The Armory Show 2010: "As Good as it Gets"

Art fair mania controlled New York City's art scene this past weekend, with the Armory Show as the main attraction. Like the thousands of excited art-enthusiasts, I too trekked to Piers 92 / 94, crossing the scary West Side Highway to reach the massive Armory Show 2010.


I had never been to the Armory Show before, but it definitely lives up to its "NY's largest contemporary art fair" title. I was overwhelmed at the hundreds of galleries and thousands of paintings I saw... loving some, hating others, and not knowing what to think of a few "overly-contemporary" pieces. (I also have to admit I was a bit offended by one piece - a painting of a black swastika with a yellow background at gallery Nicole Klagsbrun's booth). Regardless, while some reviews say exhibitors "played it safe" this year, I had a wonderful and enriching experience (and kind of wonder what previous less tame armory shows have been like...)

Switching gears now - If you've visited the Armory's Website, you've probably wondered why there are images of either a screw sticking out of a wall, dripped paint on wood or another seemingly un-artistic image. These are actually the works of Susan Collis. Each year the Armory Show commissions an artist to "create the visual identity" of the fair, and this year the selected artist was Susan Collis. Her screw in the wall work, "As Good as it Gets" (below) is the epitome of her creations, as Collis is known for crafting art out of every-day / mundane objects. The artist recently revealed a little bit about the unconventional way she gathers materials for her pieces.

The British artist finds her objects (screws, nails, bits of wood splattered with paint, etc.) by dumpster-diving. She tells NY Magazine that dumpsters are called "skips" in England. Collis admits her assistants help with the dirty work, but she definitely delves in as well in the process (which she refers to as "skip-trawling").

Collis remarks:

"I look at these really disgusting pieces of wood and I imagine that rats had peed on them or something ... in the studio, we held them with rubber gloves the whole time. I do actually encourage my assistants to wear gloves. I am quite a good boss."


Bravo to the 150 + exhibitors. The show was fabulous, and I can't wait for the Armory Show 2011!

Wolfgang Tillmans at Andrea Rosen Gallery

Chelsea's contemporary Andrea Rosen Gallery is currently displaying the photographs of famed artist Wolfgang Tillmans. While it is extremely difficult for photographers to create original, deeply personal and instantly recognizable visual styles, Tillmans has successfully done so, transforming himself into an innovative artist-photographer of modern life.

While the photographer has boldly explored various genres, techniques, and subject matters throughout his career (which began in the early 1990s), his eclectic creations all point to a “Tillmans-esque style” (one that is widely imitated and well – known). Tillmans' images portray beauty and nonchalance – accomplished through the photographer’s use of monochrome colors and abstract and fragmented styles. He seeks to create uncontrived pieces and sticks by his belief that photographs should occupy wall space more like a sheet than a piece of art (this is why he frequently leaves his photos unframed).

In his current exhibition, the photographer masterfully adheres to his signature style - as much of the gallery is hung with unframed pictures of varying scale – with some clustered and some isolated. In a recent review in NY Magazine, Jerry Saltz remarks,

“Visiting is like being suspended in a photographic aquarium. Although at first you might think he was just traveling around, snapping the shutter willy-nilly, you soon see that he’s trying, with each picture, to make something powerful and personal out of impossibly clichéd subjects.”

I’d love to be a fish in this aquarium! The exhibition runs through March 13th.

Check out other current exhibitions going on in Chelsea

Check out these photography exhibitions now on display at galleries and museums around NYC