Gotham Gal

Freize and Pulse

This past week was all about the art shows.  We went out to the Freize on Saturday and the Pulse on Sunday decided to bag NADA.  The art world has made a few changes over the past decade.  The first is that the art shows are one of the main sources of income for galleries.  Those shows let the consumer see a lot of art in one setting and the gallery owners get to touch a lot of art lovers in a few days. 

There are pros and cons to the whole system.  It is expensive to take out a booth at these fairs.  You also have to have a gallery to have a booth which means that the game has just changed.  You are paying rent for your gallery and a very high price for the rent of the booth.  There are certainly a bunch of websites that are trying to bring the purchasing of art online but I still believe that when someone wants to buy an expensive piece they want to see it in person and build a relationship with the gallery.  You want to make sure the gallery is going to support and nurture that artists career. Yet I do love that the sites that are more accessible in terms of price point making the point that everyone can own art which is a good thing. 

I liked the Frieze more last year.  Who knows why. I will say that the food vendors were incredible.  Robertas, Frankies, Sant Ambreous, Fat Radish and more.  Maybe I wasn't in the mood but I found the works just not as interesting as years past or maybe just not as accessible.  The Pulse I found easier to take in. 

Here are my highlights from the Freize.  Tom Friedman had made these large sculptures that made me laugh.  A pizza.


White Bread.

Running shoes.

Rebecca Morris at Harris Lieberman.

Damien Hirst.

Barbara Kruger.

Do Ho Suh

Streams of black and white ribbon formed into a scultpure and then set inside a glass box.  Janaina Tschape

Pillow Talk by Jonathan Horowitz.  54 pieces of display but the piece is actually 96 pieces. Each piece had the opposite on one side.  Very clever. 

Nickel plated nylon sculpture Antony Gormley

Eroded Payphones, Daniel Arsham

Not sure who this artist was but this sculpture was awesome at the Gagosian Gallery.

The highlights from the Pulse below.

Grocery ladies, Will Kurtz, Mike Weiss Gallery

San Marco People, Jan De Vleigher

Hawaiian Surfer, Nick Carter.

Department Store, Gordon Parks.  LOVE this.

Deep Area Christine Flynn.

We came, we left and we bought nothing.  Will see what sticks in my head over the next few weeks. 

 

Senior Thesis at Wesleyan

We spent last week up in Middletown CT for a few days to attend Jessica's senior thesis presentation.  There were four weeks of thesis installations.  Each week there were about 4-6 projects installed from different seniors.  Jessica had the last week.  She was one of six.  Each of these installations were truly amazing.  Each body of work was impressive. 

Jessica spent the past 9 months traveling all around the east coast shooting impersonators.  She found them, hired them, drove to their homes or places of business and created the environment she was looking for.  Then she had them pose for her in what she visioned each piece to be.  That is only step one.  Then the photos have to be printed and fixed on photoshop (taking out the dust, the shadows that are not needed, the wire that randomly showed up, or the need to stitch a few photographers into one to create the right shot).  She had to narrow down which ones would be presented in the installation.  Get each of those photos framed and then hang her show.  The artist, the curator and the gallerist all into one. 

Jessica took her first photography class in 3rd grade.  Her high school gave her the ability to continue with photography the entire time she was there as there is a real focus on the arts at LREI.  She found something she is passionate about and something she has an incredible talent for.  I was blown away when I saw the installation as there were just a few of the photos she did not share with me.  She wanted me to have some surprises. 

Certainly not surprising to any one in my family I got very emotional when I saw the show.  My photos do not do hers justice but I did capture a few just to share.  I am sure Jessica will put them up on her site when graduation is over and she can take a step back and truly take in what she has created and certainly achieved. 

From the top is Snoop Dog, Cher, Albert Einstein, Obama and Batman and Robin.  I believe all and all there were more than 20 photos in the show and that was about 40% of the body of the work she took.

Here are the other seniors who were in the show.  This particular woman, Alahna Watson, did self-portraits of herself.  She must have been from the south.  Each pencil drawing was a different person but with her face.  The large piece of fried chicken was amazing.

This guy, Adam Forbes, was a math major who did analytics on Google as to what each of our value was to the company.  He did an art thesis on his work which is awesome.  He also got a job to start at Google this fall.

These were beautiful paintings of the inside of Versaille from a young woman, Arin Dineen.

Large creative paintings of men breaking things.  The series is called Build by Kevin Brisco

All and all and impressive show. 

Pier 94, Armory Show

I have a feeling that the 2nd annual Frieze Show in May is making an impact on the Armory Show.  I know some of the galleries have opted for the Frieze over the Armory.  I always enjoy the show but was not as wowed as I have been in years past. 


Here were the highlights for me.  Todd Pavlisko, Samon Projects in Boston.  Not sure what Todd calls this but I call it ode to the bong with Carl Sagan hanging out in the middle. 

I am a sucker for neon art.  Peter Liversidge, Ingelby Gallery London.

I love the photographs of Jung Lee.  One and J. Gallery, Seoul, Korea.  Might still get one.

Max Neumann at Bruce Silverstein.  This photo does not do the piece justice.  Almost 8 feet tall.  A beautiful painting. 

I check out this artist every year from Galerie Laurent in Paris but never seem to pull the trigger.

I bought this piece.  "My nose is growing Now" by Ramon Serrano.  It is a pastel.  He is a Cuban refugee who finally got him and his family out and is now living in Toronto.  The lies you tell yourself to exist it the theme here. Just spoke to me.

I also bought this photograph by Mike Brodie.  A series of very raw photographs that Brodie took while traveling with a bunch of young hobos in the Northwest.  Very powerful.  Yossi Millo Gallery.  I have bought a few things from Yossi over the years.  He has a great eye.

There were paintings and prints from Harland Miller throughout the show.  This one is pretty funny.

This sculpture just spoke to me.  It is a funny thing how you walk through a show and you are drawn to the most random things.  The artist is Marcus Harvey, the piece is called Mr. Punch at the Other Criteria Gallery in London.

Love this Snowman.  He is like 8 feet tall.  Tony Tasset, Kavi Gupta gallery in Berlin.

Beautiful painting.  Marius Bercea at Blain Southern.

I am a huge fan of Alec Soth.  I really need to buy one of his pieces. Brilliant photographer.  This is not typical of his work although I am not so sure he does anything typical.  

This is called the Cake.  It is a painting.  Rafael Carnerio at Lucianobrito from Sao Paulo.

They also have this piece which I might go back for.  Fydor Pavlov-Andreevich.  Ipanema Under the Snow.

As always, just a treat to walk around and see what is happening in the art world...and of course if you can pick up a piece. 

 

 

 

Thomas Zipp at Harris Lieberman

What I have found over the years is that artists tend to not be singularly dimensional when it comes to their field.  Photographers are also musicians, Painters are also photographers, etc.  Thomas Zipp is multi-dimensional.  Harris Lieberman just opened the show of his work over the weekend and it will run through mid-March.

What drew me in was the paintings.  They are thought provoking with all the words running through each piece.  I particularly love this piece.

And this piece.

At the installation there is also photography of his to see.  Yet this is the most interesting is that in the middle of the gallery is an engineering project.  A bicyclist peddles around these drums and bells.  The energy created by bicyclist plays the instruments.  It is pretty cool.  It could be a childrens paradise.

Definitely worth stopping by for a peek. 

Last day in Tokyo

There is so much to do in Tokyo but I think that four days was just the right amount for a first time visit.  I am sure that there are plenty of other places we could have seen and some of them were on our list but in the end we did what we could do.  

We started the day off at the Mitsukoshi Department store.  This is amazing piece of sculpture is on the first floor.  We came to see the food halls.  To me, there is nothing quite like a great food hall.  Harrods did it first decades ago and it appears that since then everyone has got into the game.  This particular food hall was amazing.

What is so incredible is the detail to packaging and presentation.  We just walked around.  Here are some highlights.  Tempura.

Sushi sandwiches.

Make your own sushi packages.

Black bean sweets

Green tea desserts

Dumplings

Kimchi

Lotus root

Mountain of salmon roe

Had to taste a few dumplings.

We then went to Takishamaya which has a food hall in the basement too.  The store was totally disappointing.  Takishamaya in NYC was an incredible store.  Really well curated with items that you can not get anywhere else especially their jewelry department.  I was so sad when they closed.  The Takishamaya in Tokyo is like going to Macys.  Nothing unique at all.  Alas.

We had to go to the bathroom and I just had to take a photo of the Japanese style toilet.  They are very into their toilets here.  Most of them have heated seats.  They also have an entire menu of things you can do with your toilet seat including massage on the Western toilets.  

Next stop is Tokyu Hands.  There are a few around the city.  The pen section is insane and so are their stickers.  Pens are big here.

Muji was next.  This Muji is huge and is located on the 2nd floor of a building that has the store Loft in the ground floor.  Muji is an interesting store.  They have their own label on everything.  Lots of pens, food products, furniture and clothes.  

Lunch time.  We went to Sushi Kanesaka located in the basement of a building in the Ginza area.  We sat next to three Japanese business men.  Made me think of mid-town NYC.  Our chef was Shinji Kanesaka.  We began with a small salad of seaweed, thinly sliced shiso and I believe thinly sliced radishes with a soy based sauce.  It was the perfect way to start the meal.  Simple with clean flavors.

First piece was snapper.

Amber jack.  

Check out this piece of tuna.  

Getting ready for the flight of tuna.

Tuna.

Toro.

Abalone.

Tiger shrimp.

Mackarel.

Spanish Mackarel.

Small shrimp.

Salmon roe.

Gooey clam.

Uni.

Eel.

Dried sweet roll ( not sure what was in it ) and a piece of egg that was like eating custard.  Phenomenal meal.  The size of each piece was just perfect.  Each flavor just lingered in your mouth.  Wow.

Next stop was Tobin Ohashi Gallery.  All the galleries are closed at this time of the year so we have been getting private showings.  The two men who own the gallery couldn't be nicer.  One of them is from Boston and has been living in Tokyo for 25 years.  The other grew up in the south of Japan.  They are charming.  This is a wood sculpture with nails driven into it.  The artist is Yusuke Nishi.  I really like this piece.

This Chinese artist is Zhu Wei.  This silkscreen print is of a past dictator.

These pencil drawings are by Masumi Yoshida.  A young Japanese artist drawing people that represent modern Japan.  

Last stop of the day was Dover Street Market.  DSM is one of my favorite stores in London.  The one in Tokyo is similar.  Really well curated mixture of clothes and accessories.  I am a big fan and am looking forward to them opening in NYC in 12/13 on Lexington and 30th street.

Back to the hotel before dinner.

 

More on Chicago

I came to Chicago because Jessica is working on her photography thesis.  I was happy to come along.  All the restaurants I chose was because you could make a reservation.  There are many that I wanted to try but I did not want to deal with waiting.  Like NYC, the new places do not take reservations.  I am not a fan because I really hate to wait and particularly when you travel I like to know what we are doing after a full day. 

The first night we went to The Savoy.  Cute restaurant with a bar atmosphere in the back which is where we sat.  They have tons of cocktails all with absinthe and it seems to be the thing to get there.  So we did.  This is called Isle of Man which is like a Manhattan.  Really not my thing so a few sips and I was done.

We split the tuna tartare with yuzu sauce and fried wontons.  Pretty good. 

Oysters came out next.  Took quite awhile go get these.  We were actually wondering if they had put in the order.

I had a maple mustard glazed salmon with root vegetables and brussel sprouts.  Quite good. 

Jessica has the pan seared halibut with black forbidden rice, shitake mushrooms. shishito peppers and a grilled tomatila salsa.  Also really good.  A great neighborhood place located in Wicker Park. 

We got up the next morning and walked over to the Museum of Contemporary Art.  This piece in front is fantastic by Martin Creed. I hope they keep it there permanently. 

There were a few installations.  This one is a piece by Jimmy Robert.  The type written words say Against Angst on a crumbled piece of paper.  An interesting exhibit.

We went to a photography store and got a few things Jessica needed before going back for her shoot.  It is really great watching what she does.  Her whole thought process behind what she is trying to show and learn from is very cool.

That night we went to Piccolo Sogno Due for dinner.  Definitely an older persons crowd.  Jessica had to be the youngest in there by easily 20 years.  We split a few appetizers to start.  Crudo with grapefruit.  Nothing great.

Mare.  Seafood roasted in the wood oven with arugula salad and tomatoes.  Prawns, octopus, clams, mussels and calamari. 

I had a whole roasted turbot which they filleted for me.  Seriously buttery but since we had indulged in a bottle of the Sagrantino di Montefalco everything just tasted delicious.

Jess has the monkfish which was fine too.   

A little dessert and back to the hotel to bed. 

Matthew Corones

When Matthew was living in NYC and going to school at the Cooper Union school of Art, we met.  I impressed with his work and bought a piece.  It is the piece above.  I love this piece.  It is bright, colorful and just makes me smile.

Matthew moved back to his hometown in Iowa.  He got his MFA from Iowa State University. He has kept up with me over the years. At one point he was making these awesome photos of baseball fields.  . 

Recently he had an installation in downtown Des Moines as part of Art Stop.  He created these "stained glass" windows in the John and Mary Pappajohn Education Center that had already appeared in the Iowa Artists 2011 event. 

The project was partially funded by local funds and the other part was funded on Kickstarter.  I love that he keeps in touch.  It is great to see that he has grown as an artist and getting to do some interesting projects.  It is also a bonus he was able to easily raise the money on Kickstarter.

Check out his site.  Very cool stuff. 

Is it Eric Cahan or Hiroshi Sugimoto?

I purchased a piece of Eric Cahan's work called Amagansett Dunes.  The photo is above.  He has a sky series from beaches around the globe.  All beautiful, colorful and serene.  He works out of a shared space in Dumbo where a variety of relatively well known artists work.  Super cool space. 

Ends up that Hermes contacts Eric about his photos for a series of scarves.  Makes sense as he actually has been contacted by more than a handful of retailers before.  He sends them a bunch of jpegs, etc. He never hears back from them.

Fast forward he he sees that Hermes launched a series of scarves with supposed work from Hiroshi Sugimoto.  Sugimotos work does not look like Erics nor has he really even used color in his work.  He actually works out of the same space that Eric does.  The photo on the left is a piece of Sugomotos work.

Eric is not going to go after Hermes.  He is not even going to do anything because he can't afford the lengthy legal process but I can certainly write about it.   

I am not saying that these scarves are Erics work but they do look eerily close to it and nothing ike Sugimotos work but I will let you decide.  One of the scarves is on the left. 

 

Eric Firestone Gallery

Eric Firestone is a gallery in East Hampton.  It has been there for three years now.  Eric Firestone is the man behind the gallery.  He grew up in Miami went to University of Arizona for college and basically didn't leave for the next twenty years where he established himself in the art world.  He decided it was time to make his mark on the east coast about three years ago and set up shop in East Hampton although certainly works with people in the city too. The piece above is from Gregory Johnston.

Super smart guy who has a great eye and a creative bend.  I took the tour last week.  We started talking and before I knew it we were down in the basement seeing the other artists he represents including the next show that is going up on August 11th. The piece above is by Eric Cahan, we own one a piece  of his work. 

Right now the exhibit is a combination of artists.  I happen to love this shot although not easy to see from my angle and the reflection. 

This piece is from the artist Julia Chiang. 

Made of candy rings.  Over time they drip down and then you are left with empty candy rings with drips on the floor.  Getting a trough for it to hang on would make the most sense and then spray it with something to insure it doesn't fall apart. 

Eric owns an entire estate of an artist.  Of course I can't recall his name but his work is pretty awesome.

This piece is from an emerging artist.  It is called Man of Steel.

This small Fantastik piece is from Anh Duong.  You can see the rest of the storage area from this shot.

Next exhibit coming up is called Parts and Services.  Pieces around the car world.  All of these paintings are colors of foreign cars.  They are pretty sweet.  Colors are awesome.

Love the collection of artists that he represents.  I am more into the emerging artists than the emerged and Eric has a good balance. 

Last day in Paris

Sunday in Paris is very mellow.  Not a lot if open and many of the restaurants are closed.  The US used to be like that but no longer.  There is something charming about it but it can also be annoying.  We began the day at Carette for breakfast.  We had been before and Josh reminded me that I didn't like it but didn't recall.  He was right.  Totally over-rated. 

We went there for breakfast because it is right down the street from Palais de Tokyo.  Love this museum.  They recently re-opened after a renovation.  I love this photo of the Eiffel Tower which is in the neighborhood.

The museum is located in a structure where the World Fair was held in the early part of the 20th century.  This sculpture is hanging from the ceiling when you walk in. It is called "The Blind Leading The Blind" by Peter Buggenhout.

The exhibit was called Intense Proximity.  Their 3rd contemporary triennial.  I found most of the work really out there.  Fascinsting, compelling and wild stuff.

I might of loved the space more than the art but a museum that is absolutely worth visiting.

Josh took off to see a friend.  Fred and I just walked around and took in the last few hours.  We met Josh around 7pm Les Fines Gueules.  We had been there before.  Not much has changed since we were there last time so not as exciting this time around. 

Tomato salad with parm and olive oil

Veal steak with tiny mushrooms.

After dins we went to a sports bar that was PACKED and watched the finals of soccer tournament that has kept Fred and Josh entertained through Europe.  Perfect end to a great vacation.  

This is a bit old but just realized i never posted it...