ARMORY ARTS WEEK

Tuesday - The week started with the highly anticipated exhibition SKIN FRUIT - curated by Jeff Koons from the illustrious collection of Greek tycoon, Dakis Joannou at the New Museum. Having faced serious criticism from the arts community for perceived conflict of interest, the show went on... AND I have to say, in my opinion, that it was a celebration of the joys of collecting art. Many well known names were juxtaposed in curious and interesting ways. Highlights for me included Maurizio Cattelan, Matt Greene, Robert Gober, Tim Noble and Sue Webster, and some fabulous early Chris Ofili paintings.

Wednesday - Armory opening! Luckily I was able to enter the fair during the early preview which gave great opportunity to see the WORK...and later on...CELEBS! This year we saw highlighted artists from the Whitney Biennial (which opened the week before), Josephine Meckseper at Elizabeth Dee, who showcased a large installation by the artist, Huma Bhabha at Peter Blum, Maureen Gallace at 303, and Tauba Auerbach at Jack Hanley. Also highlighted was the Armory commissioned artist Susan Collis who created the visual identity for the 2010 fair. Brisk sales were being made at Seventeen gallery where a virtual mob-scene of collectors gathered at the booth! There was also a heavy presence of Marina Abramovic, whose life's work and retrospective opens at MOMA 3/9. Few discoveries were made this year, but if you looked closely you could find some gems: Michael Samuels at Rokeby gallery from London, Erin Wurm's hilarious sculptures of pickles at Jack Hanley, Mika Rottenberg at Andrehn-Schiptjenko, Agathe Snow at James Fuentes and Jacob Kassay's beautiful metallic paintings at Eleven Rivington. Post touring the artwork we gravitated to the VIP room where we took refuge in free champagne and celeb spotting... BJORK!! Kyra Sedgwick and Glenn Close! Here are pix including artists Emilio Perez (currently on view at Galerie LeLong) and Daniel Gonzalez.

Thursday - Volta & Independent Without a doubt this year's newest and coolest was the INDEPENDENT at the former Dia, former X initiative space. To some extent, the spirit of X Initiative lives on in Independent, which in its press material carefully avoids the term art fair, preferring to call itself a collective, a consortium and a “hybrid model and temporary exhibition forum.”


Highlights for me included Seb Patane, the Italian artist who lives and works in London, at Maureen Paley, Cyprien Gaillard at Laura Bartlett, and Ryan Trecartin at Elizabeth Dee. This exciting new art fair drew massive crowds and lived up to high expectations. As in previous years VOLTA showcased 88 different solo projects. Moving swiftly through the dense booths I was delighted to see some old friends and stellar presentations. Namely, Danny Rolph at Poppy Sebire, and Rebecca Chamberlain at Judi Rotenberg.







Friday - Chelsea Having made it through all of the fairs...as if there was further impetus to see galleries! I knew that New York gallerists were planning on putting their best foot forward. Mike Nelson at 303, Marcia Hafif at Newman Popiashvili, Liam Gillick at Casey Kaplan and Yuken Teruya at Josee Bienvenu.









Saturday - Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present at MOMA Thanks to the exceptional VIP program, directed by Manuela Paz, this year we were able to take a few sneak peeks. This performance retrospective traces the prolific career of Marina Abramović with approximately fifty works spanning over four decades of her early interventions and sound pieces, video works, installations, photographs, solo performances, and collaborative performances made with Ulay (Uwe Laysiepen). In an endeavor to transmit the presence of the artist and make her historical performances accessible to a larger audience, the exhibition includes the first live re-performances of Abramović’s works by other people ever to be undertaken in a museum setting. In addition, a new, original work performed by Abramović will mark the longest duration of time that she has performed a single solo piece. As always, April Hunt from PS1 looking glamorous as she leads a group of journalists around the exhibition! In addition to running up to the MOMA, I went to the anticipated Lucie Fontaine, Sign in/ Sign Out opening at Front Desk Apparatus. A MUST SEE! www.frontdeskapparatus.com

Sunday - Lower East Side Gallery Tours. On one of the most beautiful days in New York to date this year, hosted by yours truly, and I have to say an impressive turn-out of participants - we walked all over the LES on a guided tour of almost 17 different galleries. Highlights included: Simon Preston 301 Broome Street - Marco Rios: Plasma Pool, ELEVEN RIVINGTON
 11 Rivington St.- Valeska Soares: Vaga Lume, James Fuentes 35 SAINT JAMES PLACE- Book ends, Ben Berlow, Marc Handelman, Matthew Higgs, Larissa Nowicki, Stephen G. Rhodes, Thea Djordjadze and Richard Wentworth and Luxe/ Stephan Stoyanov Gallery 29 Orchard Street - AMELIE CHABANNES | VAST


PHEW...that was A LOT!! We are all pretty exhausted...but NY never stops! Are we art addicts?? The answer is a bonafide..YES!