Category Archives: life

Affordable Art Fair: Rosé, Pluralism, and Urban Outfitters

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The Affordable Art Fair opens today, and, as its name suggests, it is a pandemonium of booths representing art on the lower end of things, from $100 to $10,000 (75% of the art is under $5,000.) At the cocktail reception last night, I had three things on my mind: pluralism, Urban Outfitters, and rosé. The rosé explains itself, I suppose, and the other two–pluralism and Urban Outfitters–were all I could afford to take away. Not to mention, as a warning to those of you who go, fairs are like speed dating, which can be daunting if you want to fall in love.


Pluralism, while not quite anything goes, describes a variety of styles being pursued alongside each other in the art world. The evidence that the art world is pluralistic mounted from gallery to gallery. (See Wikipedia on it here, and interesting recent discussion of it on Edward Winkleman’s blog.) Between abstract painting and small sketches, to some castings and interesting mixed media panels, it was quite a whirl. There was even a Native American–although he himself wasn’t for sale. There were some very good pieces last night, especially (predictably) on the higher end of things. I also had the pleasure of seeing some New York galleries I was unfamiliar with. This review would of course be more interesting if I had taken some semblance of notes; you know, put specifics to generalities. Unfortunately, I did not and yet I will forge onward to make what is no doubt a very gauche point.

Urban Outfitters, a trendy clothing store not entirely devoted to teens, has a rather good looking selection of things for the apartment. Among curtains and teacups, they have wall art. If you wondering what on earth this had to do with the Affordable Art Fair last night, let me explain: Urban Outfitters did not have a booth. But what they do have are a lot of pieces in similar styles to what I saw last night.

Like H+M to high fashion, Urban Outfitters is able to ape some of the many styles represented last night. That’s a commendation to Urban Outfitters rather than a sleight to the Affordable Art Fair, but I do think its telling that the pluralism that I thought was so varied on an individual level could actually be codified in a department store. Good art, of course, transcends such classifications and there were many great pieces at the fair. Also, Urban Outfitters (or Art.com or Target or whatever) aren’t as well-made in terms of material, expression, the technique and work put into them, or originality. But they look rather similar.
Between the rosé and the Urban Outfitters comparison, you might decide I have abominable taste and stop reading this blog. Maybe I do; I didn’t fall in love with any of the pieces and found the fair bewilderingly fun. Basically, it has original, well-made artworks for every taste and every price point. And that makes for a good art fair, and one that can’t be replaced by a visit to the decorative prints at Urban Outfitters.
For a nice review of the Affordable Art Fair, check out monkdogz’ artblog.

Against Taking Photos in Museums

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People should not take photographs in museums. This is me doing a 180 degree revision of my opinion. I mean, I myself take them and show them to you here. I think to limit cultural distribution is silly and that to take a flashless pictures of something in a museum can do nil amount of harm. I now know differently.

I now know that it is a scandalous practice detrimental to museums. On visits to the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art yesterday, I wasn’t overwhelmed by the crowds so much as blown away by the number of people who only looked at the art through a camera lens. Pause, click, pause, click they walked through the museum documenting their trip meanwhile getting in my way, accidentally taking a photograph with flash, and generally showing little interest in the the art. They were more oblivious to the people around them as they tried to get a good shot.

Really, should photographs be allowed in museums at all? Do you take photographs? Does photography interfere with your enjoyment of art?

Raw Canvas

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It’s rare, even unheard of, that I offer you business advice. If you have any sense of this blog at all, you know my thoughts do not that way tend. However, I do follow a super fun and interesting trend-spotting site, Springwise, and I want to share a trend that I wish would spread to NYC:

Hoping to unleash everyone’s inner artist, Vancouver-based Raw Canvas is a creative hybrid: bustling café and full-service art studio.

Besides offering the usual café fare—organic coffee and tea, snacks, comfy couches and wifi, as well as wine, beer and tapas at night—Raw Canvas encourages customers to pick up painting. They can drop in at any time, buy a canvas and just get started in the open studio space that’s connected to the café. Raw Canvas provides paints, brushes and all other supplies, and staff members and resident artists are on hand to offer encouragement and tips.

Inspired by popular art jams in Hong Kong, Raw Canvas aims to provide a low-threshold venue where people can come in for a few hours and explore their artistic impulses without committing time or money to a series of classes. With, of course, the added pleasure of a latte or glass of wine. Canvas pricing varies by size, ranging from CDN 40 to CDN 80. If you’re a café owner looking to add a new source of revenue to your business, be inspired and get creative!

Now I don’t think it’s just me: the appeal of going to a cafe, maybe having a glass of wine with a friend, and then doing increasingly goofy portraits of said friend is universal. In fact, I might start throwing art parties as the weather in New York gets warmer and we can paint en plein air.

Anybody up for a painting party?