A new art fair model, more European in style, more open for a younger generation?
Maybe, but i saw sprawling chaos and a lack of interest in the art.
Monthly Archives: March 2010
Verge Emerging Art Fair
Certainly there is a place among the New York art fairs for a venue dedicated to emerging artists–however, I’m not sure how well Verge fills it. While much of the work was interesting and well-executed, even exciting, overall the quality was uneven.
The set up in the Dylan Hotel was extraordinarily intimate, with each organization having a separate room. This could be good or bad, depending on the people and art. Scariest moment: When I walked into an empty, dimly lit room to watch a video playing on a white screen around which a mirror and sex toys were arranged, I said to my friend that the video projection must be reflecting in the mirror, when a disembodied voice replied, “No, it’s playing through the latex screen.” I jumped out of my skin!
If that was the bad (and not so very horrible at that), this is the good:
Work by John Breiner, Mighty Tanaka Gallery
- Brooklyn galleries represent! Some great work from Antidote, Slate, Wildspace, and others.
Marc Anthony Polizzi, Untitled, 2010
- Installations from the large sprawling pinkness on the 2nd floor stairwell (above) to metal boxes and bedspreads (Galerie Yellow Fish Art)
- Take something besides a flier home: from a ASMPNY project benefiting Haiti to Fuse Works, which promotes multiples and editioned work, not only can you afford to take something home, but you can even put your token in a Artist Meeting Art Machine, a fine art dispensing device set up in the lobby.
Laurence Hegarty, Cash Register, Sarah Nightingale Gallery
What bothers me about Verge is not that anything is so very terrible about it, but that it should be better than it is. Emerging art should be the most exciting work to see, and here the uneven curation left me with the feeling I had been at a thrift store, sorting through racks to find a good sweater.
L
To Do: Create New Life…
Life has been a little overwhelming recently, but in defense of my opting to sleep rather than finish my video of the SCOPE art fair preview yesterday, let me explain what I’ve been up to:
1) Deciding to give up our apartment in New York to keep traveling, meaning I had to come back early to pack up
2) But my flight was delayed because of snow
3) Giving me less time to pack the contents of my life
4) And move them into storage while sleeping on friend’s couches and trying to get a temporary phone set up
4) Finally finding the perfect place to live in our next destination: Merida, Mexico!
5) Packing my suitcase and finding a flight for this weekend because we have to move in immediately
So between leaving one country, coming home, moving, and then planning to move to a different country…everything has been a little up in the air, to say the least. I haven’t been able to say anything about this new plan because it only just evolved! While we had talked about going to Mexico, we weren’t sure until a few weeks ago, and then we needed to find a place to stay. Even now, we aren’t sure how long we will be staying. Merida is a beautiful city on the Yucatan peninsula, and I’m beyond excited to see it.
For the moment though, it just feels great to be back in New York–coincidentally enough, with art fairs galore! Today, I’m planning to see Verge and Independent, and hopefully the William Kentridge show at MoMA as well.