We went to the DiVA Art Fair today, and it was definitely the most pleasant experience of all of my art-going this weekend. It's at the Embassy Suites downtown on two floors, with a big atrium, so there is a nice feeling of openness and light as one wanders from room to room. I think it's also a result of the pace of viewing video works. It's harder to just run from space to space. One spends a minute or two seeing if a work is interesting, and then staying longer if it seems to be. Having plenty of chances to sit and look at work in dimmed lighting is a welcome change from the Armory and Scope experience. I found it intereresting that the majority of the galleries are from foreign countries. Also, an art fair featuring time-based work that gives out tickets that allow one to return on following days is a great idea.
My top picks, in somewhat random order:
- All of the video work by Matthew Lutz-Kinoy at Paris-based Yukiko Kawase - quirky, funny, and brilliant work by a 20-year-old(!) artist
- Jill Miller's I am making art too at Galerie Anne Barrault. The artist received permission (described as "enthusiastic" in the press release) from John Baldessari to create a new work based on his 1971 performance video titled I am making art. The resulting video, mixing her performance with that of Baldessari, all set to Missy Elliot's Work It is both funny and brilliant.
- Patrick Jolley's Here After (2004) at Prato-based Nicola Fornello. Yes, that's edgy video work from a gallery in a town outside of Florence. Can you imagine such a thing in Westchester? We last saw Jolley's work when we saw Burn in a group show at the Chelsea Art Museum.
- Steffan Saffer, Susanne Weirich, and Christoph Draeger at Müller DeChiara
- Federico Solmi at Boreas -- see James for more info on the artist
- Corinna Schnitt's video Living a Beautiful Life at Galerie M+R Fricke. The artist interviewed adolescents about their idea of happiness and filmed this work about idealised lives at a luxury home in Beverly Hills.
- Robert Boyd's Xanadu at LMAK Projects. We first saw it at White Box, and it gets better upon each viewing.
- Carina Diepens's two videos at Marijke Schreurs
- Carolee Schneemann at Elga Wimmer
- Alexandre Castonguay's interactive video-based works and Marc Audette's amazing video installation involving projections on curved photo screens in the back at Montreal-based Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain.
- Eva Koch's NoMad at Galería Magda Bellotti
Howdy!
For more on Marc Audette try this.
And Pierre-Francois' assistant has a kick-ass blog, too.
Thanks for the links, Zeke. I will check them out as soon as I have caught my breath from this weekend.