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My journey as an artist has been anything but linear. Although I loved the idea of a creative life, I had little going for me in that department aside from encouragement from my art teachers when I was younger. I didn’t go to art school and photography didn’t even become part of the journey until after the birth of my daughter. Feeling compelled to document her life, I bought a used camera and taught myself to use it to document this new life I’d hoped to make better than my own. I made a darkroom in my garage and spent almost every night experimenting as she slept. Finding that space to play with my artistic voice became like a drug and emboldened me to try all kinds of unlikely projects, none of which felt particularly inspiring until I was offered the chance to shoot stills for an independent film in Los Angeles. I arrived on day one with my beat up old camera and was told to find the cinematographer, who just happened to be the late and legendary John Alonzo (Chinatown). On day two he called me over to the grip truck, lent me his gear and told me to “stick close.” Thankfully, I did, and basically came away with a first-class education and a direction to head toward. I had no idea how to make a living with photography but knew then and there it was something I wanted to pursue further. 

I began to worry that I wasn’t doing my daughter any favors by dreaming, so I moved to LA to find work in photography. I managed to land a temp position answering phones at an entertainment firm in Beverly Hills. Within a few short weeks, I started filling in as photo editor, eventually taking over the position. I left four years later as director of the photo department, producing for various big name film, tv, and gaming clients, working closely with celebrity photographers and shooting many of the campaigns myself.

The culture of celebrity can be lucrative but holds little interest for me, however. I was always moonlighting on various personal projects and side hustles, shooting various nightscapes, avoiding anything with people. It was during these nightly escapades that I began to observe and appreciate the ever-changing and ephemeral nature of art of the streets. Hollywood was especially peppered with murals and graffiti, and although I was always working to omit their artwork in my photographs, my thoughts always drifted toward the person behind the work, their enduring spirit, flying in the face of traditional ideas around art, where it’s seen, and who gets to see it. I set out to photograph as many of these elusive figures as possible. 

Seven years later, Heroes & Villains (Zero+ Publishing) was published, just as my daughter was about to turn 16. I was thinking about my next project and she’d recently announced her plans to pursue a professional career in ballet. I asked if she’d be interested in sitting for a more formal portrait. Our time in the studio that day was pivotal in many ways. Having always loved dance — I had been photographing local dance artists initially for the Oregon Cultural Trust, and then for some of the dance companies directly. For me, capturing these artists out of context, not dancing, but simply being was something I wanted to explore. My daughter, with all the hopes and dreams she represented, was the perfect choice to begin that endeavor.

You resist being labeled as a photographer. How do you define yourself? 

Is it cheeky for me to say I’ve no interest in defining myself? While photography is my current medium, the idea that it defines me wouldn’t be true. I am many things. A dancer, a mother, a friend. “Photographer” seems so limiting. I guess I’d prefer to be thought of as someone who cultivates relationships with like minded collaborators? I’m interested in portraying someone as their best self. I like to strip away affectation and expected scenarios. In many ways I feel like an anthropologist who speculates on the future. I especially enjoy working with artists on the cusp.

What kind of works do you create? What do you like to photograph?

I make portraits. My approach, while on the surface may look simple and formalist, is a bit more nuanced and collaborative. I enjoy spending time within a specific genre of artists and having time to get to know someone before we work together. I like to immerse myself in a scene or a movement. I follow my interests, basically. Not in a social media way, but in a one-on-one kind of way. 

What makes one photograph stand out from another? 

That would depend on the viewer, I think. If you’re asking about my editing process, then that’s pretty simple. When I’m working with someone, there is almost always a moment where they’ve let their guard down. Those images tend to stand out for me.

What inspires you?

This is a question I find difficult to answer, mainly because it really depends on the day I’m asked. Other artists inspire me is the short answer. The long answer could lead me down a rabbit hole, but I generally like to read nonfiction. Mostly memoirs and history books. Right now I’m reading Mediocre by Ijeoma Ouelo. 

You are from the East Coast, how did you land up in Los Angeles? What do you like about LA and its art scene?

I grew up in a small town in Maryland and quickly became disenchanted with what I felt were limited prospects for my future. I did what any normal teenager does and sought out adventure, usually hopping on the train to DC or Baltimore to see bands, art exhibitions, or hang out on M Street in Georgetown. I’m close to my Aunt, who was an artist in New York, and when she moved to LA, I ventured out to spend what I expected to be a few weeks helping out. In a relatively short time, I felt surrounded by prospects, the energy and ease really meshed with my personality. LA has a reputation as a place for reinvention and possibility. For me, it continues to deliver, especially within art and culture. While sometimes seeming to dwell in the shadow of Hollywood, I believe the opposite is true. Instead, I think the scene here flies in the face of it.

What is the focus of your current practice?

Mainly two projects with the dance community: one focused on a single artist over several years, and the other, a more comprehensive overview of dance artists who come through or live in the LA area. 

How did Covid-19 impact your art?

Given that my work largely relies on human interaction in the studio and dance artists touring, the shooting component of these projects ground to a halt. Compelled by the state of things and using this as a backdrop, I dove into the archive, noticing and experimenting with themes and patterns that reflect what I feel is our collective state of mind. I also created an outdoor studio at home and collaborated with friends and family on some editorial projects. 

What are your future projects?

As a result of the experimentation with some of my existing imagery, I’ve been learning new software to integrate these stills into what I’m hoping will be something visually interesting.

Otherwise, I have some ideas but given the uncertainty around everything, I really don’t know.

Tatiana Wills’ Website

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I’ve been known to call myself a most outgoing hermit. Maybe a thought shared by other artists, I don’t know? I do love people and being around others, but I also cherish my quiet time to reflect and simply observe the world around me. I do stay informed with news and current culture and events, but am the kind of person who likes to talk first-hand in working to know what is real – the under the skin feelings, and in the heart stuff, that drives us as individuals. So yea, I like to listen as much as I like to talk and create.

Perhaps it’s an outcome of an adolescence where I never really fit into any one group. I bounced from clique to clique in wanting to find myself (I guess, a normal thing for many teens). Or maybe it was the carry forward from a 20s when I was in demand and labeled a wiz-kid artist, my eye for fashion and special effects feeding my ego in my quest for approval. Or could it be the subconscious of a somewhat emotionally suppressed upbringing? Not that there wasn’t affection or that I faced any abuse in my childhood. I had parents who took good care of me, even to the point of spoiling and supporting me in just about everything (yep, even the police raided high school parties and all). But with all dignity recognized to my parents and sisters, deep emotional or spiritual conversations where a rarity in the home of my childhood. And not putting you in the shoes of a therapist, and for the integrity of sharing what makes this creative mind tick, something inside me has pushed me to share this in defining my origins of why I am so fascinated to better understand the dynamics of human connection, and I’m guessing the reason why I got into arts in the first place.

You are an established photographer in the fashion industry and entertainment world in LA, where and when did you start your journey?

I’m the youngest child with two older sisters, one 8 years, and the other 11 years older. There was always a distance between us because of the age gap. Plus, they both left home by the time I was 13, so, in a way, I spent a big part of development years kind of like an only child in a British household (sarcasm, humor, table manners and all). My father was a dreamer and survivor, who as did my mother, lived through the blitz and mid-century anti-Semitism. Their example to me was a blend of move forward care taking, stiff upper lip thinking, and keep-it-quite intimacy. So I learned early to dream quietly, to push through whatever was in front of me, and to be independent. I know… a strange way to answer a question of how I got into fashion and entertainment, but relevant for defining what I do, how I live, what I see, and why I create.

So per that fashion thing? I don’t really consider myself a fashion photographer… probably more of a portraitist, beauty, and observational photographer (and I’m not describing myself as a fine artist for a reason. I’ll get to that in a minute). To start, I’ve always been driven by emotion, spiritual connection, and, for better or for worse, the feelings I absorb from others. Scary at its worst; a rush beyond all rushes at its best. So to talk about my journey is to expose both the blessings and phantoms that drive me in all that I do. If you had to define me in a simple phrase, you could describe me as an openhearted wall dropper– more interested in who a person is and how we relate, rather than what they do or how deep their resume is. It’s weird; I even look at inanimate objects with the same perspective.

Regarding that “I’m not a fine artist” statement, well, it just feels too constrained and limiting. A lesson I’ve learned throughout my life and career, that being, every time I try to categorize myself, I lose myself. And the result, my work becomes forced, and my imagination becomes replaced by looking at category rather than into my heart, or better yet, toward the heart of others. Most likely, (that besides my subsiding hairline); is the stuff that keeps me young and breathing. Never wanting to stop my quest for the unexpected discoveries of life and intimacy in trusting my relationship with others. An outlook that prompts me to reach into my fears and comforts to face, and own, what I intake, see and feel in every chapter of my evolution. The stuff that comes at me becoming the literal source material I harness for all that I do, and in how I communicate with those I work with.

So here’s the strange artistic dilemma, the conflict that never fails me to see and feel the world around me, and better yet, trust and own emotions within myself. As I see it, the greatest key to vulnerability with others, as well as the hangman’s noose I’m always muscling through. It’s not an easy thing to be in the moment in expressing what’s in my heart. I’ve had some pretty amazing moments with people, as well as some painfully embarrassing slip-ups. But I accept this life view with open arms, for I believe that living on the edge of open-heartedness, is where branches to honestly create can grow to their fullest. Best I can explain it. All in all, it just happens, but as I sit here thinking about it, I guess it’s all about emotional integrity (not genius, concept, bravado, or over-production), and with this acceptance, my feeling is, the purest place for art and expression to happen has to come from trusting ourselves. Like I said, not so easy a thing to do, but a discipline I am now just starting to fully realize and own. And per that journey thing, I’m not sure if it ever started for me, or will even end anywhere in the near future. It’s more like a soulful thing that is simply part of me from the inception of who I am. And in that, even when life sucks, I still feel purpose in what I see, do and create. So, I’ll simply say this, The journey is truly the present. I know, sometimes I sound like such a guru!

How do you like to work with models and other creative minds?

Most importantly, I do my best to divorce myself of all preconceptions and predictions. To realize that everyone I work with, just like I do, brings to the table more than what is first viewed on the outside; regardless of what may seem apparent. I like to be organic, spontaneous, and live by the mantra of Less-is-More. Especially when it comes to photographing a person. I think we all have hidden children dwelling within our hearts, and each of us are carrying so many joys and pains that we are dealing with; and, to be able to tap into the intimacy of a quiet moment with another person, is something that I am at a loss to fully explain. I’ve had a lot of people open up to me in the most humbling ways. So in honor of them, I feel it my responsibility to do the same.

Photography is a very powerful drug. I think that’s why it gets abused in so many ways– the “can you drop your top a little bit” stuff that really infuriates me. My role, as I see it, is to build trust and protect all those in front of my lens, in my life, or under my pen. And if I broke that rule, I know I would not sleep at night, and the integrity of my work would cease. For me, it’s all about sincerity, empathy, and honor in viewing others. Models, Creative minds, the guy at the supermarket who screamed at me, whoever; and in that, is the place I find the deepest creativity, peace to openly interact, and ability to be in the moment.

Would you please describe for us the different seasons/phases you have been involved in with your photography? Where do you see the evolution of photography progressing towards?

Boy, you do ask the probing questions. I’m going to take a second to look at this from an external perspective. Promise I’ll get back to the direct answer, just feels a little less self-serving, and maybe a better way to get to the truest answer. I get the opportunity to talk to a lot of artists, students, and creators, in that, 35 plus years of countless conversations and dealing with a vast set of perspectives, lifestyles, and personalities. The full range of what can be expected within the artistic community. From the kind and fulfilled to the lost, depressed, angry, and disenchanted. So when I share my perspectives, know that they are a mix of my own personal observations of other artists grounded by my quest to find my place as a human and creator. I’ve been rich and in demand, I’ve also been homeless and forgotten. Weathered through a lifetime of swinging doors in navigating my own set of personal, economic, social, political, cultural, and professional challenges. Each phase affecting me in all areas of who I am, how I feel about myself, and my dreams of where I am going. Being a creator is a fragile thing, we live in an A plus B never equals C, or anywhere near the same outcome vocation. Add that to the pressures put on us by our own fulfilled and unfulfilled dreams, the opinions and prejudices put on us by the critiques and attitudes of others, and it becomes easy to find ourselves wandering in the weeds. Yep, I’m one of those philosophical guys. The talker and presenter, but still, the social hermit I trust to keep me centered. But here is the silver lining of it all. A consideration brought to my attention by a stranger I once photographed and interviewed on a Los Angeles street. A clinical psychologist, she asked, “how much of what you do you consider therapy?” I’ll leave it at that. If you are truly a creator, you know exactly what I’m saying. So there it is, Again, back to my earlier thoughts regarding the journey. For me, the season is never-ending, and in looking back, all the feelings and knowledge of what I’ve personally been through are all equal subtexts to all that I create now. Per the future, well, that’s an organic thing that only time will prove what will come to be.

You are currently expanding your art to the new horizons of fine art. Would you please tell us more about this expansion?

First, thank you for calling my work art. Some don’t view the photographic process quite that way. And please know how thankful I am for all the commercial projects I have been, and continue to be, commissioned to produce. Also, gratitude to the creative minds, and friendships, who have trusted me with their vision, reputation, and livelihood. But the rawness and vulnerability to create wholly personal works is a truly remarkable therapy that is beyond assignment, storyboard, or layout. And now pushing into my 50s I have so much emotional history to pull from. A gift and responsibility to care for after having spent a lifetime honing the creative skillset I’ve evolved. So in this opportunity of fine art, I have walked into a rebirth of sorts. A release to put my rubber to the road in listening away from all expectations; the ones of my own making, and those programmed into my head based on the compliments and rejections that come my way. And being a glutton for self-growth and a good old emotional shake-up, expanding into the world of fine art is a natural progression for me. I’ve dabbled with it over time, but never with an honest effort. But something about now feels so not forced. And to be the creator I’m claiming to be, to ignore the promptings of my deeper self would be a sin against my evolution. It’s an exposed and financially risky place to be. Yet in the challenge, I have to admit this is probably the purest and most honest heart-set I’ve felt in a long time, and in looking back, I can now clearly see, why I had to wait until this point in my life to start this journey toward what I hope will be a valuable and meaningful chapter.

You are creating a new series of work, called HEAL. Can you share with us what inspired this new series of work and what you hope to accomplish with your message to the world?

I’ve always been inspired by music, something I can see when I relax my mind and close my eyes. I know, sounds so cliché. But it’s a real thing for me, and in opening up in this interview, a part of my psyche I feel compelled to expose. It’s a bizarre thing that happens in my head, it’s not like feeling the rhythm, beat, or cadence of a musical piece, it’s a visual experience. At its fullest leaving me dream like control to create, view, and move dimensional pictures in my head. And per the music itself, I’ve even awoken at night with fully composed symphonic orchestrations building in my head, but without the musical skills, they are trapped there. So with this reveal, can I put the question so many ask on the table? If you could do it again, what would you do? For me, knowing what I know now, I might have studied musical composition. Perhaps I’d be a composer or conductor now. But, no regrets here, love where I am and what I do. OK, onward to “HEAL.”

It started very vicariously as being a father to an emerging and very disciplined ballet dancer; I’ve been graced to meet some amazing artists. And in this experience, I’ve fallen in love with the movement, emotional depth, physicality and musicality of traditional and contemporary ballet. A trust that is allowing me to connect my emotional self and musicality in a profoundly sensory, emotional, and spiritual way, and the deeper I push into letting go to the project, the more organic and personal the project is becoming.

HEAL is a double meaning title, one part reference to the physicality of dance and reference to foot position, but more passionately, the emotional implications of the title. For it is, that in all of us are hidden, unexpressed or dreamed for feelings, and yes, even reason for healing. And who better to emote the fullest depth of human emotion and relationship than a dancer, who in a most touching way, can own and emote a feeling from head to toe. My hope is, that as more-and-more take the time to look into the frozen frames of the Heal photos, that they may too reflect on what they see in that photo. Perhaps better yet, to relate to what they feel from that photo, and from there, to reflect on how they treat themselves as well as those around them. As the title suggests: to HEAL whatever is in need of forgiveness, to accept the reality we are all dealing with a unique set of inner joys and pains, and to be released to our own calmness by knowing that not one of us is alone in dealing with our feelings and relationships.

And as per what the most amazing choreographer, dancer, and my good friend, Shamika Jones suggested as she helped me conceive the project, “There is grace in that.”

What do you like about photography?

A still frame, if not overly manipulated, is about as honest as artwork can become, especially in regard to capturing a human portrait. There is no cover-up for misplaced technique. No secondary chance to replay a moment. And in the telling of emotion and form, there is nothing like the pureness of an honestly captured photograph, and the larger that photograph is reproduced, the deeper it can be examined. The harder it is to make it lie. But that’s just the final destination. What’s most captivating is the process of making that photo. Now, I’ve directed film, produced, and photographed large commercial productions. Told a ton of stories through both still and moving picture. Processes and adrenaline rushes for sure, but again, to create a meaningful still frame is an experience like no other. For me, as you might presume from what I’ve shared so far, the emotional and spiritual part of photography is the drive for why I create. The self-growth and listening to others all a big part of why I make pictures, and admittedly, a selfish therapy. An important corner stone to the person I am, the human I want to be, and my link to a medium that has, and continues to, guide me to openly and deeply look at the world and people around me.

Who is your audience for your photography?

OK, here you go, and perhaps a welcome surprise. A short answer, I don’t know. Like I’ve framed, I’m a work in progress.

Black and white photography vs color photography. Do you have a preference? And if so, which one and why? And what does the choice depend upon?

Without a doubt, for portraiture, Black and White all the way. It does not lie and if done right, captures the purest of emotion and expression. I do like color for drama, and for some of the still life work I’m doing. A little saturated color does a lot to deepen the depth and texture and history of an object (Yes, inanimate things have a connection to someone too. Hey, I can say that. After all, I’m a weirdo artist).

You must be thinking of some future projects. Could you describe them to us? Will these projects involve more fine art photography?

I’m one of those people who has a mind that never stops moving. The guy who writes into the early morning hours, or wakes up at 2 am to take a photo of a plastic gas can. Yes, the dude who can drive his family nuts with what if’s, and did you see that’s. Give me a Styrofoam cup, and I’ll turn it at different angles, look at it in different light, and then make a claim that the cup has a unique history and story to tell. I know, super nutty, huh? But that’s just me. Take it or leave it, and luckily enough for me, I have friends and a family that let me live in this world that I see. Per those future projects, whatever they look like, my guess is, most likely they will be centered around opening conversations which get us all to consider what might be in the hearts and minds of one another, or ideas that push us to examine ourselves, or at it’s least, to make some sort of statement per the impact we as humans have upon each other as well as the world we share. Stuff like my “Dreams” project, where I film people telling about the dreams they have in their sleep, or the photographs of “Rubbish” and “In•an•i•mate åbjekts” that tell of our human footprint and our impact on the planet. Even the documentaries I’m directing and producing focus on what is, “Under The Hood” in each of us.

You host a podcast called Sidewalk Ghosts. What is it about?

Got to say, I love you tons for asking about Sidewalk Ghosts. It’s more than a podcast, it is an effort of purpose that has reshaped my life for the better. And my most sincere hope is that it will do the same for all who the project touches. Bottom line, in 2011 I challenged myself, regardless of where I was, or how I felt, to interview and photograph a stranger every day for 365 consecutive days. Not one day missed as I blogged an essay and the photographs for the world to read and see. Three months in it caught fire as WordPress featured it as one of the top ten daily blogs to follow, and as comments and subscribers from around the globe flowed in, I fell in love with the world. Now, almost a decade later, 100s more interviews behind me, a book written, a non-profit formed, a speaking outreach and podcast growing, Sidewalk Ghosts has become a mission I hope will touch the hearts and minds of many. A community-forming advocacy based on three fundamental principles:

1, “There is an extraordinary story living within each of us.”

2, “If we seek to truly see each other and grow our connections from a place of sincerity, empathy, and acknowledgment of others; what we create, and the impact we leave, will have long-lasting reach and effect.”

3, “Every moment of every day… your individual impact truly does matter to someone else in the world.”

Now as I approach the 10th anniversary of this journey, I find myself grounded as an ambassador to what I feel a very timely and much needed message. One that, as an artist and human, has helped me to be more committed to recognizing what I have to contribute through and beyond my medium. The payoff (if I have to look for one), my life and work are becoming even more balanced and purpose-based. An awakening I have to consider when I think about just how far the works I am leaving behind will reach (ie, fine art, film works, books, articles, posts, speaking, podcasts, and outreach).

Leaving behind? I know, sounds morbid and maybe a bit self-aggrandizing. But in trusting you, here is my motivation. I’m not on a quest for fame or on a downward spiral toward my deathbed. I’ve got a lot of good years to go and am in my creative prime. So to the world, I pledge, “my friends, you’ll see no razor to my ear.” But here is the thing I wish to share with my artistic allies. A notion I wished I grabbed onto in my 20’s (but even then, I was doing all I knew with what I knew). And not standing on the guru’s soapbox, I’m humbling myself to be as vulnerable as I can in this written interview. So, I stand exposed (OK, I hear a snicker from the back of the room in that statement). On a course to do all I can to be true to the artistic, healed, and damaged voice within myself. My integrity on the line as I set an example to my family, and the sobering mirror to do my best to stand with credibility in all that I do and say; and knowing there are only two unavoidable obstacles, those being, taxes, and death, that when I meet my maker, I wish to be as close as I can to debt-free. And in that, to know, that I did my best to honor the gifts of art that I was given; and if lucky enough, to know I have forwarded the same to you. Pass it on at www.sidewalkghosts.com

www.richardradstone.com

The post Into the Mind and Heart of Photographer and Artist Richard Radstone – A Most Outgoing and Gregarious Hermit appeared first on Artiholics.

Before we get into the informational questions, could you tell us something about you that would be surprising and unique? Tell us about yourself and a curious fact in your life.

I am the only boy of a family of eight children. My little 5′ tall Irish fairy mother gave birth to a girl every year for 5 years straight. My father was working as a salesman for a pharmaceutical company. He was injecting my mother with Vitamin B and Folic acid to “build” her blood back up after all those babies. They did not know my mother was pregnant with me when she was receiving large doses of Vitamin B and folic acid. The result was that I had an energy level unmatched by anybody else.

What an interesting start to your life. What was your pathway like to become a photographer? When did you decide to become a photographer?

I studied radio, television, and film at Pennsylvania State University. I worked in local community television production for a few years. I left the industry and returned to pursue neon body-painting photographic art. The pathway to my art I cut for myself. I do not like to follow and copy other people’s creativity. I prefer to invent my own. Perfecting the technique was accomplished with much trial and error.

Please tell us what the inspiration is for your photography.

I like to make beautiful things, which I do through stimulating other people’s creativity and inspiration. Everyone has a creative side. I attempt to access and amplify it through my art.

Describe for us what is “Glow-Art”? And how do you create it?

GLOW-ART is a portal to experience the ethereal through the use of everyday earthly items. It is a God-source inspired photographic art. I do not create it. I push the buttons; the creativity comes from above, I am simply the conduit. I created GLOW-ART.COM to expand the conscious and the unconscious feelings and thoughts of my audience.

How do you create your designs? Can you tell us about your creative process?

To create the design I blend contrasting colors. The contrast between the colors is what brings out the thought evoking process.

You are a photographer and now you are also a fashion designer. How did you connect these two artistic worlds? What inspired you?

Transforming from body painting photographic artist to fashion designer was a financial decision. I do not want to make an income from photography the way other photographers do. I chose to cut my own path. Fashion design I believe is a natural avenue to promote art. The fashion and art worlds are both beauty driven, so merging the two is a perfect decision.

You recently have been part of NY Fashion Week. How was that experience for you and your career?

I loved New York Fashion Week. I love all fashion shows. New York happens to be driving distance from my home in York, Pennsylvania. I pursue any and all fashion shows I can afford and can travel easily. Fashion shows have an amazing energy you don’t find anywhere else. The models, the designers, the photographers, the audience are always very positive and vibrant.

COVID-19 is having an impact on every facet of life. How is the Covid-19 situation impacting you?

I maximized the quarantine time to create, design, and market my product from home. I shot photography quite a bit less and less and built much more apparel.

What is on the horizon for you concerning your creative outlets of photography and fashion apparel?

I will continue to bring awareness of  GLOW-ART to people through fashion shows, and photoshoots with other photographers and their models. I hope to bring awareness of my apparel through involving other more traditional photographers and BY working with models from their area. I will happily bring a garment bag full of GLOW-ART apparel to a photo shoot to enhance the work of other photographers and models.

Looking farther down the road into the future, are there any future projects percolating, either in your current fields or with an eye to branching out even further?

I am building a studio with a dark GLOW-ART studio and other spaces for more traditional photography. In my studio I am building model’s quarters to host traveling models. This enhances the ability of the model and regional photographers to create by having the model and studio in one place with all the tools to make great photographic art.

Ron Vestal: GLOW-ART.COM

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What is Clio Art Fair? Can you please describe Clio Art Fair to me?

Clio Art Fair is a marketplace that allows independent artists to come into direct contact with insiders without the presence of any intermediary. The project was born when I was living in New York and working as an art critic, I had come into contact with many independent artists capable of producing quality works but who had difficulty finding exhibition spaces and therefore an audience of insiders; this was because we had little time or little experience to devote to our promotion. Starting from this need, we built a tailor-made fair where artists can promote themselves, and where gallery owners will not be present as exhibitors but are invited to participate as spectators.

When did you create the Clio Art Fair? And how many editions have taken place so far?AB: In our first 6 years of life, Clio had 11 editions of the fair and hosted 541 artists representing 5 continents and 35 countries.

What kind of works do you showcase at the fair?

All sorts of artworks from independent artists and collectives from all over the world. Artists have been freed up to use different materials and media and to deviate from accepted art practice definitions. Clio also hosted two special sections: I Want to Go Home, curated by Asya Rotella in March 2019, and A Nest Watching an Avalanche in March 2020.

What makes Clio Art Fair unique?

The logistics services that we are able to make available to our artists is what makes Clio unique. We can offer logistics for the shipment of the works, for installation and also for sale if requested. We have a team of art handlers and very close curators and sellers built over the years. Moreover, during the selection process, our team of curators establishes a dialogue with each artist, preparing in detail the selection and promotion on-site and online of each work.

How did Clio Art Fair grow in the past years?

During this period together, the fair grew exponentially. In the beginning, the fair started on the fifth floor of the Wolf Building on 26th Street, and by 2018, we were organizing our events on street-level storefronts  positioned in the key areas of the city.

Is there a preferred medium of art that has been successful using this method?

It is important for us to have the maximum diversity of media present, site-specific included.

Do you have any particular success stories related to the new types of dialogues that you have created (artists/collectors, artists/curators)?

From 2014 to today we have managed to create a network of returning artists, curators, and collectors. Every edition we meet new friends, people we sometimes hang out with during the year. Our fair is an opportunity for dialogue, sharing, and comparison with people from all over the world.

What are the plans for this year? And how has this pandemic impacted the fair?

Considering the current health situation, we are officially suspending our fair programming for the next 12 months.

Starting with the name chosen for our project, Clio, the muse of history, we have never hidden the Greek and Latin references of our roots. Our culture, although lovingly open to influences from all over the world, which provide for profitable and mutually enriching exchange, continues to have at its core an education that includes the texts of the Old Testament. Our spirituality is experiencing an epochal and ancestral challenge. And these new times have allowed us to dedicate ourselves to the rediscovery of texts that contributed to our education in our youth and have helped us to  rediscover an awareness of how to live in an obligatory period of repose. In biblical times, every seventh year was a “sabbath under the Mosaic law, a time during which the land was allowed to rest. Clio will enter a sabbath of sorts.

When and where will the next editions of Clio Art Fair be taking place?

We have arrived in our seventh year of activity with an awareness that we will be coming to a halt. However, we are ready to announce new developments. Clio, the Manhattan Fair for independent artists, will debut in Venice in June 2021 as a side event of the Biennale, it will then return to NY in September 2021 during the Armory Show and will debut in Los Angeles in February 2022 as a satellite event of Frieze LA. Once this period of emergency is over, we expect a period of freshness, vigor, and additional energy. We are awaiting and planning for an historical awakening.

We are ready to select the artists for our new programming period, and we invite you to submit your works. The application is free. The marketing fee will be waived if you complete the application by December 14, 2020.

With the hope of a profitable and creative sabbatical period, we respect social distancing today, but we will re-hug stronger than ever tomorrow.

https://www.clioartfair.com/

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Photography captures moments in real-time and preserve them through it. A form of art that acts as a window to the past and a way to look back to periods of times and events that created history. A photograph allows the viewer to travel to that specific moment and experience what the photographer tried to capture and convey. It could be a simple memory, a statement, a communication or just a way to tell a story and bring to life a vision of that time.

A photograph is highly influence by the person behind the lens, how the photographer sees the moment, the composition and mostly what is trying to show through the selection of locations, subjects, colors, and methods. For most artists the intention is to produce a photograph that will deliver their intent or will allow the viewer to create their own experience and conclusions.

In Garry Winogrand’s Color exhibition at The Brooklyn Museum, viewers and visitors will find a different side of the artist photography, the less known side, his color photographs. Winogrand was a celebrated photographer. Known for his black and white images, Winogrand was a pioneer of the of “snapshot aesthetics” trend in contemporary art, a trend form around the 1960s in fine art photography consisting on presenting what the photographer saw, casual looks and ordinary living. Winogrand was a figure of his time and a pivotal artist of his generation. According to the press release of Garry Winogrand: Color exhibition, Winogrand used to carry two cameras one with black-and-white film and another with Kodachrome color film, despite not having the resources to produce his color images he still shot them, leaving an unknown and undeveloped work, that now is the center of this exhibition.

As the first exhibition dedicated to Winogrand’s color photography, it presents more than 450 never seen or rarely seen color photographs through seventeen projections in vertical and horizontal points. “Presented in eight thematic sections that highlights Winogrand’s diverse subjects and approaches to color photography” as it was described in the press release. The contrast between the colorful and constant changing slides and the darkness of the gallery room makes it a unique experience to the visitor, a sense of intimacy that allows the viewers to travel through the snaps, the colors and the compositions, to look back to that specific time to recognize and remember their own experiences or to discover a new one. Stories and history not as familiar as the present-day but can still carry an experience, a comparison and distinction to it.

Scenes that seem as everyday life, simple subjects, elements and people who represent that moment in time, leaving a visually compelling experience to the guest making the exhibition a special immersion into Winogrand’s work. The constant changing and movement of the slides give the display a rhythm, engaging the guest and the art in an ingenuous way. Accompanied by a small selection of the artist popular black-and-white photographs the exhibit creates a generous window into the artist photography.

Garry Winogrand (1928-1984) was a renown photographer that defined a generation with his work, creativity, methods and style, originally from a working-class family from the Bronx, New York City, he traveled through New York and the United States capturing with his lens the lives and places of normal America and moments that are now part of his legacy to the world. Winogrand was committed to his unique selection of subjects, large crowds and chaotic places that created a contrast with calmer and less packed scenery, an aesthetic that made him a representation and now a reference in the world of photography.

“Continuing the Museum’s commitment to canon-expanding exhibitions, Garry Winogrand: Color is an exciting opportunity to rethink not only the work of an influential artist but also the history of color photography and its modes of presentation before the 1970” expressed curator Drew Sawyer in the Brooklyn Museum press release.  Garry Winogrand: Color is on view through December 8, 2019, at The Brooklyn Museum.

Written by Monica Herrera

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New York City is a cosmopolitan city, where art museums are one of its biggest attractions for visitors who want to learn about art. The variety of options New York has to offer for those seeking to get in touch with the artistic world is an advantage and privilege for locals and visitors. Now the City has an additional option for people who admire, love and appreciate dogs.

The AKC Museum of the Dog, founded in 1982 in New York City, was later moved to St. Louis County, Missouri. After more than 32 years the museum is back in the City. A museum dedicated to celebrate dogs, their history, influence in society, and to praise the emotional bond between canines and humanity.

A unique place where sightseers will find fine-art paintings from various artists and media. Figurines and artifacts that showcase the history and diversity of dogs and their elements, as well as a substantial library with about 42,000 books and all sort of dog related information that a visitor might want to explore. Including a children section.

The Museum of the Dog according to their website, offers “rotating exhibits featuring objects from its 1700 pieces.” Visitors will discover paintings of famous dogs through history, including painting U.S. Presidents George H. Bush’s dog Millie and George W Bush’s dogs Barney and Miss Beazley. It was reported that former first lady Barbara Bush praised the museum in a letter in 1990. Among other famous dogs, visitants will see Edwar VII’s wire fox terrier Caesar.

As part of the American Kennel Club, an organization considered a leader force in all dogs related matters and advocacy, the museum has growth under their financial support and contribution. “The AKC Museum of the Dog houses one of the largest collections of dog art in the world and is an important part of AKC’s history and future,” expressed Ronald H. Menaker, Chairman of the Board for the American Kennel Club in their press information.

For some art critics, art dedicated to dogs has not being taken serious at times due to the sentimentality attachment, for visitors is a new way to learn and appreciate dogs. The Museum of the Dog has added technology and screens where a digital dog will appear to interact with guests enhancing the visitors experience.

The Museum of the dog located in 101 Park Avenue, entrance on East 40th street, open Tuesday through Sunday.

Written by Monica Herrera

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Almost a year ago, Artiholics covered the debut of Prayers from Los Angeles (“Prayers“) by interviewing one of the key artists who inspired this multi-disciplinary collaboration—Margaret Garcia. See this clip of last year’s documentation of Prayers. On December 17, 2016, artists and musicians are bringing Prayers back to Casa 0101 Theater.

The venue itself has held a 16-year, thriving relationship with the surrounding community of Boyle Heights in Southern California. Since its founding in 2000 by playwright Josefina Lopez (depicted in the first featured image above), Casa 0101 has held a theater-centric role that gradually expanded and also became known for musical performances and visual art shows.  Theater productions still continue to play a major role in Casa 0101 today while a learning center engages children and adults in classes related to writing, acting/improv, singing, and dancing.  LA Weekly calls Casa 0101 the “Best Theater Serving Its Community” in 2016.

Proceeds from the event’s art and ticket sales will support local charities.  This year, attendees can look forward to artwork by Joe Bravo, Brian Grillo, Jimmy Centenio, Heriberto Luna, Bonnie Lambert, and Margaret Garcia.  Other local artists and performers will also join the celebrations. Notably, Prayers will also seek submissions of “miniature art pieces” from the community to be shown in a special exhibition space within the gallery. The organizers of Prayers want a web of different voices. They emphasize the need to share and support one another. This is the time to defend thy neighbor, to be as positive as possible, and to work together in understanding the values in and outside of your community. Fortunately, we have people who know how this can be done using art materials, sound, and performance. Fortunately for us, Prayers from Los Angeles is not going away– it’s only growing stronger.

Casa 0101 is located at 2101 E. 1st Street, Los Angeles, CA 90033.  To participate in the community art exhibit, contact nataasja@prayersfromla.org.  Organizers of this festival may choose to coordinate an art pick up time for interested participants.  Anyone can also bring artwork to Casa 0101 during open hours.  The organizers prefer three days of notice to insure adequate installation time, but anyone may certainly bring art pieces directly to the festival on 12/17/2016. The community art show will be catalogued as part of a new book documenting Prayers from Los Angeles.

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Written by Catarina Chavez

“People call me Tony.”

With these words, humility and true joy, the veteran Tony Vaccaro, (Medal of Honor, Legion of Honour, Medal of Merit) appears at the end of the NY Premiere of the documentary of his life at the National Museum of History. The lucky audience cannot believe their eyes and  cannot do anything but to welcome him with a standing ovation.

Directed by Max Lewkowicz, this film explores the life of 93-year-old Vaccaro, the former life photographer of famous celebrities who as a soldier in WWII chronicled scenes from the frontline including the Omaha Beach landings.

The documentary has the ability to plunge you into one of the most dramatic periods of the 20th century. The result is a punch in the stomach, while it is also a lesson about bravery: Tony Vaccaro, a WWII infantryman,  carried his $47.50 portable 35mm camera into combat, and, in thousands of images, created one of the most comprehensive and intimate records of war.

Through interviews with Pulitzer Prize-winning photographers and Tony Vaccaro himself, this intimate film delves into issues about witnessing and recording conflict, how photography defines the way wars are perceived by the public, and the sheer difficulty of survival while taking photos in a dangerous war zone. The movie, directed by Max Lewkowicz,  will be aired on the HBO channel this coming Nov 14th at 8:00 pm.

The NY celebration of Tony has just begun. The Tony Vaccaro Studio in association with the Monroe Gallery of Photography is pleased to present the first retrospective of Tony’s work in New York City.

The operation has already attracted the attention of several art critics, curators and collectors.

“To know Tony Vaccaro and to be in constant touch with him is a daily refreshing cascade of emotions. People like him are born once every century and I feel honored and lucky to be involved in the recognition of his life, and in the promotion of his studio,” said Alessandro Berni, Sales Manager of the Tony Vaccaro Studio.

In order to remember and to remind us that past mistakes could still happen, the smile of Tony has appeared in front of us, for a night, and his life and his photos will remain among us forever.

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San Francisco, CA – July 26, 2015

Katharine Henning shot a series of delinquent Polaroids for her contribution to the mail art exchange, Special Delivery in 2013. The artist packaged 27 snapshots into purple envelopes, keeping each photo facedown so that the first bit of information recipients encounter is the neat print on the photo’s backside—the title, Full Moon.  Flip the photo over, and encounter another moon: a lovely, bare ass slipping out of dark pants.

That benign title did not prepare me for the actual face of the photo. If I came across this image hung on a wall, I wouldn’t have experienced the piece in the same way.  To only interact with the face of the photo allows the viewer some level of control, some constant readiness to soak in the offensive image.  As a piece of mail, we get the pleasure of being fooled by the front and backside of the photo (or could we say that the photo has two backsides?). It’s not just an image of mooning. The envelope and flipped Polaroid work together as an action, an actual prank.

Creating the shots must have felt like a prank. Henning walked through several locations around the West Village mooning for a camera held by another friend.  In the background surrounding the artist’s pose, you can glimpse elegant pieces of architecture from brownstones in the neighborhood.  These secretive performances also took place on Super Bowl Sunday.  That night, fewer people traversed the streets as Henning pulled down her pants in the open air.    “ Took 10 minutes or so to get comfortable with taking my pants down in public, but then I was dropping trou like a pro,” Henning wrote in an email exchange. She recalls that the actual lunar Moon did not make an appearance.

I shared this piece with a friend while we waited for public transit in San Francisco.  She pulled out the photo, laughed, and slipped the picture back into the envelope while looking embarrassed.  Mooning expresses provocation, disrespect, or protest to another party. Henning gives us pure mooning, without context or reason. The piece acts as an affront to the viewer. This art teases and challenges, which are common traits of other strong video and photo works by Katharine Henning.  At the same time, I imagine how some viewers might feel turned off by the subject and chide “Full Moon” as lowbrow, or just young.  For me, the importance of the subject matter later became apparent during 2014 when I met this pointed phrase:

“… the control of female bodies.”

Photo courtesey of Katharine Henning, 2013

In 2014, I attended a reading of Emer Martin‘s third book, Baby Zero, at the San Francisco Public Library.   The Irish novelist used those words herself to describe key ideas in Baby Zero. In this piece, veiled female bodies in the Middle East contrast with the bodies of Buotox common to habitats like Malibu, California. Martin weaved into her talk the form of control carrying the deepest of consequences–abortion rights.  She described how control can manifest in different forms.  It is not just a physical veil.  It can also be an action, like the choice to modify or augment one’s body. Control can move deeply into one’s understanding of self and values, of one’s human rights.

During that year, I also picked up Azar Nafisi’s Reading Lolita in Tehran. In this memoir, an Iranian professor of literature (Nafisi) invites 7 former female students into her home to discuss Western classics that are deemed controversial and forbidden by the Iranian authorities of the 1990’s. They are not partaking in schoolwork. For 2 years every week, the women choose to read and gather out of the belief that fiction itself can offer a freedom that they could not find elsewhere.  In this special weekly retreat, remembered by paintings left leaning against walls and pitchers of flowers on the floor of Nafisi’s living room, the women also choose to remove the coverings they used in public. Nafisi documented the distinct differences between each women’s bodies, hair color, hair length, choice of colored shirts or pants. From Nafisi’s perspective, that freedom to be without coverings must have added another layer of bonding.

Though there are many facets and complexities in this book, I wanted to highlight just two important photographs that weave in and out of Nafisi’s memories near the beginning.  In the first photo, she and her students stand wearing black robes and scarves; in the second photo, they appear with the clothes worn beneath their coverings while standing in the same positions. Of the first photo, Nafisi writes that they stood as women “shaped by someone else’s dreams […]. In the second [photo], we appear as we imagined ourselves. In neither could we feel completely at home.”

The 2^nd photo is Nafisi’s Full Moon at that time. The cost of sharing Nafisi’s picture would have been high, much higher than the public circulation of Henning’s Polaroids. When pitched together, Nafisi’s memoir and Henning’s photos indicate how manifold the experience of being a woman must be—how it appears as more of a spectrum than any one viewpoint of struggle or achievement.

I cannot imagine Henning’s photos in Tehran. These pictures appear in and are surely informed by a culture that feels familiar with seeing undressed women as art. Henning’s series also recalls Manet’s Olympia, (whose subject must also be remembered as the artist, Victorine Meurent) or Carlo Mollino’s secret Polaroids of the 1960’s.  As an artist who photographs many subjects without clothing, Ryan McGinley makes a distinction about they way Americans read nudity in an interview. By definition, the word “Nude” is meant to separate the naked form from any pornographic perspective, and yet, Americans still frequently confuse the Nude from any salacious intent. When thinking about Full Moon, we have an example of both humor and liberty in American culture.  It can be shared as artwork or conversation, but this unquestionably is not the case in other parts of the world.

Written by: Audrey Tran

Robert Szantyr initiated Special Delivery five years ago. Essentially, it consists of a community that sends art pieces through the postal service. Last year, seventeen art makers took on the project. We each created an artwork that exists in multiples, distributed the items, and then received about 17 artworks in return. Within this circle, I’m the one who blogs on various mailed items that leave lasting impressions or good questions.

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San Francisco, CA – Thursday, September 4, 2014

In June, New York-based artist Vanessa Albury gave an exclusive interview to Artiholics on the eve before her journey through the Arctic Circle.  Along with 26 other residents, Albury took part of the Summer 2014 Arctic Circle Residency.  Aaron O’Connor, who leads this program, directed a diligent crew that housed, fed, and safe-guarded the residents as they all worked on individual and collaborative research in the Arctic environment. This program brings artists, writers, musicians, educators, and scientists together to study one of the coldest, harshest regions of the world (-10 degrees Celsius). In total, the residents visited 18 landings.

Our report on this residency continues, first, by reviewing Albury’s unique documentation of the journey (a few images come from the program itself).  In the above photo, Albury captured a star-shaped sun with strong beams of light  high above the horizon after midnight. For 17 days in the Arctic, no nighttime sky appeared, nor stars, or sunsets.  Everyone worked in sunshine and then hours later slept in its bright energy.

View of the Antigua, Photo courtesy of the Arctic Circle Residency Program

In the photo above, we see the temporary home for the residents–the Antigua, a 152-foot Barkentine sailing ship equipped with 3 masts.  Furnished with cabin space, a kitchen, deck, and a communal salon, the Antigua presented the safest arena for the travelers to bond and discuss projects.  Albury credits O’Connor and the guides Theres Arulf, Sara Orstadius, and Sarah Gerats (she is also a performance artist), as the masterminds behind the Antigua’s daily activities. With what seemed like innate finesse, the team juggled the needs of each resident on any and every task or equipment necessary for the multifarious projects. For Albury, they located landings close to glaciers and helped arrange portable power sources for her bulky projector.  Other projects required similarly specific considerations. The team communicated with everyone tirelessly and effectively for each daily expedition.  Above all, O’Connor, the guides, and the crew kept the residents safe.

Safety became a major concept keenly felt and then explored by some residents like Albury.  During the travels, many participants felt awakened to the high degree of precaution constantly surrounding them. During hikes through icy terrain, the three guides doubled as polar bear guards and would scout the path of the expedition. They formed safety zones encompassing 300 to 400 meters at the widest point, in which the residents could work on projects.  While traveling, the residents walked in a line or tight group, sometimes with only one guard.  Albury fondly describes the polar bear guides  as “amazing, rifle-totting, adventurous women.”   If any polar bears appeared, entire hikes could be redirected or even aborted.  Thanks to a presentation on polar bears by one of the guides, Sara Oristadius, the participants came to understand that “polar bears are fearless, curious and ferocious.”

On deck and anywhere close to the edge of water, residents had to be aware of the immediate doom resulting from a simple slip. Man-overboard in the Arctic does not resemble Man-overboard in warmer seas.  According to the captain of the Antigua, in the waters around Svalbard, Norway (where the journey began) you would not die due to hypothermia, exactly.  Before that, your layers of heavy clothing would pull you down into endless depths. There’s just no way to keep afloat without a lifesaver.  On top of that, if the ship is sailing, it would be very difficult for any crew member to keep an eye on a small head bobbing in water. Closer north, any fall into the water could result in death from hypothermia.  On land, danger comes from above. The explorers kept a minimum distance of 200 meters from any glacier to avoid sudden calving, the deadly splintering of heavy or sharp crashing ice from the tops of glaciers.

Photo of Vanessa Albury working with her pinhole camera during one of the landings in the Arctic Circle. Courtesy of the artist.

However hazardous the expedition felt, the members of the Summer 2014 Residency all returned safely. They may have joked about Scurvy, hoarding the limited supplies of chocolate, and other jests emanating from paranoia, but the group never stopped looking out for one another.  Albury found herself in deep conversation with the writer and co-resident, Susan Rogers on this sensitive topic.  Rogers talked about the precautions taken for safety, i.e. the strict boundaries to protect against polar bears and the rules aboard the ship. Albury could relate, thinking of the ships’s rails.  She also contemplated the “edges of life and living,” while recalling tales of whalers and early explorers, many who did not return from these Arctic expeditions.

Albury thinks of how those crucial moments come from the simplest places. It could have been just one small item left behind that might have made all the difference for those explorers who perished.   An entire journey could be ruined, or an entire life might splinter and end from simply forgetting to think about the entire scope of needs for an expedition.  While sharing these thoughts with Rogers, Albury noted that this interest may resurface in her future work, stating also that, “the best gift a residency can give an artist is fodder for new thoughts and new ideas.”

  Another series of photos come from capturing the different scenes splashing round and round the porthole (11” diameter) in Albury’s cabin.  All residents stayed in similar rooms during this two-week expedition.  Sometimes, a view of the icy landscape and edges of shoreline are caught in this round window.  More often, bubbly blue, clear, and green waters completely invade Albury’s round window.  Leads one to wonder if the ocean is not actually one large glass of soda.

I am reminded of stargazing, and how surely hypnotic those porthole scenes might have appeared to someone resting from long hikes through snow.  Deeply, I enjoy those moments when art objects resemble or rather, cause a sense of star-gazing in me, a relaxed state where one dreams quietly, not even noticing that you are—as they say, in the moment.

This series of pictures feels intimate, as the images come from the artist’s private quarters, which is a part of the journey that shouldn’t be forgotten.  The porthole views remind us that we cannot leave the vessel out of this story.  It played a very real and present part of the exploration and residency.  Not everything took place outside.  Albury noted that this was certainly true for the residency’s writers.  While many joined in on the daily hikes, the writers often stayed in for hours to practice their craft.

Albury’s craft also involves developing her film, when possible.  In past residencies and travels, she has been known to scope out the right closet or bathroom to turn into a temporary dark room, which is what she also did aboard the Antigua. Though she brought several heavy pieces of equipment, Albury did not pack an enlarger.  The type of developing she worked on involved chemicals and exposed film.  A dark room on a ship works well, only when the ship is not moving, or when her neighbor does not need his shower.

Photo courtesy of Vanessa Albury.

One of the more relaxed characters in Vanessa’s photos includes a portly “Red-Bearded Seal”. The name might be related to the patch of rusty bronze color of the fur or skin on his face, but I’ve seen humans with more red and beard than this fellow. Place those terms, “red-bearded seal” into an Image Google Search, and you will come across a few male homo sapiens.  Lying on his left side, Albury captured the seal softly blinking his coal lump eyes as he allowed the group to come as close as one meter. The residents and their guards did spot polar bears during two expeditions—a single bear the first time, and then a mother and 2 cubs the second time. Four bears in total made a record for any ship traveling during those 2 weeks. No one was allowed to get as close to a polar bear as Albury got to the blinking seal. Almost immediately, when the first bear dived into water, the group had to quickly return to the ship.  Polar bears swim fast, act stealthily, and are skilled at hunting.  During the second sighting, the traveling group only redirected the path of their hike.

Near the end of the residency, Albury documented one of the final hikes around the curved path in this picture.  Note the dark grey stone and the blue ice covering the curved rim.   Layers and layers of ice create the most fascinating shades of translucent blue, frosty on some edges, other times jagged, or fragmented.  In another shot of the terrain, Albury captures blocky rocks that have the grey color of elephants.

After hikes like this (some lasted up to three hours), the travelers came home to a warm Antigua set with healthy, filling meals.  Albury recalls a “lovely chef” who catered to all the food allergies from the group.  The artist remembers abundant servings of pudding (with almost every meal!), dishes with fish, pork, chicken, pastas, and European fashioned salads (cucumber, tomatoes, corn, and onions, notably salads made without leafy-greens, which Albury missed).

Most of the images reviewed above come from the artist’s documentation of the journey, but this does not describe her artwork very well. We should not think of Albury as a photographer.   During our 2^nd interview, we talked about how often people refer to her as a photographer. It’s an easy mistake.  After all, the artist did return from her past two residencies with hundreds of rolls of film. However, the goals between this artist using photo-based processes and a photojournalist, for example, vary widely.

Net Diptych (Bodøgaard XVI & XVII).  Vanessa Albury created this Cyanotype  print using nets and rope. 2014

Albury’s work centers on how light behaves, the mood of it, and our response to these images.  They often carry abstract forms that she experiments with, often incorporating other sound or performance-like elements from projectors.   The different ranges of cameras available to us, the kind that have been replaced by a lot of digital technology still interest Albury.  Holga cameras (her favorite), pinhole photos, or projectors are all devices that allow her a range of ways to experiment with light.  The different film speeds and shutter capabilities from these cameras give the artist many options, almost like the varying colors on a painting palate. When looking at her work, I do feel as though I am looking at paintings.

Documentation of Waves (The Impossibility of Distinction for Mr. Palomar. Projectors, recorded sound. Vanessa Albury, 2024

To better illustrate Albury’s use of photography, we can refer to the show she participated in right after the Arctic circle Residency.  In an exhibit named The Dream Time curated by Rachel Mason at Trans Pecos in Queens, Albury showed a projection piece to a sitting audience. She projected 48” x 48” black and white 35 mm slides depicting a dozen different images.  The pictures move in an irregular pattern. Some repeat more than other, so that viewers cannot spot a pattern. Simultaneously, the audience heard clicking projector noises that ticked against the sound of Albury’s heartbeats while she settled into a rest mode. By making those components work together, Albury aligned “The delicate human body to the corporeal nature of waves.”  The artist also found herself incorporating the meditation in Italio Calvino’s essay “Reading a Wave.” In this piece, one of Calvino’s most known characters named Mr. Palomar contemplates the colors, constant movement, and motley body that waves take on—how they never cease to change. Can Mr. Palomar possibly observe just one wave without the legions of others? Like snowflakes, have any two waves ever existed with complete a likeness?  The piece is documented in the image above, and it is titled Waves (The Impossibility of Distinction for Mr. Palomar).

To echo an earlier conversation from our first interview, Albury says that  “Photos are objects.  We tend to think of them as these windows into the world, but they are not.  They are objects,” and the artist treats them as such.  Instead of seeing photos as just images, Albury considers the entire scope of factors that come from taking a photograph – the processing, the act of capturing light phenomena, or the site specificity of projections.  She focuses on these elements can be recombined with other elements, like sound, and result in these exploratory ways of drawing in viewers.   In pieces like the Waves (…Mr. Palomar) the key concepts come from mixing sound with images.  Another future project will bring fire to the development process.  Albury found inspiration from the duality of heat (there is some with, ie the midnight sun) and the obvious cold elements of the Arctic.  Spotting that phenomena unique to the polar environment inspired this unusual photo process. She plans to burn an image while developing it.  We’ll have to wait to see the end results of that creation/destruction process. Call the items resulting from this Fire-Photo-Bath, Albury’s artifacts. We may not be there for the ritual, but can see the end results and observe how they contrast and work together.

Net (Bodøgaard XXIII), Vanessa Albury, Cyanotype Print, 2014

The Arctic environment kept Albury from completing some of her work. For one project, the artist intended to project images of decaying buildings upon glaciers. She wanted to connect failing or neglected man-made buildings with these majestic formations of nature that are also sadly breaking down. Her idea work intuitively found a connection between the environments, for they both seem “vulnerable and on the edge of collapse” wrote the artist in an email exchange. The decay of both formations originate from man’s actions.  Those projections would cover the glaciers and easily be removed without a trace left in the surrounding environment. In order to project, Albury sought glacial caves where her projections could fully appear in the shadows.  However, she could not safely get close enough to the caves due to the dangerous summer calving.  Still, Albury called these “beautiful failures.”   At the time, her co-resident, Jess Perlitz, who is a sculptor and performance artist, offered to create a large projection screen out of snow.  After Perilitz fashioned the screen, Albury  said it looked like a tiny white theater.  In the end, the power source still did not allow Albury to use the projector properly.  That day, Perlitz also constructed a fort made of cinder block-sized snow bricks, and later the residents “had a house, a theater, some industry in the form of a snow brick mining site and a graveyard, all in a day’s work and through Perlitz’ practice,” wrote Albury in an email.

Photo courtesy of Vanessa Albury

In one instance, Albury found a way to project onto cave walls.   The large part of this projection project still remains to be continued.  Without the least bit of dissatisfaction, Albury said she intends to return to the Arctic terrain, during one of the seasons outside of the Summer Solstice.  This was a fantastic first run for future work.  Partly, the wanderlust now ingrained in this artist must have been talking.  In our interview, we spoke about the places where art making comes from.  For many, it involves stationary hours in the studio.  For this photo-based artist, travel to distant lands will influence many of Albury’s concepts.  So she’ll need to travel and understand how to do it.   As someone who has never gone camping, I asked Albury how easy or hard would it be to make a trip to the Arctic Circle.  For her, the path would take lots of work, but thanks to this residency, it seems clear to Albury how she could make that trip happen.

End Notes:

Out of 27 residents, 7 came from foreign countries.  The rest are U.S. citizens, like Albury.  The Summer 2014 group had an unusually high number of females to males, however, Albury says that past groups more often carried an even number of males to females.  Everyone spoke English, including the crew and guards.  Canada Goose gladly sponsored Vanessa’s travels by providing her special attire for -10 degree Celsius weather.  The Arctic Circle Residency program ships 2 groups (about 30 people in each group) to the Arctic Circle every year.

Written By: Audrey Tran

The post Vanessa Albury’s Journey through the Arctic Circle Residency – Part II appeared first on Artiholics.

Meryl Meisler is a Brooklyn based photographer who captured a very tumultuous, dangerous, and simultaneously glamorous era in NYC history – the 1970s and 80s. During that time, Manhattan was erupting with surreal characters and scenesters, gallivanting in iconic night clubs, while across the bridge in Bushwick, Brooklyn, there was destruction, arson, looting, the crack epidemic, and tensions between the disenfranchised communities that resided there. She taught in a Bushwick public school and with camera at the ready she bore firsthand witness to the opposing worlds, which existed just few subway stops apart.

Meryl carried a medium format camera nearly everywhere she went, and caught a glimpse into two very different social environments. One of those settings was the disco-era music and dance scene. She snapped photos of William Shatner, Andy Warhol, Grace Jones, and frequented  Studio 54. She went to places like the Paradise Garage, one of the most powerful House music venues of all time.

Meryl Meisler referred to the initial lines of A Tale of Two Cities when describing the then NYC dichotomy between extravagant Manhattan nightlife and the struggling nightmare of Bushwick, Brooklyn.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.” – Charles Dickens

I went on a walk with Meryl, and then she took me out to lunch. Her eyes glowed with compassion and warmth. She currently lives in Chelsea, and she supervises/teaches future art teachers at NYU. Her new exhibition highlights photos published in her new book by Bizarre Publishing, called A Tale of Two Cities & her work is displayed in Bushwick’s Black Box Gallery (12 Jefferson Street, Brooklyn, NY 11206). She sent me photos, some of which have never been released. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did:

The original Star Trek’s Captain Kirk, and later to become the Priceline spokesperson, William Shatner is seen above. Meryl didn’t seek these people out, they just showed up in her life without her going out of the way. They seemed to be bizarre characters that had found their place in the media.

I love this one, it’s almost as if there was a crossover with disco night life into the grime and neglect of Bushwick.  My guess is that this depicts the relics of the night a woman got drunk, and experienced that shaky, exciting time. The shoes are evidence of god-only-knows what kind of misfortune and tales of love and loss that accompanied this shoe’s original owner.

 Meryl described Grace Jones (follow the link to view Jones’ YouTube video, ‘Cannibal Corpse’) as a diva, and when she walked in, she looked fabulous and divine.

This photograph cracks me up, the overt abundance of pubic hair, and the benevolent yet devious grin of the man contorting his body. Not to mention the guy with the flamboyant hat, in a mesmerized daze.

I said, “why not ask her for a photo of herself?” This photograph exemplifies the sexy and exuberant energy that I witnessed Meisler to possess ( she is standing to the left).

Meryl talked about where these three amigos wound up – one in jail, one died, and one still lives in Brooklyn. This photo was the first one that caught my attention due to the presence of innocence that had the immanency of destruction and pain.

To see more of Meisler’s photos, check out the show in Bushwick.

Meryl Meisler’s
A TALE OF TWO CITIES:
DISCO ERA BUSHWICK
exhibition and book launch
Exhibit open through September 10, 2014
Gallery Hours: Daily, 11am – 4am
BIZARRE PUBLISHING
8.5 x 11 inches
180 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9910141-1-8
$40.00 USA/CAN

Written by Andrew Kaminski

The post Is This Bushwick’s First Hipster? Meryl Meisler Photographed The Neighborhood Before It Was Cool appeared first on Artiholics.

New York – Thursday, June 5, 2014

The Kara Walker art installation at the old Brooklyn Domino Sugar Factory has been drawing a lot of art world (and Instagram world) attention these past few weeks. Wandering around in the massive empty shell of a building with a sugar coated sphinx and some small sculptural works, you may start to wonder what the giant warehouse looked like when its machinery was in place.

Paul Raphaelson photographed every inch of the Refinery, just before they began gutting the buildings. He was the last photographer allowed access to the site, and the only one given permission for a large-scale photo documentation project.

Rusting hulks doomed to be dismembered and sold off for metal scrap, victims of the modern age.  I love photography of forgotten and abandoned architecture, monolithic industrial devices shedding crackled paint, slouching under their own weight as years of neglect and the natural environment seep in and begin to take over.  The mammoth machines in these photos are gone, and soon so will be the entire building complex.  Enjoy the final photo tour of America’s crumbling industrial past.

He’s currently working on a book, in collaboration with architectural historian Matthew Postal, Pulitzer Prize-winning photography editor Stella Kramer, and several former workers from the refinery.  Until then, prints are available through his website   www.paulraphaelson.com

Photos by Paul Raphaelson

Written by Cojo “Art Juggernaut”

The post After The Sugar & Before The Sphinx: The Domino Sugar Factory [Photos] appeared first on Artiholics.

Haven’t made any plans for Easter Sunday? This Sunday, April 20th, if you live within walking distance of the big apple or plan on visiting, you have a unique opportunity to see New York City’s streets fill up with the adorable, beautiful, humorous, and ridiculous fabulousness that is our stylish fashionsta’s Easter bonnets and costumes.

New Yorkers become mobile works of art, walking along Fifth Avenue from 49th to 57th Streets. New York’s Easter Parade began in 1900 along 5th Avenue and has become an iconic tradition. Now people gather around St. Patrick’s Cathedral to hear mass and take pictures of the informal paraders.

Outside of the church, people let their freak flags fly.

This parade isn’t about floats, it’s more of a fun way to interact with others. People watching has always been a great treat in the fashion and art capital of the world.

Here, you get to pet someone’s dog dressed as a rabbit, run up to the purple man with flowers in his hair to snap a quick selfie, and take a group shot with smiling strangers dressed as bunnies.

Some hats are elegant…while some…

The Easter Parade and Easter Bonnet Festival runs from 10 am until 4 pm along Fifth Avenue from 49th to 57th Streets. The blocks are closed to cars, so it is safe for pedestrians, including children, and pets!

The Stations of the Cross, a group show, becomes the template for artists of various faith traditions to create 28 shrines in two churches, featuring personal relics of their experience on the journey toward death.

On Good Friday a procession will go from Greenpoint to St. Paul’s Church in Williamsburg at 8:30pm. During the procession, lighting of candles, the singing of hymns, readings, and a ritual of carrying a cross from Greenpoint to Williamsburg takes place. Pastor Ben, who’s father is a Professor of Spanish, grew up bilingual. He leads a bilingual, Spanish and English language congregation at St. Paul’s. A French chant of Reproaches is followed by time to meditate on the various stations of the cross. The leads to St. Paul’s, where participants can contemplate the performative reliquaries and meet the artists who created the pieces.

Artists include Aaron Soldner, Chantal Bruchez-Hall, Calla Wright, Andrew Jordan, Betty T. Kao, Baxton Alexander, Ben McKelahan, Raul Barquet, Amy Kienzle, Margaret Semrau, and Rochelle Voyles. St. Paul’s Visiting hours to reflect on the artwork and meditate are Wednesdays: 6-8pm, Sundays: 11am-2pm.

Pastor Ben stands before a photographic installation of an erotic butoh influenced piece, Performative reliquary. Based on Station 2. “Jesus is betrayed by Judas and arrested. Kiss of Betrayal, Wrongful Imprisonment” playing off of the pain, ecstasy, and will to give of the self and sacrifice for mankind. He is given a crown of thrones, a metallic fluid is poured onto him, covered in a glam illumination of gold, as a broken silver coin is traced along his glittering bloody ribs.

Pastor Ben contributed to Station 1, “Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, Sweating blood”, using mementos from his upbringing such as a Day of the Dead scull. Pastor Ben, who was a physics major at Reed College, is a warm contemporary priest. He leads an interdenominational art group that takes place in the church’s bell tower.

He decided to curate The Stations of the Cross as a way for people to become involved with a community minded church. Parables is a outreach project of his with the goal to build relationships in northern Brooklyn through sharing stories, making art, and re-imagining the symbols of tradition through the lens of our lives.

The Lutheran Church is an agnostic faith, the members of the art group range from Christian, Jewish, atheists, to agnostics. On Sunday, April 20th at 3:30pm there will be an Easter Potluck and Egg Hunt at Ben and Elana’s Apartment (they live in a church!). https://parablesnyc.org

Artist / Author Betty T. Kao

Have a great Easter, filled with Parades, Resurrection, Parables, and the cute bunnies reminding you, that Jesus died for your sins.

Written and Photographed by Betty T. Kao

The post Easter: Parades, Resurrection, Parables, Freakshow Fashion & Performance Art – New York City 2014 appeared first on Artiholics.

Over the past five years, I’ve been lucky to find myself in an artist community that sends art pieces through the postal service.  We call this yearly exchange, Special Delivery, which originated from the artist, Robert Szantyr.

Around the beginning of each year, Robert gathers a list of snail mail and email addresses to distribute to participants of the exchange. Seventeen of us will take on the project this year.  We each will create an artwork that exists in multiples, distribute the items, then receive about 17 other works of art.

Within this circle, I’m the one who blogs on various mailed items that leave lasting impressions or good questions.  Mail art can feel very intimate and much like a gift. Other times, the slow pace of the mailed items highlights a sense of rush in our other day-to-day forms of communication.

This blog series will cover new art pieces flying through the mail, while also celebrating a few fine works from past years.  Below, I’ve strung together words on a small sculpture sent in 2013.

In Jonathan Beilin’s piece above, we see two simple cubes (one about half the size of the other) occupying a slightly larger cube container. This is a  box made of acrylic sheets. One cube sits along the bottom of the box, adhered to a corner (on the diagonal), while the other cube sits on the lid, also mounted to the corner (on the diagonal).

You can open the plexiglass box and rotate the lid so that the two cubes form different angles. That allows you to adjust the inner negative space 4 times. The volume of empty space will never change, but as you turn the lid, you will find 4 different ways of looking at the same space.   You might roll it around, or look under the cube, or from above the lid.

This piece does what minimal sculpture would do if shrunk to fit the size of a petite four.  Think of the piece as minimalism in Fun Size. That scale allows Jon’s box to take on a few twists that of course wouldn’t happen with larger minimal works, which might possibly utilize some of the same transparent materials, shapes, and colors. I’m drawn to minimal works set in white cubes, but cubes that fit in the palm of your hand also impress the mind, delicately.

Through this piece of mail art, I was pleasantly reminded of Robert Mangold’s series of paintings involving geometric forms depicted within shaped canvases. See the similar elements in Three Squares within a Triangle.

Interestingly, of these paintings Daniel Marzona asks where the eye is drawn to most—to the items upon the canvas or to the form of the canvas itself (Essay on Robert Mangold)  Call that a battle between sculpture and painting.

Upon this blog, we should be reminded that there’s no fair representation of that piece’s object-nature. That’s also relevant for Jon’s piece of mail art. I can describe the twists, turns, and agreeable lightness of this cube, but there’s still some separation between hearing about the piece and actually being with it.

Brought together, I also begin to read a puzzle-like quality in both works.  When presented with these shape-within-shape features, the mind seems to desire some flipping, rotations, or re-working of those visuals.  Jon’s piece is made for those twists. For Mangold’s paintings, any readjustments for the shapes must be imagined.

Outside of actual art being sent, it’s interesting to examine the containers and wrappings that come with each arrival.  Some artists create mail art entirely around those materials and the process of delivery. Jon’s project did not enter those concerns, but I was still surprised by his container. He placed his fragile multiples on board simple business envelopes without extra cushioning or tape.

I’ve lost plenty of mail sent in more secure casings.  Regardless, I’m most hopeful for new ways to write about this form of communication. Whether it spotlights our methods of delivery or acts as a standalone art piece (without a conceptual connection to the postal service), I’m ready to document all of it. Let the stream of Special Delivery art trickle in.

Written by Audrey Tran

The post Special Delivery: Jonathan Beilin’s Acrylic Cubes appeared first on Artiholics.

New York – Saturday, March 8, 2014

This year the first of the Armory Arts Week press previews was for  Spring / Break Art Show in an old school house (called The Old School) in Little Italy. It’s a cool step away from the traditional art fair because it not only focuses on the curator as key, but also has a hard-on for “new media” art, which means you will be seeing either video or projection art in almost every room, and if no video there is usually some auditory component.

Sometimes it is fun to be surprised by art, going into a show without knowing any of the players is like going to a movie not just without any spoilers, but also having no knowledge of the plot or cast. That was my experience last year when I first attended Spring / Break 2013. I was a blank slate. Having never been to the fair previously I was green to the rundown elementary school layout. It seemed disjointed and reminded me of a cross between PS1 and the random dilapidated school buildings turned solo artist exhibitions you see at the Governors Island Art Fair.

This time I settled right in. I knew some of the artists and curators personally ahead of time and was able to more easily identify the work.  It was fun to see how each curator played with this year’s theme for the fair PUBLICPRIVATE.

Entering the building and checking in I wandered into the first room which had an eaten away pillar which reminded me of the box from Frieze except made out of garbage.

Passing through that room I encountered a hallway full of blood illuminations by Jordan Eagles I have been to several Jordan Eagles blood shows when he worked in solid form, but these 13 projectors really filled out the space with a hemo-glow. Curated by Tracy Causey-Jeffery.

Jordan walking through the corridor.

Jordan’s silhouette in blood.

Ducking out I spun around when I heard my name called. It was art writer / curator Benjamin Sutton. I had seen some of his install pics on Facebook and instantly recognized the room he curated by the unmistakable ceiling cats by artist Caroline Wells Chandler.

Benjamin getting interviewed by Samantha Katz from Whitewall Magazine.

Samantha Katz.

The piece that was his starting point for building the show was this grotesque sculpture “Selfie as a Chocolate Chip Cookie,” also by Caroline.

I climbed up on the radiator to get this shot.

“Rule 34; Charm” by Sigrid Sarda. Made with real maggots dipped in gold, wax, real human bones & hair.

This room was curated by Jessica Hodin, The director of the Bleeker Street Arts Club.

Jessica jumped behind this transparent piece.

Jessica Hodin.

Assistant Director of Bleeker Street Arts Club, Anita King.

They have a new show titled FEELING HUMAN, with an opening reception this Sunday, Mar 9, 2014 from 1-4pm featuring some artists from this exhibit. 305 Bleecker St., NY NY 10014

Artist Lucas Zallmann poses with his fridges.

You open them up to find metal dildos and books.

Curated by Wills Baker and Sarah Sulistio.  Sarah is seen here talking with Spring/Break Co-Founder Andrew Gori.

A few photos by Carl Gunhouse.

A piece by Jacob Rhodes from Field Projects.

Curated by Chris Bors seen here with an original piece of his own.

Lia Chavez performing Luminous Objects

Which is curated by Tali Wertheimer, seen here, who is opening a new gallery called TWO RAMS on March 16th.

Artist and curator Max Razdow standing in front of one of his drawings.  I met Max last year when he had his own booth at Volta NY.

Curator Kari Adelaide.

Artist Jesse Bransford and his drawing experiment based on rolling a RPG die titled “Dice Drawings Set Five.”

Singing Bruce Springsteen with a mask on, mask off, show is over.  Crystal Curtis

Group Show curated by David Alexander Flinn

Room with projectors by Rin Johnson audio by Michael Valinsky.

Iphone cases by Collin Munn

I asked three staircase docents if they knew who made these streamers and none of them had a clue.  One said the girl with the yellow purse who was just here.  One said the girl with the green purse who was just here.

It wasn’t until I found a map.  Coralina Meyer.

Founders of the Spring/Break Art Fair, Ambre
 Kelly and 
Andrew 
Gori.

Andrew Gori.

Art by Alex McQulkin which was a collaborative piece she did with her mom.  She commissioned her mom knit a pussy riot mask for her.  She then wore the mask, took pictures of it, and then drew the mask.  This drawing is the end result.

Art by Alex McQulkin & Michael St. John.

This is a piece made by hand cutting out individual diamonds from Sotheby’s catalogs and pasting them together.

Curator Marina T. Schindler

Pin-up style art by Walter Robinson, curated by Ambre Kelly & Andrew Gori

Wall of small pieces depicting Jerry Saltz doing things, by Ambre Kelly, curated by Andrew Gori.

The next room I photographed parts of Liminal Reclamations curated by Tracy Causey-Jeffery and Amy Kisch.
We Are Made To Endure, Portraits of the Donner Party by Robert Saywitz

A room playing all of Woody Allen’s Oscar Nominated films while a toy train goes in a circle referencing recent allegations.

As well as A Universe in My Throat, 2012 by Kevin Bourgeois

Golden Coin by Patrick Meagher

Nightfall by Devin Powers.

Photo and video pieces by Rachel Garrard

Private Drive-In.

By artists Fall On Your Sword and Sarah Bereza (pictured above).

Inside the bug.

I blew out the shot with a flash so you could see the paint work on the car by Sarah.

Sit in the bug and enjoy a superfast loop of scenes from movies that take place in the front seat of cars, including this scene from Grease, as well as that famous 1955 Back To The Future scene with Marty McFly and his teenage mom.

Spring / Break Art Show is located at Old School, 233 Mott Street, NYC and costs $5
All work from the show can be purchased online at SpringBreakArtFair.com

Thursday, March 6 –  Sunday, March 9
Noon – 8pm Daily

Written and Photographed by Cojo “Art Juggernaut”

The post SPRING/BREAK Art Show Is Your Elementary School On Psilocybin appeared first on Artiholics.

New York – Friday, March 7, 2014

After checking out the opening reception for the first ever Clio Art Fair Jamie Martinez from Artefuse and I grabbed a train up to 55th street for the opening night party for The (UN)FAIR. Being press and a media sponsor of the event we buzzed the massive line and shot upstairs.

The first thing you couldn’t help but notice was that the place was packed.

I walked into the masse following a siren’s song and found a woman singing while standing right next to a beautiful Norman Rockwell painting, not the first (or ten thousandth ) thing I expected to see at THE (UN)FAIR but a pleasant surprise. Into the next room where for a few bucks they print your face on a t-shirt onto a baby’s body.

I quickly passed to the next room which had an intricate floor to ceiling vision obscuring sculptural installation.

On the wall beyond hung a few of those meta art world comic strips that Hyperallergic publishes. Into the large room where on the right is an interactive musical installation where you can play a series of instruments by pressing old school arcade buttons.

& Jerry.

Ben & Jerry’s ice cream served to you by THE ACTUAL Ben & Jerry. After meeting Jerry, and initially guessing wrong about which ice cream hippy I was talking to I got some cookie dough ice cream (and you just had a taste memory of that flavor). It hit the spot and I ended up coming back a few more times over the course of the night. (Just FYI, THE (UN)FAIR has free unlimited Ben & Jerry’s for the run of the fair).

I ran into fellow Artiholics Jen Wallace, the curationista of THE (UN)FAIR and got a picture with her.

Her partner James Wallace who was acting as greeter to the elevator crowds.

While talking to him one of the poet performers walked into the hallway and started reciting poems for us from memory, and they were great (anyone know who this guy is?)

Last year, the first year of THE (UN)FAIR, the show only occupied half of the entire floor space on the third floor. This year the space was twice as big with two additional new large rooms making way for some large paintings.

As well as an area for performance.

Vivian & Artist Gigi Chen.

And a massive projection piece, nearby which there are a few large patches of comfy AstroTurf where you can lounge out eating popcorn and ice cream while drinking wine in a small stackable mason jar like the most bizarre Willy Wonka factory picnic.

Max Noy, and Jamie both from Artefuse.

Artist Mark Parsons and one of his CartoGraphiPOP sculptures.

Jen and Mark Parsons.

Artiholics writer Betty T. Kao is doing a performance piece called “Belly Full of Artifacts” at The (Un)fair. Photos by Lauretta Prevost.

She will be performing again there on Saturday from 8 – 10 pm.

Artiholics is a media sponsor The (UN)Fair.

THE (UN)FAIR is located only a few blocks away from The Armory Show.  500 W 52nd St. New York, NY 10019

March 5th – 9th, 2014
11am – 8pm free

Opening Party: 3/5, 8-10pm free
Benefit Party: 3/6, 8-10pm $20 click here
Closing Party: 3/9, 8-10pm free

Written and Photographed by Cojo “Art Juggernaut”
(*editor’s note: I will finish crediting these photos and hyperlinking to artists websites next week when I am done seeing all these fairs and have time)

The post THE (UN)FAIR is Back, Bigger, & More Popular Than Ever – Opening (Photos) appeared first on Artiholics.

New York – Friday, March 7, 2014

I am really loving SCOPE’s venue at Moynihan Station, they must have knocked down some walls and gutted the place a bit more than last year because the size of the floor plan seemed massive.  Makeshift unvarnished wood steps leading to higher ground, and long benches here and there for sitting (a luxury not easily found at most art fairs).

Exposed ancient metal ceiling girders with peeling paint were everywhere you looked, if you looked up that is.   What a  great contrast with the polished and illuminated gallery booths, and let’s face it,  it sure beats a tent.

I arrived and cut the line to the press check in.  I always bring my SCOPE press lanyard which has the logo printed all over it.  They bothered to do that one year and have ever since opted for just the plain black, having the official one makes me feel like not just press, but SUPER PRESS.

Art Now NY scored the first Banksy I’ve seen in a NY art fair.  Fell off the back of a truck maybe?

Spotted street artist Buff Monster enjoying the show.

Pashmin Art Gallery, Hamburg, this artist Davood Roostaei was dressed as a cross between Michael Jackson and his actual paintings.

Art by Cazes Uriel.

I noticed at Villa del Arte Galleries, Barcelona they were carrying a piece by Castle Fitzjohns, New York artist David Datuna.

Fabien Castanier Gallery, Los Angeles was back again at SCOPE. Fabien posed for me in front of a few 44.75″ x 32.5″ pieces by Speedy Graphito.

Some really amazing larger than life hyperrealistic sculptures of Andy Warhol at different points in his life titled “ANDY” by Kazuhira Tsuji Copro Gallery, Santa Monica.  He should have been the one to do the Memorial in Union Square.

Really detailed drawings by Artem Mirolevich at Barbarian Art Gallery, Zurich.

Saw a piece by Matt Neuman at Asterisk Projects, Brooklyn, which reminded me a lot of his piece I saw the night before at Clio Art Fair but with 12 more targets.

Beautiful paintings by Malcolm T. Liepke at Arcadia Contemporary.

Really moody street scenes from New York City, by Kim Cogan, also at Arcadia Contemporary.

A bunch of pieces by David Kramer at Long-Sharp Gallery, Indianapolis.

Whimsically disturbing line art paintings by Brian McDonald at Reaves Gallery, New York.

I ran into sculptor Cheedah Shikaage Itchi Suuwah (Thunder Wolf), and we had a long talk about the 3d Printing sculpture he’s getting into.  He showed me his new digital work on his phone, amazing stuff.

Some pop work at Krause Gallery.  Including these really cool dimensional pieces that look like they might be made from thousands of straws cut to precise lengths.

Galerie Mark Hachem, Paris | New York has some work with multiple layers of glass creating a full image by Ardan Ozmenoglu.

Large drawings by Maya Mukumizu, at Gallery G-77, Kyoto.

A bunch of pieces by Karim Hamid at AUREUS Contemporary, Providence, RI.

More work at AUREUS Contemporary.

Samurai – 1982, by Paula Rego, at Cordeiros Galeria, Porto / Portugal.

Ran into Jeremiah Johnson who’s piece “House of Worship” house made out of pill bottles is debuting at Fountain Art Fair today.

The cafe / bar / lounge area.

Work by Tiptoe at Vertical Gallery, Chicago.

Artwork by Stormie Mills, also at Vertical Gallery.

Safaeddin Emami, “The Battle of Pashan Begins” Silkscreen on canvas at Shirin Gallery, Tehran | New York.

A giant assemblage of Mixed Media on paper by Amanda Marie.  They are sold individually as 16″ x 20″ pieces, and 20″ x 24″ pieces, at Andenken Gallery, Amsterdam.

Drawings by Clayton Chandler, at C. Emerson Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL.

Drawings by Justin Nelson, also at C. Emerson Fine Arts.

A picture of me at Fuchs Projects booth by Rafael Fuchs.

Artwork by Petros Chrisostomou, Miguel Libarnes, Rafael Fuchs, Skewville, Aakash Nihalani, & Trey Speegle at Bushwick’s own Fuchs Projects.

Artist Naomi Campbell.  Her pieces combine X-rays, aluminum, copper, plexiglass and drawings.  They are abstractions about gaming, and the blurred lines between reality and video games.

Artist Victor-John Villanueva  poses in front of a piece in Fuchs Project’s booth, he didn’t make the work, he just has a similar color scheme.

Art by Valerio Adami at Barbara Paci Gallery, Pietrasanta.

Disturbingly haunting art by Michele Mikesell at La Lanta Fine Art, Wattana.

A requisite Swoon piece.

Some really interesting works by Peter Grich at VIMM Gallery, Prague.

This one reminded me of works by H.R. Geiger.

An entire booth of works by Shen Jingdon, at Coral Contemporary, Nanjing.

The Jayson Atienza shoe at the bucketfeet shoe exhibit.

Lots of glitter at the Natalie Kates Projects, New York

One half of the Gentleman’s Game art team Jason Douglas Griffin.

Gentleman’s Game artists Jason Douglas Griffin and Brandon Friend.

They have collaborative works in the Magpi Projects booth, and they have their own booth at Fountain – where they had just come after having just finished setting it up.

Artist Sebastian Wahl, also represented by Magpi Projects.

Artist Joseph Grazi, who has two pieces in the Art Now NY booth, including this shark.

Muffinhead, a living sculpture at Galleria Ghetta, Ortisei, England.

Some really angelic drawings by artist Amy Sol at Thinkspace, Culver City.

Hubert Kretzschmar, Techno Pop (front cover) at Licht Feld Gallery

Also by Hubert Kretzschmra.  I first met Hubert at the Art of The Rolling Stones Show.

Photographer Mia Tyler in front of a portrait of her father, Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler.

Photographer and curator at Fuchs Projects, Rafael Fuchs, in front of a few of the pieces from his most recent series about his horrible landlords.

Artist Bradley Theodore, aka Brad Digital.

Brad introduced me to artist Jaclyn Santos.

It was a great show as per usual, and AS I HAD PREDICTED earlier in the week. After taking it all in, I headed out into the night to shoot down to SoHo for Mark DeMaio’s opening at Sacred Gallery.  This week really is the Superbowl of art going.

Written and Photographed by Cojo “Art Juggernaut”
(*editors note – I will set up all the galleries and artists names as hyperlinks next week when I have time)

The post SCOPE Art Fair NY 2014 VIP Opening Reception Was Packed (Photos) appeared first on Artiholics.

Once again the week has arrived where the titans of the art world (global art world) flock to NYC for Armory Week to take in the art work and show off the art wares.  Parties, social climbing, art writers, buyers, dealers, artists, and gallery inbetweens swap stories and mingle in converted warehouses, armory’s, post offices, and climate controlled piers along the Hudson river.

The week takes it’s name from the Armory Show, which is the grandaddy of all of the week’s fairs, but any seasoned art traveler will now that the Armory is just the tip of the art fair iceberg.  Satellite fairs pop-up and take orbit, each with it’s own respective gravity and collector base, trying to pull the titans toward them, and each year the satellites either get larger, or fizzle out.

We all know that in NYC, time is money.  Rather than spend a lot of both shuttling yourself around town without any direction as to which fairs  (and social affairs ) might appeal to you, we at Artiholics.com have created this handy guide to NYC Armory Week.

Listed in descending order from Most to Least expensive:

THE ARMORY SHOW:  March 6th – 9th 

General Admission: $40  |   Students – $20  |  Armory / VoltaNY Dual Pass: $50

Wednesday – March 5, 5pm – Midnight @ MoMA | The Armory Party $175 – $10,000 Tickets
Thursday – March 6, 12pm – 7pm
Friday – March 7, 12pm – 7pm
Saturday – March 8, 12pm – 7pm
Sunday – March 9, 12pm – 7pm

Featuring: 200+ Of The largest art galleries in the world showcasing their artist’s most sellable work, the worlds top collectors, art writers, etc.  Art wise you will see: Lots of Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Neon, Random Artists In Costume, Collage, Interactive Art, New Media, Photography, Performance art, etc..

Celebrities / Celebrity Artists I’ve Personally Spotted Here: Peter Max

Unofficial Art Patriarch: Kenny Scharf & Damien Hirst.
Notable Artists / Gallerists Associated With This Show:  Damien Hirst, Barry McGee, Kenny Scharf, Tracey Emin, John Wesley, Jenny Holtzer, Olaf Breuning, Yayoi Kusama, Julian Opie. Nancy Chunn, Marina Abrovonich, Kehinde Wiley, Retna, Ryan McGuinness, Nick Cave, Chuck Close, Gagosian, Chitra Ganesh, David Kramer , Kim Jones, Pierogi, Warhol, Basquait, etc.

Coolest thing I’ve seen here: The variety of Blue Chip and Museum Artists’ work in one place.
Possibility of Live Nudity: Not Good

Ever Seen Live Performance or Live Art at The Armory Show? Yes, I’ve seen a Marina Abrovonich performance, although it was with an actor not Marina.  Live drawing by Ai Kowada Gallery’s Fukuhara.  Also weird performance artists doing their thing in the crowd.

The Scoop on The Armory Show From An Artiholic:
This is the one show all the satellite shows revolve around.  It has anywhere from 200 – 300 international galleries represented in a given year, and is a lot to take in, and a lot of walking.  Make sure to wear your comfy shoes and prepare to see a lot of neon, glitter, and museum quality presentations.  The sculptures are as polished and pristine as it is possible to make them, the wall paint is flawless.  If you go to as many of the art fairs as I do will start to feel like you walking through a brand new IKEA after a while (the scale of the two piers are enormous) .  If while you are seeing world class art in this familiar Big Box Store format your eyes  become blurred and the work starts to become indistinguishable from Norwegian furniture, take a seat in their cushy bar areas and get a drink.  You don’t need to push your eyes that far, the brain can only accept so much eye candy before it goes into shock.

For the price of admission you get access to both the Modern show, and the contemporary (each with it’s own pier), so you can see work from older masters, as well as the masters that are still alive and working today (based on which pier you are checking out).

Positives: Buying the Armory / Volta NY combo ticket for $50 is the best deal in town.  There is a shuttle bus between the two venues, and you get to experience the opposite worlds of the big box store IKEA experience of the Armory, along with the intimacy of Volta NY. You will be seeing the best most sought after artists in the world hanging in a show that is only up for an extended weekend, buying frenzy is a thing to behold.

Negatives: The size and scope of this show can be daunting and overwhelming to a beginner, just start at one side and work your way through it to the other side, move to the next row and do it again.  Think of it like a giant supermarket, but instead of cereal and canned goods, you are looking at artwork worth 10’s to 100’s of thousands of dollars by artists you have seen at The Whitney and The Met.  You will not see these galleries taking to many risks. At SCOPE, The Unfair, and Fountain artists aren’t paying the insane per-square-foot rates as at The Armory so they can go edgier.  This show is squeaky clean – most booths on a factory produced precision.  If you prefer to see a little of the artist’s hand (blood, sweat, and tears) mixed into the paint, you might want to check out some of those other fairs.

Location: Piers 92 & 94:  711 12th Ave New York, NY (@55th Street & the West Side Highway)

Website: https://www.thearmoryshow.com/
View Our Armory Show Photos From Previous Years

SCOPE ART FAIR:  March 6th – 9th 

General Admission: $25  – Student $15

Thursday – March 6, 3pm – 6pm (Platinum VIP Preview Gala)  –  6pm – 9pm (First View Benefit & Press)  $100
Friday – March 7, 11am – 8pm
Saturday – March 8, 11am – 8pm
Sunday – March 9, 11am – 7pm

Featuring: Drawing, Collage, Sculpture, Painting, Performance Art, New Media, Neon, Photography.

THIS YEAR’S SCOPE (SPOILERS): SCOPE Art Fair NY 2014 VIP Opening Reception Was Packed (Photos) – Artiholics

Celebrities / Celebrity Artists I’ve Personally Spotted Here: Ron English

Unofficial Art Patriarch: Ron English.
Notable Artists / Gallerists Associated With This Show:  Augusto Esquivel, Jordan Eagles, Karim Hamid, Ron English, Banksy, Luke Chueh,  Russell West, gilf! Hiroko Tsuchida, Gabriel Barcia-Colombo, Andrea Stanislav, HuskMitNavn, Kikyz 1313, Camille Rose Garcia.

Coolest thing I’ve seen here: Performance art piece where a female artist walked around the fair nude from the waste down.
Possibility of Live Nudity: It’s Possible.

Ever Seen Live Performance or Live Art at SCOPE? Occasional Live Painting, Occasional Live Performing Installation, Occasional Live Music.

The Scoop on SCOPE From An Artiholic:I’ve personally attended the 2009, 2010, 2012, and 2013 incarnations of the fair.  It’s one of the satellite fairs that didn’t have a permanent home until 2013 and was constantly competing with Pulse as they have very similar vibes, that is until Pulse decided to slide into May and be a part of Frieze Week, thus freeing Scope up to take control of the more serious emerging contemporary art galleries.  I watched this fair bounce from Lincoln Center, to a tent on the West Side Highway, and finally to it’s current NY location in the giant post office building Skylight at Moynihan Station next to Madison Square Garden.

Scope is a good dowsing rod for what trends are most likely to be prevalent thought-out all of the art fairs during Armory Arts Week.  Mostly pretty good art, there are some major international galleries represented, as well as a lot of NYC talent.  Scope is what galleries at Fountain aspire to graduate up to.

Positives: A ton of good work, lots of roaming artists, friendly gallerists.  The show has really come into its own since Pulse left.  A good mix of low and high brow to appeal to a wide audience.  Gets a lot of solid press, and a lot of sales.

Negatives: Some galleries are obviously not yet ready for prime time and stick out like a sore thumb.  When you start to notice trends, you will see them repeated and repeated in multiple booths. Location is far from Armory. 

Location: Skylight at Moynihan Station 360 West 33rd Street, W 33rd St, New York, NY 10001

Website: https://scope-art.com/
View Our SCOPE Photos From Previous Years

THE ART SHOW:  March 5th – 9th 

General Admission: $25

Wednesday – March 5, 12pm – 8pm
Thursday – March 6, 12pm – 8pm
Friday – March 7, 12pm – 8pm
Saturday – March 8, 12pm – 7pm
Sunday – March 9, 12pm – 5pm

Featuring: Solo Shows, Museum Quality Gallery Shows, Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Collage, Photography

Celebrities / Celebrity Artists I’ve Personally Spotted Here: John Leguizamo

Unofficial Art Patriarch: Andy Warhol & James Rosenquist
Notable Artists / Gallerists Associated With This Show:  Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, Rosenquist, Henri Matisse, Mark Rydan, Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, George Condo, Ray Johnson, Phil Guston, Wim Delvope, Sperone Westwater, Charles McGill.

Coolest thing I’ve seen here: The Egon Schiele / Gustav Klimt exhibit.
Possibility of Live Nudity: Not Good

Ever Seen Live Performance or Live Art at The Art Show? No, this is a serious art fair.

The Scoop on The Art Show From An Artiholic:

This fair is decades older than The Armory Show and has a sterling reputation as presenting some of the best in the business.  Blue chip art, museum art.  Most of what you will find here by artists who’s names you will recognize from your Christie’s and Sotherby’s catalogs.

Positives: You will see museum quality work, amazing drawings and paintings from many dead modern artists, and some current living blue chip artists, as well as original portraits of famous artists.  If you are a fan of really good drawing, and seeing drawings by some of your favorite dead artists, this is a good place to get a glimpse of artwork that exists outside of museums and is sold to private collectors.

Negatives: This is a lot like the Modern section of The Armory Show.  It is old masters, mixed with some more elite contemporary artists.  The crowd is extremely highbrow and it’s easy to feel under-dressed when attending.

Location: Park Avenue Armory – Park Avenue at 67th Street, New York City

Website: https://www.artdealers.org/artshow.html
View Our THE ART SHOW Photos From Previous Years

INDEPENDENT:  March 6th – 9th 

General Admission: $20

Thursday – March 6, 6pm – 8pm (Private Vernissage)
Friday – March 7, 12pm – 7pm
Saturday – March 8, 12pm – 7pm
Sunday – March 9, 12pm – 6pm

Featuring: Sculpture, Kinetic Sculpture, Collage, Car, Interactive Art, Neon, Animation, New Media, Painting, Photography

Celebrities / Celebrity Artists I’ve Personally Spotted Here: John McEnroe

Unofficial Art Patriarch: Dan Flavin
Notable Artists / Gallerists Associated With This Show:  Ella Kruglyanskaya, Steve Claydon, Thomas Julier, Oliver Mosset, David Shrigley.

Coolest thing I’ve seen here: A random DeLorian with no flux capicitor.
Possibility of Live Nudity: Not Good

Ever Seen Live Performance or Live Art at Independent? No

The Scoop on the Independent From An Artiholic:

To me this fair always felt the least like a fair, and even refused to call itself a fair.  The floors have big open spaces in the middle rather than the sectioned off walls that the other art fairs are known to have, all the galleries share the same light.

Since it started The Independent has always been free admission to the public, and the focus has been more about the art than the selling.  It is many people’s favorite fair because of the amount of sculpture, and minimalism and distinct lack of drawing and painting.  I am in the minority, and the lack of drawing and painting drives me up the wall.

I don’t know exactly what changed with Independent’s business model,  but this year it costs $20 instead of costing nothing to get in ($20 is a distinct price increase from free).

Positives: A ton of big sculptures on four floors.  The possibility of a random car in the middle of one of the floors.  The permanent Dan Flavin instillation on the staircase in between floors is always inviting – not technically part of the show, but a welcome break from the different levels.  Top Floor Cafe, with Roof Access

Negatives: Extreme lack of drawing and painting. Super snobby curators who really don’t want to talk to you, which is another thing that makes this unlike the other art fairs where the exhibitors actually want to interact.  I have hundreds of photos I’ve taken of artists and curators at the various art fairs, and Independent is the only art fair I have taken zero shots of any curators or artists.  I am acting the same as I do at the art fairs but never get approached.  Located in Chelsea it is close to other art openings, but far from The Armory Show piers.

Location: 548 West 22nd Street between 10th and 11th Avenues in the heart of the Chelsea gallery district.

Website: https://independentnewyork.com/
View Our INDEPENDENT Photos From Previous Years

VOLTA NY ART FAIR:  March 6th – 9th 

General Admission: $15  |   Students – $10  |  Armory / VoltaNY Dual Pass: $50

Thursday – March 6, 11am – 2pm (Guest of Honor) 2pm – 5pm  (VIP / Press Preview)  6pm – 9pm (Public Vernissage)
Friday – March 7, 10am – 8pm
Saturday – March 8, 10am – 8pm
Sunday – March 9, 10am – 5pm

Featuring: Solo Shows, Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Collage, Interactive Art, New Media, Neon, Photography

Celebrities / Celebrity Artists I’ve Personally Spotted Here: Delroy Lindo

Unofficial Art Matriarch: Amanda Coulson
Notable Artists / Gallerists Associated With This Show:  This changes every year, as all booths are solo shows.

Coolest thing I’ve seen here: Very focused solo shows that aren’t like the typical art fair.  The ability to see a depth to an artist’s work, unlike the other top tier fairs that would only showcase one or two pieces by each artist.
Possibility of Live Nudity: Not Good

Ever Seen Live Performance or Live Art at VoltaNY? Yes, I’ve seen Break Dancing & Pastry Eating Contests

The Scoop on Volta NY From An Artiholic:
Volta NY rules.  It is the offshoot of The Armory Show so it has the top tier credibility of The Armory, but also has the intimacy that comes with solo shows.  It feels like you are attending 90 gallery openings where the artist is in attendance, and you are the only guest.  You get a real one-on-one experience with each booth and are able to engage with the artists.

It is an invitational show, and all the artists have to be represented by a gallery, so there is no room for amateurs, and no buying your way in.  I have had nothing but positive experiences with Volta NY, and since they moved down to SoHo from their previous residency at  7 West 34th Street they really have the space you need to fit everyone and not feel like you are walking around a fair in a converted office.

Positives: Buying the Armory / Volta NY combo ticket for $50 is the best deal in town.  There is a shuttle bus between the two venues, and you get to experience the opposite worlds of the big box store IKEA experience of the Armory, along with the intimacy of Volta.  This is a show I would love to one day solo in, and you can’t get much higher praise from me than that.

Negatives: If you don’t like meeting artists, or seeing solo exhibits, and prefer to see more salon style gallery showings presenting a diverse group of artists from a gallery’s stable, then you won’t like this show.  If you aren’t planning on attending The Armory, this show is kind of out of the way in relation to the other shows.

Location: 82 Mercer Street., New York, NY  (Between Spring and Broome Streets)
Website: https://ny.voltashow.com/index.php
View Our VOLTA NY Photos From Previous Years

FOUNTAIN ART FAIR:  March 7th – 9th 

General Admission: $10 – VIP Pass: $50 – Weekend Pass $15

Friday – March 7, 12pm – 7pm (VIP Press Preview / Open to the public)  7pm – Midnight (Opening Night Reception) Music Lineup: DJ Nick Zinner
Saturday – March 8, 12pm – 7pm (Open to the public) 7pm – Midnight (Saturday Night Event) Music Lineup: THE DEEP!
Sunday – March 9, 12pm – 5pm

Featuring: Solo Shows, Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Collage, Interactive Art, New Media, Neon, Photography

Featuring: Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Live Painting, Live Performance, Performance Art,  Music, Collage, Car, Interactive Art, Neon, New Media, Photography

Celebrities / Celebrity Artists I’ve Personally Spotted Here: Mia Tyler
Unofficial Art Matriarch: Swoon
Notable Artists / Gallerists Associated With This Show:  Alison Berkoy, The Murder Lounge, Brian Leo, Dave Tree, Casey Porn, Jonny Fenix, Veng, Victor W. Cox, Ryan Cronin, Chris Smith, Alex Emmart, Rob Servo, Leah Yerpe, JMR, Brandon Friend, Christina Ray, Mighty Tanaka, Leo Kesting, Front Room, Munch, Dacia.

Coolest thing I’ve seen here: Nude Body Finger Painting.
Possibility of Live Nudity: Very Good.

Ever Seen Live Performance or Live Art at Fountain? Yes, tons.

The Scoop on The Fountain Art Fair From An Artiholic:
I love fountain, it is such a fun fair to attend and you get a lot of bang for your buck.  Lots of good artists, also a lot of not so good, but the needles in the haystacks are in the numbers at this fair.  This is truly the independent fair as usually it’s one artist, or a group of artists splitting a booth on their own.  No galleries need be involved, although a lot of booths are represented by galleries.  It’s one of the cheapest art fairs for artists to get work in (per square foot) so the bar is set a little lower than a Scope or Pulse, and leaves the door wide open to untrained artists, street artists, and Brooklyn artists on the rise.

You will see a lot of drawing at this fair, a lot of painting, and a lot of pop.  I have heard it referred to many times in art circles as “amateur hour” but there are generally some stand outs in the masses, and as years go by you will start to see artists who got their start at Fountain’s careers shoot them up to larger galleries, and land them larger exposure at the top tier fairs like Scope and Volta.

You will be likely to meet a lot of artists if you wander around this fair, as most booths are artist run.  It is a great way to talk to artists and have them talk to you about their work.  Almost everyone is friendly and open here, and there is very little pretension.  You will find a few street artist wanna-be-banksies aka Mini-Banksys, who don’t want to have their photo taken, which is annoying as fuck, and almost comical.

When I  first attended this fair in 2009 it was on the frying pan pier.  In a tent that leaked when it rained.  There was a basement floor called the Murder Lounge where a small collective of Greenpoint artists would always show together. Fountain in gaining credibility and exposure has moved several avenues over to the Lexington Ave Armory and now has a solid foundation and doesn’t have to worry about dark clouds.They still have a section of the new location called The Murder Lounge, but it’s more of just a tribute.
Fountain is a 1917 work widely attributed to Marcel Duchamp. The scandalous work was a porcelain urinal, which was signed “R.Mutt” and titled Fountain. Submitted for the exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists in 1917, Fountain was rejected by the committee, even though the rules stated that all works would be accepted from artists who paid the fee.  The exhibition took place in the building where The Fountain Art Fair now resides almost a hundred years later.

Positives: A lot of fun, a lot of really great artists and a lot of good drawing.  Live painting, performances, music.  It is almost like getting a first glimpse into the unsigned talent of the art world.  You see what bubbles up from Brooklyn, Queens, and the outer boroughs before it gets snagged up by the machine.  The Friday opening night reception is the most fun you will have at any of the art fairs with open bar and live music – it becomes a party – and I will see you there.  If you are a fan of drawing, street art, illustration, comics, lowbrow, or graffiti, you will really enjoy yourself.  If you are a collector you can find a great deals on artwork by emerging artists here, and fill your apartment for a fraction of the price you would have to pay at the other fairs.

Negatives: Depending on your perspective, you will either come away loving, or hating Fountain.  If you like drawing and painting, you will have a good time.  If you really enjoy The Independent, you will probably not like Fountain so much.  If you are looking for Museum Quality work, you will not like Fountain.  It is very unpolished, but that’s what gives it it’s underground handmade charm.  Although I have a great time at Fountain it is one of the lower tier fairs and doesn’t get much love from the mainstream art press, but art blogs and Scene and Alt magazines like Paper are all over it. 

Location: Centrally Located at the 69th Regiment Armory (Lexington Avenue & 26th Street)
Website: https://www.fountainartfair.com/
View Our Fountain Photos From Previous Years

SPRING / BREAK – $5

THIS YEAR’S SPRING/ BREAK (SPOILERS): SPRING/BREAK Art Show Is Your Elementary School On Psilocybin- Artiholics

CLIO ART FAIR – $FREE

THIS YEAR’S CLIO ART FAIR (SPOILERS): The Clio Art Fair 2014 Inaugural Show Opening Reception- Artiholics

THE (UN)FAIR – $FREE

THIS YEAR’S (UN)FAIR (SPOILERS): THE (UN)FAIR is Back, Bigger, & More Popular Than Ever – Opening (Photos) – Artiholics

MOVING IMAGE- $FREE

NEW CITY ART FAIR- $FREE

The post Artiholics New York Armory Week Art Fair Travel Guide 2014 appeared first on Artiholics.

New York – Thursday, March 6, 2014

It is always a crapshoot when a new satellite art fair decides to join the Armory Arts Week fray. The already saturated lineup of round robin fair hopping is somewhat a well oiled machine, throwing a new wrench into the mix will either make the machine run smoother, or can jam up the works and die on the vine.  Some will to mutate to another month, or even focus on another city to survive (see Bridge, Red Dot, Verge, PooL, Pulse, Korean Art Fair, Dutch Art Now).

I always am one to root for the underdog and when the new upstart Clio Art Fair contacted us about being a media sponsor I figured why not at least check it out and throw our Artiholics logo and some press their way for support. Touted as The Anti-Fair for Independent Artists (aka without permanent NYC gallery representation) it seemed to be just that.

Located in Chelsea at The Highline Loft, 508 West 26th street and 10th Ave, if you didn’t know it was happening as there is no outdoor signage, you might walk right by.

The signage is in the lobby and is oddly missing it’s media sponsorship logos. Elevator up to the fifth floor and you will arrive at the venue. Two large rooms separated by a median wall.

I got some wine and cheese and set out to meet some of the artists.

Guang Zhu with her work, a steel set of mathematical floating cubes.

Artwork by Matt Neuman.

Pop Dogs, the mobile art installation to discuss the global issue of dog over-population by exploring the global cycle of craving, consumption and abandonment.

Artwork by Paolo Pelosini.

Artwork by Rodolfo Edwards.

Artwork by Ted Barr.

Photos by Mel Rosenthal.

Francesco Lecci, Artribune U.S. Contributor

Artist Michelle Kaufman standing behind her furry pink letterform sculpture “POWER.”

Alessandro Berni, the US Editor of Artribune.

Artist Verdiana Patacchini in front of a drawing she made with acid and aluminum.

I’ve noticed a pattern trend of seeing neon signs that flash and then have an alternate meaning –  this sort of thing is big at The Armory Show.

Artist and founder of Artefuse, Jamie Martinez.

The insane thing about this piece is that when you look at it with the naked eye it looks like an abstract pattern of triangles, but if you see it through the viewfinder of a camera or back up several dozen feet the image instantly comes together as a tiger.

“El Tigre” 16″ x 20″ Oil on Cotton. Thousands of triangles took him five months to complete.

This is a puffer fish in a cage, also by Jamie, but really hard to photograph.

This bed is titled Torturing Wishing Despairing Withering, 2012 by Crayon Minyen Hsieh

Rain Shaking Scene,2013 by Han Hong Park

Vulnerability Part 1, 2010 composed of worn underwear, by Floor Grootenhus.

Artwork by the late artist Luoratoll, presented by Michela Bondardo pictured above.

Photographer Alessandra Guidetti.

Photo of myself by Alessandra Guidetti.

Architect Aida Miron 

This is an eclectic mix of artists of all disciplines. Sculptors, painters, photographers. I was glad I was there for the VIP opening reception and was able to meet some of the artists.  The reception was priced at $90 a head, which is a little steep for an unproven entity, especially when the extremely popular Unfair was having their opening reception 30 blocks away for free, with free wine, popcorn, and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream served to you by THE ACTUAL Ben & Jerry.

Photo of me by Jamie Martinez.

Jamie Martinez was off to meet up with some of his writers at The Unfair, which happens to be the other upstart Anti-Fair Fair Artiholics is a media sponsor of so when he left I grabbed my coat and went along for the ride.

If you are in Chelsea this week checking out the Chelsea Fairs: The Moving Image, The Independent, The New City Art Fair, The first ever Highline Open Studios, be sure to swing by and check it out Clio, and tell em Artiholics sent you.

Artiholics is a media sponsor The Clio Art Fair
508 West 26th Street and 10th Ave

Written and Photographed by Cojo “Art Juggernaut”

The post The Clio Art Fair 2014 Inaugural Show Opening Reception appeared first on Artiholics.