MutualArt Open to All!

Thought I'd share some good news! One of my favorite art resource websites, MutualArt.com, just restructured its subscription service, allowing free access of the website without having to have a member profile (which is actually free anyway).

Keeping up with the art world is not easy, especially in a city like New York, with hundreds of galleries and dozens of museums. In order to stay up to date with the openings, events, happenings and news of the New York and international art scene, I check MutualArt.com every week because they have comprehensive profiles on galleries, art fairs, museums, artists and a free article database.

I signed up for a basic membership, which is free: you fill out a profile about your art interests, what artists or cities you want to track, and every week MutualArt emails you a list of events, venues, and artists that might peak your interests, based on your member preferences. And for the person who really wants full access to the website, there's a premium membership (offered now at a special price $19/month or $199/year) that has the works.

Anyway, I find the website pretty helpful and easy to use, so thought I'd share. Stay in the know--check it out!

ART Santa Fe Highlight: David Henderson

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending ART Santa Fe, the first non-New York City art fair I've attended (click here to read my full review of the art fair.)

One of the highlights, in my opinion, of the fair's offerings were the acrobatic sculptures of David Henderson, which toe the line of sculpture and installation. Using a very lightweight carbon fiber plastic, Henderson pushes the envelope of tension, gravity and spatial relations. The sculptures just gently kiss the wall at one point, creating an uneasy tension and awe in the spectator. Their unique design also allows the works to attach to the walls in innovative and flexible ways.

Despite the heavy, marble-like appearance of the pieces, this one on the left weighs six pounds, and can be held in one hand. And they are surprisingly sturdy--according to the gallerist who chatted with me, on opening night of one Henderson's pieces was knocked off its pedestal, bounced down the hall before rolling to a stop, in one piece.

The gallery that represented him at ART Santa Fe was a local one, William Siegal Gallery. You can also check out Henderson's work at http://davidhenderson.org/.

Armory Show

I went to the Armory Art Fair today. It was awesome! And I'm so glad I went today (I was sort of considering waiting for the crowds to die down - today was opening day - but it wasn't even crowded today). There was some amazing art - one of my faves is this 150 year old wagon wheel that was lit from behind by color-changing LED lights. It costs 80,000 Euros! Ga! That's a lot - and for a wagon wheel. Oh well, one day perhaps.

There was some a lot of great new media stuff, very few photographs, some (but not much) weird mixed media sculpture, and a lot of staples. I thought that the prices would be lower because of the economics....ahem....problems, but just about everything that I asked after was VERY expensive ($100,000 expensive). I couldn't really get a feel for how things were selling - but a girl I'm doing a project with in class was walking around with me pretending like she was an art advisor and EVERYONE was willing to give her a 20% discount. That would have been RARE last year. Definitely.

All in all today was a great day. I love that I live in New York City where these sorts of things are at my fingertips. It's really incredible. This weekend will be very busy - I've got papers upon papers to write and then I'm going to Santa Fe for a week! Yaay! 

ADAA: The Art Show

Every year the Art Dealers of America Association throws a major art fair at the armory. This year there were over 70 galleries which participated this year in the fair, despite a falling economy and anticipation of diminished sales. 

Most of the galleries brought a high proportion of secondary market pieces (secondary market means that the work has already been marketed by a gallery, sold to a collector and is being resold through another gallery by the collector). Secondary pieces are a tried and true way to way some money when times are hard. For the most part, pieces that go to the secondary market are by better known artists, artists whose reputations have already been established, pieces that have accumulated in value by collectors who want to capitalize on value. These sorts of shows with lots of secondary market pieces are often more like a museum show than an art fair - people will gather around Picasso's, de Kooning's, and any number of other well known artists' work. 

Art Basel Miami Beach

So I have completely forgotten to fill you all in on one of my latest and best adventures. I had the opportunity to go to Miami Art Basel last month in Miami, FL. Art Basel in Switzerland is probably the largest and most well respected art fair in the entire world. People get on these crazy waiting lists to even be up for the chance to participate in the fair and pay some crazy fee to have a tiny booth there. Miami Art Basel is the offshoot of this original art fair. It is a little more party-centric (it is Miami after all) but the quality of art is usually on par. This was the first time I’ve ever been to Miami so I didn’t have much to compare it to. From what I’ve heard this year was much more low key than years past – fewer collectors showed up, gallerists were a bit kinder, and the parties were less extravagant. It’s a bit funny and peculiar that when the economy goes sour, that all those rich folks out there feel like they can’t keeps spending money in the same way they are used to for fear of making the poor people feel bad about themselves.

 

I got the feeling that people were pretty well prepared for poor sales and so when fewer people came to the fair and even fewer people bought at the fair, no one was particularly disappointed. I still got the feeling that people couldn’t quite figure out who I was – is she an art consultant? Is she important enough that we ought to talk to her? Will she buy anything? – and that made it interesting. I saw quite a bit of art that I was unfamiliar with and quite a bit that I liked a lot. There was also an over saturation of Damien Hirst pieces with skulls and butterflies and whatever other else limited pieces he makes. And from what I could tell (and what other, non gallerists told me), prices were pretty steeply discounted and gallerists were offering BIG (20% big) discounts to just about anyone walking in off the street. I think they were really trying to make a sale, whatever it took. It is very expensive, after all, to get all the works down to Miami and they needed to make up their costs somehow.

 

I can’t wait to go to my next art fair and I would always love to go back to Miami next year. 

New York, New York

Being back in the city that never sleeps never fails to elate me. I am going to be starting up with school again, new classes, new reading, new year, new president, new everything! So I thought I should go with the spirit of the new year and get out there and see some new art and galleries. I've been to Chelsea several times before but it doesn't fail to intimidate me. The "gallerinas" are as intimidating as ever with their designer clothes and scowls (do they hire them because they have such nasty looks on their faces?). I wondered if things would get a bit more friendly as the economic downturn pulls into its third, fourth...fifth (when will this even be over?) month. 

Art sales are noticeably down but either these girls can't seem to understand what it means to welcome someone into a space or their faces really are just stuck like that. Last month at Art Basel, dozens (if not hundreds) of galleries felt the sting of diminished pocketbooks and shocked stock portfolios. Fortunately, few people's hopes were high enough to warrant any real shock at the result. 

What will happen, I think, is that the galleries that have gotten lackluster results even in high times will be whittled away until only the strongest and most innovative survive. They don't call it Survival of the Fittest for nothing.  We are going to see some major changes in the coming months and years. The question stands as to what sort of changes and innovation will save the gallery (and what form it will take in the coming future).