Thursday, September 28th, 2006
In two weeks the art world will see the emergence of a ‘new kind of art fair’: YEAR_06 Art Projects. YEAR_06 is billing itself as a ‘project-based’ (their hyphen, not mine! gotta love it!) fair, and I wish I was there. I’ve always been a fan of the art fair, indifferent (not so ambivalent, more about indifference) to their location as a playground for the rich; I’ve always appreciated seeing large groups of people congregate to look at art, no matter how high or low.
The range of galleries exhibiting in YEAR_06 is refreshing: even though the event is taking place in London, the Keith Talent Gallery (great gallery on Tudor Road I used to live near) and MOOT are the only UK-based galleries; the rest are from afar and include a heavy dose of American (that is, US-based) names. Most of the artists associated with these galleries are unknown to me, like I said: refreshing!
Friday, July 14th, 2006
Just sitting down to enjoy my lunch under the tent outside the Scope fair. Going to give John Henry Blatter a call after lunch.
I’m eating a deli sandwich that I bought from some deli near Penn Station (my departure point). Lady at the luncheon cash register tells me I’m ’smart’ for doing so (the sandwich wraps here are $11). Not so smart though, eh? I mean what’s the perfect accompaniment to a deli sandwich? Soda and a bag of crisps. And I just paid $3 and $2 for those, respectively. Bleh.
The copies of Daily Constitutional look great. I found them near the Silent Auction, on the magazine table. I thought D.C. would have a booth of sorts, but they don’t. This fair is arranged a little bit differently than most. Still, I hope to track down these geezers and offer them a drink.
Friday, July 14th, 2006
Woke up this morning and the weather was looking absolutely perfect. Wait, let me take it a step back for a minute.
Around this time last week I decided to start planning my trip out to the Scope Hamptons art fair out on Long Island. My friend and fellow artist Richard Zimmerman was also interested in going; he has a vehicle and we thought that we would be able to go together. Unfortunately he couldn’t get off work, and he works allllllll the time, so I had to find another route. Since very few people in NYC, and especially even fewer of my friends, have vehicles (even though my boss offered me her truck), I turned to public transport. LIRR have a train direct to the Hamptons.
That’s where I woke up. The weather the past few days has been inclement at best, but this morning I woke up and the sun was absolutely stunning. A trip was in order.
I’m on the train right now, with just under 2 hours left in the journey. I’m sitting next to a lady Lori and her daughter Phoebe whom I befriended on the first train out to Jamaica where one changes to get the Montauk-bound train.
Lori earlier commented on my eyeglasses, and when I showed how they were actually pretty damaged (not that I needed to point out the 4oz. of hot glue holding my frames together), she told me of a friend of hers in California who deals with vintage eyeglasses, and showed me the frames she bought for her daughter, which are pretty spectacular. So I can’t wait to find out more about acquiring some new frames from this acquaintance.
Oh! And the Hamptons!
Can’t wait to get out there. It’s only for the day, but I always love to see the ocean (if i have time, I even brought my speedo trunks with me!), and I’m looking forward to the fair, honestly. I know these fairs are often excused as a playground for the rich, but I’m still interested in them, I still like to see crowds looking at art, no matter how consumptive the setting.
And the main highlight of my journey is to meet John Henry Blatter and the folks from Daily Constitutional, which is a pretty darned good art zine.
The journey itself is pretty mad: I left from Penn Station on the 11am train, I will arrive at the fair sometime between 2-3pm; the fair closes tonight at 8pm, and there’s an 11pm train back into the city. I might stay overnight if I can find the means, but either way I have to head back in to attend a wedding tomorrow night, on a boat “cruising the Hudson” for my friend and fellow artist Ashley Kesling.
