracey Kessler’s graffiti-culture abstract works. As you walk into each hotel room, you’re also entering each artist’s unique vision of the world, with most of them there to share it with you, so be sure to say hello and ask questions.

VOLTA NY 2011

Mark Jenkins’s “Family Room” is one of the early favorites at Volta

7 West 34th St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
March 3-6, $10-$15 (combination pass with the Armory Show $40)
www.ny.voltashow.com

VOLTA NY, founded by Amanda Coulson as an invitational show of solo projects, focuses on the artists themselves instead of galleries or artistic themes. Held at 7W across the street from the Empire State Building, VOLTA, which works in partnership with the Armory Show (a free shuttle will run between each, and a $40 discounted ticket gets you into both), will feature installations by more than ninety international artists and collectives, including Judi Werthein, EVOL, [dNASAb], Ryan Schneider, Florian Heinke, Mark Jenkins, Homebase, George Kuchar, BGL, Daniel Rozin, and Artprojx, from twenty-three countries as Russia, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Costa Rica, Mexico, Trinidad, Spain, Argentina, and the U.S. David Tully and Shiri Mordechay have been chosen for the entrance and lobby, while Michael Decker’s “Old Growth” ironing boards lead to the elevators. Culture Shock Marketing and Vimeo have curated cutting-edge projections for the elevator and shuttle bus from such artists as Paddy Jolley, Glenn Marshall, Hugh McGrory, Scott Pagano, and J. G. Zimmerman, and Jennifer and Kevin McKoy have put together actor-led guided tours that begin in the eleventh-floor foyer. Volta will also host Open Forum talks with such artists as Yevgeniy Fiks, Mauricio Miranda, and Deborah Grant and such curators and gallerists as Courtney Martin, Erin Sickler, Kate Kraczon, and Ed Halter.

INDEPENDENT 2011

Laura Aldridge, “Hand Extended,” detail, screen prints on Perspex, plaster, fabric, and paint (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

548 West 22nd St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
March 3-6, free
www.independentnewyork.com

Winner of the 2010 Rob Pruitt Award for Alternative Project of the Year, the Independent art fair is back in the old Dia space in Chelsea, with more than fifty galleries spread out over the second, third, and fourth floors. Founded by X Initiative’s Elizabeth Dee and Hotel’s Darren Flook, the Independent was a rousing success last year, and not just because it was free. It offered a wide range of multimedia, participatory installations in well-organized spaces, giving visitors the opportunity to play Ping-Pong on Rirkrit Tiravanija’s “The Future Will Be Chrome,” accept a torn page from Michael Dean’s “The Floor Is the Object,” take a seat in Ryan Trecartin’s caged-in “P.opular S.ky (section ish),” and create their own dialogue while investigating the artistic dialogues created by moss and Westreich-Wagner. The 2011 Independent is being developed with White Columns’ Matthew Higgs and codirectors Jayne Drost and Laura Mitterand and includes such artists and galleries as Dexter Sinister, Guyton/Walker, and Trisha Donnelly of Artists Space, Erica Baum of Bureau, Katinka Bock of Galerie Jocelyn Wolff, Michel François of Bortolami, Josephine Meckseper of Elizabeth Dee, Walead Beshty of Wallspace, Reena Spaulings of Sutton Lane, Ryan Gander and Roman Ondák of gb agency, Michail Pirgelis of Sprüth Magers, Carol Bove of Hotel, Wolfgang Tillmans and Liam Gillick of Maureen Paley, Simon Fujiwara of Neue Alte Brücke and Gio Marconi, and Jonathan Monk of Meyer Riegger. Unfortunately, much of the work is not clearly labeled, so it is often difficult to know what you’re looking at. The fair is heavy on sculptural installation, with numerous floor pieces, so be careful where you walk, although you are encouraged to step on Eftihis Patsourakis’s “Skin,” composed of actual welcome mats from his native Athens, but stay away from Ryan Gander’s “Matthew Young falls from the 1985 into a white room (Maybe this is not that way it is supposed to happen)” [sic], made of broken stunt-safe sugar glass and wood. We got a kick out of Laura Aldridge’s “Hand Extended” screen prints on Perspex of cats holding on to a human’s arm, mixed in with her plaster, fabric, and paint wall pieces. With all the craziness and chaos going on, you’ll want to take a respite in front of Maureen Gallace’s small oil on panel “August, Beach Cottage (Pink Flowers),” another one of her gentle, memorable paintings. While there’s very little video, one of the better film installations is Rossella Biscotti’s “Yellow,” which uses an old-fashioned projector to relay a WWII-related psychiatric session. While not nearly as dazzling as last year’s inaugural fair, there’s still a lot to like about Independent, but you have to be willing to work for it.

MOVING IMAGE: AN ART FAIR OF CONTEMPORARY VIDEO ART

Janet Biggs’s “Airs Above the Ground” is one of the many highlights of the free inaugural Moving Image art fair (image courtesy Janet Biggs)

Waterfront New York Tunnel
269 11th Ave. between 27th & 28th Sts.
March 3-6, free
212-643-3152
www.moving-image.info

We consider ourselves “vide-hos” — we rarely meet an experimental video that doesn’t intrigue us in one way or another. So we’re excited about the inaugural Moving Image art fair, an invitational show consisting of single-channel videos, video sculptures, and video installations. Held in the Waterfront Tunnel on the far northwest side of Chelsea during Armory Arts Week, the four-day fair is the brainchild of Winkleman Gallery’s Edward Winkleman and Murat Orozobekov and has been organized by P·P·O·W Gallery’s Penny Pilkington and Wendy Olsoff, with an advisory committee made up of Zoe Butt of Ho Chi Minh City’s SanArt, John Connelly of New York’s Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation, Elizabeth Dee of Chelsea’s Elizabeth Dee Gallery, Raphael Gygax of Zurich’s Migros Museum, and Kevin McGarry of LA’s Migrating Forms. Video-based works from approximately three dozen international artists are being shown, including Shana Moulton, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Glenn Fogel, Miguel Angel Rios, Amparo Sard, Carolee Schneeman, Martin Solo Climent, and Leslie Thornton, ranging from one minute (Johanna Unzuta’s hypnotic “Natural Movements”) to thirty-three (Simon Gush’s soccer-as-political-metaphor “In the Company Of”). The majority of the works are shown on individual flat-screen monitors suspended from above and lined up along each side of the vertical passageway, some with chairs and headphones. When you first enter the Waterfront New York Tunnel, on your left will be Kasmalieva and Djumaliev’s “Trans Siberian Amazons,” featuring three video sets embedded within plaid Chinese bags filled with clothing. It’s okay to step on Cal Thompson’s floor video, “The Orb,” on your way to such wonderful special installations as Michal Rovner’s brilliant “June,” Jim Campbell’s light sculpture “Exploded View,” and Corban Walker’s “TV Man,” in which the diminutive artist (actual size) looks out calmly while seemingly trapped in a video booth.

Flat-screen video monitors line both sides of the Waterfront New York Tunnel in Chelsea at the Moving Image art fair (twi-ny/mdr)

There are a number of other outstanding works, and not only from such late legends as David Wojnarowicz (“Heroin”) and Hannah Wilke (“Intercourse with . . .”). In “Alive — An Essential Guide to Survival,” Cecilia Stenbom spends nearly fifteen minutes sitting at a table reading a playful modern-day guide on how to defeat such constant threats as germs, terrorist attacks, and eating out in restaurants. Made in 2002 when he was a graduate student in London, Hiraki Sawa’s “Dwelling” turns his dorm room into airspace for plane activity, with flights taking off from tables and carpeting and flying through hallways and bathrooms. Janet Biggs’s “Airs Above the Ground” follows a synchronized swimmer as she first prepares to get in the water, then delves into her aquatic training. In “Danse Serpentine (Doubled and Refracted),” Miranda Lichtenstein transforms the Lumières’ classic 1896 film of Loie Fuller into an intoxicating endless loop. On Saturday at 2:00, a spotlight panel will examine “Current Takes on Video,” with artists Leslie Thornton and Lucy Raven and curators Chrissie Iles, Barbara London, and Glenn Phillips, moderated by McGarry. As an added bonus, admission to the fair and the panel is free. Moving Image has made an impressive debut that we hope keeps it coming back year after year after year.

VERGE: ART BROOKLYN

Multiple locations in Dumbo
March 3-6, free
www.vergeartfair.com

Last year, the Verge Art Fair was held in the Dylan Hotel on East 41st St., where artists and collectives got individual rooms to display their works. It had a mysterious, claustrophobic feel, like you were invading people’s private space. There’s nothing private about the 2011 Verge fair, which moves to galleries throughout Dumbo, including 81 Front St. (gallery exhibitors), 111 Front St. (“Brooklyn Art Now: 2011 Survey Exhibition”), One Main St. (panels and discussions), 55 Washington St. (“Material Issue: Art Brooklyn Artist’s Projects”), and 20 Jay St. (“Tomorrow’s Stars: Artist’s Open Call Exhibition” and “Material Issue”) as well as spilling out into the streets. Everything is free — even the opening night party at Galapagos Art Space, if you get there before 10:00, after which admission is $20; the party features live performances by Sister Anne; Not Blood, Paint; Clifton; the Brooklyn What?; Violens; Nebulla; Enoe; and M Panorama. Among the many international exhibitors are Antidote, Arch 402, Firecat Projects, MoCADA, and G2 Gallery, although the focus is on Brooklyn galleries, along with artist projects by Brooklyn Treasury, Dwight Baird, Kirk Bauer, Patrick W. Duffy, Karina Natis & Chloe Cheau, Midori Okuyama, Richard Silver, and many others. There will also be live, site-specific events, from mural painting to performance art, and the VIP Passport Program gives attendees a first look at the schedule and the opportunity to meet various artists in their studios.

FOUNTAIN ART FAIR 2011

Allison Berkoy will be back on board the Frying Pan in the Lackawanna Caboose with more of her creepy but fun multimedia, lifelike installations (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Pier 66 Maritime, the Frying Pan
West 26th St. at the Hudson River
March 3-6, $10 (March 4 VIP preview $25)
www.fountainexhibit.com

The sixth annual Fountain Art Fair, dedicated to exhibiting avant-garde works from small, independent galleries, is back on board the Frying Pan, displaying cutting-edge painting, sculpture, and installation from the most radical artists to be found during Armory Week. Following the March 3 VIP and press preview, Fountain will open its doors to the public on Friday at 12 noon with works from such galleries as What It Is, Christina Ray, Microscope, LambertArts, Cheap & Plastique, Temporary States, and, as always, the anarchist Murder Lounge down below (don’t say you weren’t warned), in addition to artists projects by Greg Haberny, Evo Love, Mark Demos, Mami Kotak, and Danni Rash & GILF! There will also be a large-scale street art installation that brings together Chris Stain, Faro, Gaia, Shark Toof, Clown Soldier, Love Me, Ellis G, Alessandro Echevarria, Lee Trice, Imminent Disaster, and Dickchicken!, and Boston’s experimental Mobius Collective will be holding four days of curated roaming and site-specific performance art pieces, called “Infiltrate!,” from Marilyn Arsem and Burns Maxey’s “Captain Burns and First Mate Arsem Discover a New Land” and Sandy and Jeff Huckleberry’s “Entrapment” to Anna Wexler and Catherine Tutter’s “Vessel for Haiti III,” Joanne Rice’s “Without,” and Alisia Lord Louise Waller’s “What Are You, Some Kind of Monster?”

Jason Douglas Griffin’s “We Have an Understanding” can be found at the Leo Kesting booth at Fountain (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Other special events include an opening-night reception with live performances by Gordon Voidwell, Tecla, and Generic and a Saturday-night Lomography Picture Party with Ninjasonik and NSR, all free with the standard admission price. This year, the show has a decidedly 1980s retro East Village feel; among the highlights are Jason Douglas Griffin’s painted door, “We Have an Understanding,” at Leo Kesting (the spray-painted lightbulb is part of the work but not the heater), Chris Smith’s “Rumblers Road Signs & Rusted Cars” at G-spot’s subtexture booth, JMR’s colorful live mural at Mighty Tanaka, Demos’s lighted, scratched, and pounded glass canvases, Victor Cox’s enticing small works in the enticing Murder Lounge, Carl Gunhouse’s photos of American real estate developments at Camel Art Space, and R. Nicholas Kuszyk’s delightful robot paintings and Morning Breath’s cool collages at McCaig-Welles. One of our Fountain favorites, Allison Berkoy, is back in the Lackawanna railroad car with “Another Night in the Caboose of Magical Light” (she was previously in the caboose in 2009, with Nuala Clarke there last year), a brand-new collection of captivating light and mirror projections that give life to inanimate objects, from dolls and rice to a bowl of soup, all featuring her face. Be sure to explore every nook and cranny of the 133-foot-long lightship, which was in operation from 1930 to 1965 and spent three years underwater before being rediscovered by salvagers. Fountain is the art fair for people who hate art fairs, where anything can happen — and probably will.

KOREAN ART SHOW 2011

Do Byunggyu, “Playmate,” acrylic and oil on canvas, 2009 (courtesy Pyo Gallery)

82Mercer between Spring & Broome Sts.
March 3-6, free with paid admission to Red Dot Art Fair
212-242-4215
www.koreanartshow.com

Sponsored by the Galleries Association of Korea and KIAF, the Korean Art Show is back for its second year as part of Armory Arts Week, after a successful debut in 2010. Held in conjunction with Red Dot, the Korean Art Show will feature works from more than thirty galleries, including Hakgojae, Gallery Miz, Pyo, Seoshin, Rho, Park Ryu Sook, and Yeemock. With the rise in popularity of Asian art — primarily Chinese since the start of this century — Korean art is now joining the fold, and there were some exceptional paintings and sculptures at the Korean Art Show last year, so this should definitely be worth a visit. Among the artists to look out for are Shin Hyungsub, Do Byunggyu, Lee Sanghyun, Byun Chonggon, Lee Jeongwoong, Lee Jinju, Park Minpyong, Bae Bienu, Eddie Kang, and Oh Seyeol.