Story and Photos by Irene Sperber

Heralding The Armory Show in New York City

As an art exhibition junkie, during the week of February 22 to 26 in New York City I hit the mother lode:  The Armory Show, The Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA), L.A. Art, Pulse, Red Dot Art Fair, Scope and Diva New York.  Admittedly, I did not manage to trudge through them all; just dodging crowds alone could put you out of your mind.

Curiously, the ADAA and Pulse were located at two actual Armories, but The Armory Show was at the 55th Street Piers. Hmm…

Once I unraveled the wheres and whats, I ventured out on Friday to the ADAA, a lovely, civilized exhibition of galleries that appeared to be primarily from New York, with Boston, San Fran and L.A. thrown in. Mary-Anne Martin Fine Art was the only gallery listed to have a Miami contact.

 A bronze wax cast screen titled Gateway by Helen Frankenthaler caught my attention.  Exquisite salt prints from Collodion negatives as well as Calotype prints made from paper negatives were exhibited by Hans P. Kraus Fine Photographs.

The Armory Show: The Robert Miller Gallery

Later, I popped into the nearby Whitney Museum (945 Madison Ave. at 75^th Street) to view Gordon Matta-Clark photographs (through June 3) called “Tool Belt Conceptualism” by the New York Times. I thought it was more under the heading of “deconstructivism”  as he chops large shapes out of floors, walls, and such from abandoned houses, creating empty spaces resembling almost a cubism effect when later artfully photographed.

It was a cruel choice of museums since I was running away on a mental health excursion to keep from imploding in the midst of a particularly onerous moment of an apartment renovation.  There appeared to be a theme to my day.

Saturday dawned cold and windy. I almost eschewed my plan to head to the piers for the Armory Show, as it can be bitter near the river. I managed to override my insipid wussiness, laid on all the clothing I could find and headed out. It was worth the effort; it was a very interesting exhibition and wildly popular. It seemed jammed and took me at about 20 minutes to get a ticket, which was nothing compared to the two to three hour wait a later crowd encountered.  The early bird really does get the good stuff.

Mementos from the art shows that ate New York

A varied show, I found a good deal of the pieces worth a pause in my step. An exhibition of all living artists, the crowd was as interesting as the art. Artist Christian Holstad obviously counteracted a dull day at the beach by picking bits of terry cloth off his towel until the image of a beach chair emerged in the fabric, proof positive that a sexy atelier is not a prerequisite for expression.  Several pixilated works were on view.  I noted Olaf Holzafel’s digital drawing on photo paper scans lines into the computer to fashion an image.

Frederic Snitzer Gallery was the only Miami participant.

By the way, apparently we are wearing fur again.