I took it a bit easy on the Friday of Art Basel and only ventured out to see some of the satellite fairs starting with a very sad Photo Miami. I'm not 100% sure but they were inside of a old Circuit City location and the wold building just dropped with Bankruptcy. I really don't think separation of a medium in an art fair as a very sustainable model.
Sure I enjoy photography more and I look for it when I am at an Art fair. But walking around in an all photography fair felt flat to me. Maybe it was just the overall quality of everything there was weaker then normal? Either way I only ended up taking a few pictures of work I liked. Also my friends who were with me and didn't have a press pass had to pay the insane price of $20 to get in. They were not happy nothing in there was worth a $20 entrance fee just to look at it.
Photo Miami cover photo by Sean Higgins, Raga Jog, 2009, courtesy of Collette Blanchard Gallery.
Rinko Kawauchi at Mountain Fold Gallery, New York, NY.
After that sad experience we drove off to the NADA Art Fair. This Year's NADA fair was in the Deauville Beach Resort in North Miami.
Daniel Gordon's "Flying Pictures" at Leo Koenig Inc., New York, NY
Tony Matelli's Weed, painted bronze at Leo Koenig Inc., New York, NY
Jacob Dyrenforth at Renwick Gallery, New York, NY.
Jacob Dyrenforth (detail) at Renwick Gallery, New York, NY. I love this detail. Do you think I could have plugged in my iPhone?
Another Daniel Gordon. This is from at Callicoon Fine Arts / Photios Giovanis, Callicoon, NY. Its not surprising that was everywhere at this years fairs. Reciently he was included in the 'New Photography 2009,' MoMA show reat the 'NY Times Review here. What does surprize me is how different his two bodies of work look.
Daniel Gordon at Callicoon Fine Arts / Photios Giovanis, Callicoon, NY.
Jasper Niens' installation piece "5 ROOMS" at Galerie West, the Netherlands. Consisted of a small maze of hallways and doors, echoing Dan Graham a little.
Zipora Fried at On Stellar Rays, New York, NY.
Zipora Fried at On Stellar Rays, New York, NY.
The best booth of all the fairs goes to twenty twenty projects, Miami, FL. Believe it or not but the book was turned into a FM transmitter / low power radio station. Re-broadcasting a famous Miami pirate radio station that has since been shut down.
Hanging at the pool, Deauville Beach Resort in between looking at art.
Ellen Harvey, "The Room of Sublime Wallpaper II," 2009 at Stephan Stoyanov Gallery, New York, NY.
Ellen Harvey, "The Room of Sublime Wallpaper II," 2009 (detail)
SVA MFA Alum Yamini Nayar was showing these great built enviorments this one entitled "BY A THREAD," 2009, 30 x 40 inches at Thomas Erben Gallery, New York, NY.
Brendan Fowler, on the left side - "Fall 2009 (Flowers Outside Silk Flowers Show in LA 1, Fall 2008 West Coast Tour Poster - C, Flowers on Walk With Andrea/Terry/Cindy 1, 2 Screen Flower Print), 2009, Digital C prints, silk screen ink on paper, frames, plexi, 46.5 x 49 x 5 inches (variable) at Rental Gallery, New York, NY