Armory Week in NYC

Two weeks ago, Margaret and I were in New York for work.  The gallery was participating in Salon Zürcher, one of about a half dozen satellite fairs occurring in conjunction with The Armory Show. The Armory is a massive art fair that features one pavilion of contemporary art and one of modern art. Salon Zürcher is an alternative fair hosted by the gallery Zürcher Studio at their SoHo location (they also have a gallery in Paris) and is much smaller in scale, only six galleries were invited to participate. This year's theme was "Out of Town" and the fair featured galleries from outside of New York City. Here's a shot of the space:

We brought work by four artists, Rachel Farbiarz who create the chair sculpture, Avery Lawrence's film Moving a Tree, a photograph by Jon-Phillip Sheridan, and another photograph (far wall) by Satomi Shirai. We thought these pieces did a good job of representing the gallery's aesthetic and functioned well together in a small space. 

I roped Ian into driving the van full of artwork from DC to New York (thank god nothing broke; we were pretty nervous about Rachel's sculpture!) and he stayed in the city with me for a few days. One of our first stops was the High Line, which is an elevated railroad track that has been converted into a park.

When I was living in New York a couple of years ago, Ian and I loved to visit the High Line and it was fun to go back for a little stroll. The High Line also features artwork and one of my favorite pieces is this installation by Christopher Finch.  Finch took an 11 hour boat ride up the Hudson River (which is visible from the High Line) and photographed the water each minute of the journey. The 700 glass panels all represent a distinct color that the camera captured of the river water.

A few days later I had to head back to Chelsea to deliver some art work we had borrowed from Asya Geisberg Gallery. It turned out to be the last day of Todd Kelly's show and I'm so happy I had a chance to check it out. One of my favorite works from the show below:

Since I was already in the neighborhood, I decided to pop over to the Independent Art Fair. I really enjoy the Independent because of its manageable size and fresh artwork. They also have a great roof top deck where you can chill out for a minute or two. Here's the view:

Love these little abstract paintings! Space is usually very tight at art fairs and I thought the gallery was clever to hang work on the sculpture pedestal.

 I fell head over heels for this pink and yellow print by Matt Connors at Printed Matter's booth.

Then it was on to the Armory. The Armory is a totally overwhelming experience (especially for those of us that don't like crowds)...

 

Below is an installation of David Kramer's work. We showed David's work at the gallery shortly after we opened and it's one of my favorite exhibitions that the gallery has put on. I was lucky that David was at the fair when I stopped by and it was great to catch up with him for a bit. 

My love of pink and yellow art continued with this piece by Ghada Amer. (I think this would make an amazing wallpaper pattern!)

This itty bitty artwork is by Patrick Jacobs and was featured at Pierogi's booth. It's about the size of a half dollar.

From the smallest artwork at the fair, we move on to the largest. A huge 30 foot long Warhol camouflage painting at the Gagosian booth. Pretty ostentatious...

Along with the Independent and Armory I also went to Volta and Spring Break. I didn't take any photos at Volta and while I thought there were a handful of strong booths for the most part I thought the fair seemed a bit tired. Like Salon Zürcher, Spring Break is an alternative fair. Unlike most fairs which are gallery-oriented, Spring Break featured 20 curator-led projects fitting within the theme of New Mysticism. While I liked a couple of the curated rooms, most of the projects were a bit too avant garde for my taste.

After the craziness of the fairs, I was happy to escape to the Met for a morning to see the Matisse Retrospective. I'm so glad I caught this show before it closed! Matisse is one of my all time favorite artists! No photos were allowed in the exhibition, but I had a much need moment of calm in one of the Met's sculpture galleries. 

I also squeezed in a few non-art-related outings. I was able to do a bit of retail therapy and Ian and I had several great meals including lunch at Eataly's Birreria, a very fancy dinner at Mas, and yummy noodle bowls at Noodle Bar. We also came across the cutest coffee bar near where we were staying in the West Village called Mojo. If you are ever in the neighborhood I highly recommend their oatmeal. 

We also  took the train up to Connecticut to visit my Aunt Kim, Uncle Scott and much younger cousins Oliver, Kaitlin and Grace. Kim made an incredible meal and it was wonderful to visit with them for an evening. Unfortunately, Ian had to headed back to DC, but I was able to meet up with Uncle Scott again in the city as well as my Aunt Dawn, Uncle Jim and cousin Ani. Jim picked a great organic restaurant called Siggy's. I went back the next day to try one of their smoothies which was so good! I've been craving them the past couple of weeks in DC. 

There was a restaurant supply store about a block from Salon Zürcher, so I popped in on a break from the fair. It was fun to see all the different gadgets! I can't believe I left without buying anything!

A funny little house in the West Village that we walked by on our way to Mojo. I wonder what it's story is?

And this happened...

New York was a whirlwind, but so much fun! I can't wait until our next visit!