The Annual Art Show at the Armory

Some years I have gone, others I haven't.  This year, thanks to my friend, we went to the annual Art Show at the Armory.  The best time to go is definitely when there are as few people there as possible.  The booths are not large and neither is the space.  We went when the door opened at noon and as always, it is interesting to see what people are showing. 

Some stuff is absolutely god awful.  Pink and blue horse statues but we didn't wander into that booth.  Some stuff is really great.  Some stuff is way way overpriced, at least we thought so.  Some stuff is right on.

Vic Muniz, who I have always been a fan of, is shown at Brent Sikkema.  I loved his 3 pieces.  He has taken hole punch pieces and layered them into designs and then took digital pictures of them and enlarged the photo.  I was really drawn to them immediately.  The prices are still reasonable.  Obviously more than 4 years ago when I first saw his stuff but my guess is the price of his work will continue to rise. 

The other artist I really liked was Kate Shepard.  She was being shown at 2 different galleries, one being Barbara Krakow Gallery from Boston.  Barbara is the best contemporary art gallery in Boston.  Kate's work is very architectural.  She has created lines and images under an enamel based process which makes the painting really stand out.  Her pieces seem to me something that you would love more and more each day.

Barbara also represents Julian Opie.  About 5 years ago, we almost bought 2 huge Julian Opie pieces but decided not to at the last moment and bought something else.  Alas, his work has more than tripled in value but I'm not in for that anyhow even though it is always nice to know the work you purchased has gone up in value.  Julian has work all over the world.  It is very recognizable.  He is from London.  It's all over the Tate.  The piece today was a computer image that had the characters walking on a flat panel.  Extremely cool!

Lastly, my favorite piece.  Luhring Augustine represents Christopher Wool.  Fyi - their website is horrible, I hate the pop-up thing.  For the life of me, I can't understand the cost of it.  The piece I loved was $250K and supposedly the buy of the show is his smaller pieces at $80K.  Seems outrageous to me considering they are just words on a canvas but I'm not setting the prices.  I really loved this piece.  It just made me laugh out loud. It did not say RIOT like the piece on the side but it was in the same bold letters.  The piece I loved said IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE.  I just cracked me up.  Maybe I have watched too much Larry David. 

I'm glad I got up to the show.  It's always fun to see what galleries are showing and to see where the prices are.  All and all, it's a bummer that I'm not willing to blow $250K on the piece.  I think I'd get a kick out of it every day I would walk by but maybe I'll make my own and just blow it up and hang it near the front door.